• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Next-gen Racing Graphics Face-off | (Next-gen means current-gen)

Have you seen that video of pCars that looks almost real? You don't need a massive budget to get correct lighting and textures....

Looks good. My only complaint would be the puddles which are uniformly shaped and distributed in a left right pattern across the road but i know they have been tweaking that recently.

I also agree about the over critical. It just tends to escalate antagonism in the thread rather than bringing discussion.
 
Is project cars coming out to last gen as well (ps360) if so, could be the reason why it doesn't look as good technically as DC. It's been held back by last gen.
 

Sipheren

Banned
Looks good. My only complaint would be the puddles which are uniformly shaped and distributed in a left right pattern across the road but i know they have been tweaking that recently.

I also agree about the over critical. It just tends to escalate antagonism in the thread rather than bringing discussion.

Yeah the puddles need work, they do make the road look nice at speed though. It would be awesome if they could make them have an effect on the car, so you feel the water when you hit each pool through the wheel, feel the car aquaplane.

Is project cars coming out to last gen as well (ps360) if so, could be the reason why it doesn't look as good technically as DC. It's been held back by last gen.

No, only X1, PS4, Wii U and PC. It has to run at 60fps on X1 and PS4, that's probably part of the reason it isn't as pretty as DC. Hopefully they will work on the rain effect before release, other than that it looks fine. The lighting is good, not sure why people don't like it, it's fully dynamic as well, pretty cool imo.
 
I really don't see how, but to each their own.

Sorry, I forgot to mention I was talking about nighttime effects specifically, when particles are clearly visible due to illumination by headlights. There's just too much of a starfield effect in DriveClub. And I'm not saying these things because I want to postulate that one game is superior to the other, but because I want the future iterations of all of them to be better in that regard.
 

HTupolev

Member
Sorry, I forgot to mention I was talking about nighttime effects specifically, when particles are clearly visible due to illumination by headlights. There's just too much of a starfield effect in DriveClub.
Yes, the falling snow does have a weirdly "hard" appearance at night. Rain during daylight can have a similar issue, sometimes almost looking like opaque white needles in colorful sessions.
 
jJdasvt.gif
 
Hopefully they will work on the rain effect before release, other than that it looks fine. The lighting is good, not sure why people don't like it, it's fully dynamic as well, pretty cool imo.

Yep the rain effects aren't as impressive as DC but like you say its twice the FPS so something has to give.

Also not only is it fully dynamic its fully customisable. I can set a race to start in the dark with light rain and progress into day going through different weather types very easily, it is totally configurable.

Infact the game is totally configurable in every aspect (from start type, to qualifying, to laps, to field makeup), if you are a motorsports fan you will love it.

Edit: was just looking at some of his other videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8FCs9MxQmA&spfreload=10 holy moly I need his setup! :)
 
This doesn't excuse the PC version though.

Nope it doesn't (although excuse is a strange choice of words, almost like its something the devs should be apologetic about which I don't really agree with - they are doing their best).

The end of the day project cars is what it is, we are a couple of months from release and although there will be a lot of work done it is not going to suddenly have DC level rain effects for the PC version because it loses in a face-off.
 
Hadn't played DC for a few days being it's summer and don't want to overheat my PS4, forgot how amazing it looks.
iI5LoBF.gif

Certainly does! HUD off and it looks real to me.

It's going to be interesting to see the effect it has on other dev teams in the future, you can bet your life they are all evaluating their tech and how they can match it.
 

CozMick

Banned
Certainly does! HUD off and it looks real to me.

It's going to be interesting to see the effect it has on other dev teams in the future, you can bet your life they are all evaluating their tech and how they can match it.

For teams like Turn 10 it would be a technical miracle to get Driveclubs weather effects @60fps.
 
Found this on YT. It's a piece of free footage of driving snow while in a car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmEC3p6XIQ0

Looks remarkably like DC IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-XdLTWmwUU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMobTjdZ3g8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpbKvacupO8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJsMZt9ZnRs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dQvnCx5OGU

It really doesn't look close. Not that I need to see any YouTube videos to know what driving through heavy snow looks like, this isn't it.
 

Putty

Member

Looks to me like they would just need to lessen the overall area of affected snow. I guess anything above headlight level?
 
