If you just visited the downtown area, some would argue that you didn't see the "real" Detroit. I might be one to make that argument had I been to Detroit in the last 15 years. Tell you what, could you do me a favor and catch a bus up to around 6 Mile Road and Woodward Ave. and let me know how things are looking? :-)
(Seriously, though, unless Detroit has undergone some hard-core gentrification in the last decade, please don't do that.)
I visited the abandoned neighborhoods as well and saw some terrible blight and impoverished areas- my point is that as an outsider, that's all you expect from Detroit, which is only part of the picture.
(Seriously, though, unless Detroit has undergone some hard-core gentrification in the last decade, please don't do that.)