I've felt all four major "brands" of synthetic surfaces, and I'd rate Tapeta the best. It's the "finest" concoction. I thought Polytrack was neat until I saw the other three at Symposium this last year. Poly is terrible compared to the others - it's like REALLY chunky peanut butter. Polytrack doesn't look like dirt and it's definitely NOT a dirt substitute (exemplified by the results you're seeing). The other three (Tapeta, Cushion, and StaLok) atleast look more like dirt, and StaLok actually has a similar feel to dirt. Here are some pics from Hollywood's site of their Cushion surface:
http://www.hollywoodpark.com/bet_the...o_gallery.html