Looks to me like they would just need to lessen the overall area of affected snow. I guess anything above headlight level?

There would definitely have to be more vignetting going on, with more contrast in the particle lighting intensity. Then, more erratic movement of particles, this looks too uniform. Also, in real life the background particles are far more numerous than what even PS4 can handle, so the further you look, everything looks more fuzzy and foggy. In DC it's almost like there's a relatively thin layer of particles right in front of the vehicle, and then nothing in the deeper layers - the background looks too clear.
 

Sipheren

Banned
Yep the rain effects aren't as impressive as DC but like you say its twice the FPS so something has to give.

Also not only is it fully dynamic its fully customisable. I can set a race to start in the dark with light rain and progress into day going through different weather types very easily, it is totally configurable.

Infact the game is totally configurable in every aspect (from start type, to qualifying, to laps, to field makeup), if you are a motorsports fan you will love it.

Edit: was just looking at some of his other videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8FCs9MxQmA&spfreload=10 holy moly I need his setup! :)

Exactly, the weather system is awesome, start a race dry, starts raining halfway, then stops as it starts to get dark.

This doesn't excuse the PC version though.

It does, to change would mean implimenting a particle system instead of the texture, a fair amount of work for just one of the versions on systems capable enough to run it and maintain 60fps.
 
I made the mistake and looked into the comments.
How could anyone think PC looks better (in this video)?

I got in an argument over twitter with an gaffer who said that Forza Horizon 2 "easily tops Driveclub" in terms of graphics.
Up until that point I though we just had a different taste in games but that is just some serious denial.

I often don't know if people are just trolling or lying to themselfs.


On an other note, are there any good sunset shots or gifs of Driveclub? I usually really like sunsets but in Driveclub I rarely see them and other things have been way more impressive to me.
 
DC seems like a game that we'll be praising a few years down the line. It seems pretty hard to top.

Motorstorm still looks pretty damn good to me.
 
I got in an argument over twitter with an gaffer who said that Forza Horizon 2 "easily tops Driveclub" in terms of graphics.
Up until that point I though we just had a different taste in games but that is just some serious denial.

I often don't know if people are just trolling or lying to themselfs.


On an other note, are there any good sunset shots or gifs of Driveclub? I usually really like sunsets but in Driveclub I rarely see them and other things have been way more impressive to me.

I think what happens is that people remember a high point of a game they like and then are comparing that to videos of games you don't own. There are fleeting moments in FH2 where it does look stunning and if you compare that to some DC vids/pics it would be fair to say its better.

Trouble is that is a fraction of time and is not representative of the games as a whole.
 

CozMick

Banned
I made the mistake and looked into the comments.
How could anyone think PC looks better (in this video)?

Every aspect of this comparison is a win for Driveclub.

Visuals, weather, sound, cockpit view, chase cam, lighting, car models

Time to close the thread I think, just create a new one whenever GT7 is released.
 
It would be a waste of time and budget trying to implement a completely different way to render the rain juste for the PC version.

Tell that to the people who spent 1000 bucks on a high end PC.
Devs: "yeah, actually utilising that hardware would be a waste of time."
 
Tell that to the people who spent 1000 bucks on a high end PC.
Devs: "yeah, actually utilising that hardware would be a waste of time."

I know what you are saying (I am one of those people!) but its not like any developers have made promises to me to utilise my HW, to buy that was a choice I made.

The only people the PCars developers are answerable to is the backers (again which I am one of!) and they have put many other racing related features higher up the list than maxing out PC graphics.
 
...
Up until that point I though we just had a different taste in games but that is just some serious denial.
..

Well it's certainly not worth getting in an argument over but there's nothing to suggest he's wrong and/or in denial.

I personally find FH2 the better game graphically with the standout feature being the sky. It just plays so well into the game overall aesthetic (and OT, the free roam) - for me - than any other complementing feature in DC.

Both games are clearly a step above everything else that isn't PCars but out of the two console exclusives FH2 overall use of effects grabs me more than DC's ability to greatly replicate the mundanity of IRL.
 

Ricky_R

Member

Not sure if it's realistic or not (never driven through heavy snow), but it's kinda ridiculous in DC. Almost crossing to the no fun zone for me.

