One of my friends working in London has helped start a Max user group there with the help of many others. They have a forum that I thought I would share as they are currently debating mental ray vs. v-ray and some have done a little poking at V-Ray, while some are defending it.
Website:
http://www.3dslondon.co.uk/
Topic: (started as a Scanline topic and shifted to mr/vr)
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