Also, the fact that the road in front of you doesn't get at least a couple of snow drops, even if they disappear soon after you go over them, makes the snowy experience a bit less immersive than rain. Rain is fucking nuts.
 
Good comparison!

Lighting and weather effects in DC are definitely ahead of PC, no question there. Sound design is generally better too, although I do prefer the car sounds of PC to DC. PC still has the best car models IMO.

Painful to watch, quite looking forward to PC but visually it looks years behind DC in that comparison. I don't remember F1 2010 looking that bad in the wet.
 

Noobcraft

Member
The video quality isn't really there, but I was checking out the windstorm conditions in Horizon 2 last night, and I like the movements on the vegetation.
I really like how they did it too. I wish the wind affected the handling or car though, you can tell by the telemetry data (hold down on d pad) that the suspension/car is not affected by the wind. It's still cool to see though. I like that the foliage on the ground is also blown around.
 
Every aspect of this comparison is a win for Driveclub.

Visuals, weather, sound, cockpit view, chase cam, lighting, car models

Time to close the thread I think, just create a new one whenever GT7 is released.

Not IQ though, and weather wise Driveclub wipes the floor with Pcars, but Pcars can look amazing in different scenarios, would be silly to close the thread.

It would be a waste of time and budget trying to implement a completely different way to render the rain juste for the PC version.

How? Other games do it all the time. The PC version is clearly the ultimate version and they should want it to at least match other console titles. Would be a nice gesture for those like me who helped fund the game early on.

They could also scale the improved version down for consoles, their technique at the moment is truly mediocre.
 

Jamesways

Member
Both games are clearly a step above everything else that isn't PCars but out of the two console exclusives FH2 overall use of effects grabs me more than DC's ability to greatly replicate the mundanity of IRL.

That's a very good way to express your opinion.
And while I enjoy the style of FH1 and 2, I really like the way DC can mimic real life, especially those drab gray days, with or without rain.

I love weather systems in racing games to replicate the day and mood of real life. A cold, gray winter day outside makes me want to race just that. PGR4 was great for this, and DC really fits the bill now too.

Regarding that comparison video, I still cannot wait to play pCARS on ps4. I know I'm easily impressed by graphics (several next gen games have blown me away), but I think pCARS looks great too. As mentioned above, the race customization is going to be really engrossing, set a time/weather/grid, etc.

Another aside- driving to work this morning (while it's 10 below with -30deg windchill), Punching in a Dream was on the radio. Made me nostalgic and want to replay FH1 really bad. What a great game that was.
 

bj00rn_

Banned

It doesn't, and it's partly because particles are only generated in a very limited box ahead of the window. I can't really fault Driveclub too much for it, because afterall there's a limited amount of resources available for this, even at 30fps. Realistic looking particles would eat up even more. What puzzles me more about Driveclub is its relatively low IQ, I'd trade some snow and rain for less fuzzy visuals. If FH2, and open world racer can do it, I'd think Driveclub, a corridor arcade racer, could do better. But I guess with nice weather effects there would be a trade off.
 

JP

Member
A comparison between Driveclub and Project cars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyZo6cmtkwI

it looks like a generational leap tbh, DC utterly destroys the competition, it's not even fair.
I really think both look fantastic, I love DriveClub and Project Cars will definitely be a day one purchase for me for something a bit more serious than DriveClub.

As well as being great fun to play DriveClub does seem to have something extra compared to any other driving game in reference to the graphics though. It's just got that indefinable "something" that lifts it above other games and although people like to talk about the technical side of things when it comes to games but I occasionally when you add up all the technical stuff you get games that are somehow more than their constituent parts.

I've said it before but DriveClub has a sense of place, a sense of actually being a part of a living space that I do think is unmatched in any other game so far. There is just something very physical about the world and I don't think that is solely down to technology.

Christ alone knows what Polyphony are going to be pulling out of the crazy bag at E3 this year because although GT is a real passion of mine I just don't see them being able to match the "feel" of this.
 

Gestault

Member
It's crazy how active this thread is considering how few next gen racing games we have so far.

People love them some car games. We'll have retail Project Cars not too far down the road, too. That and potential announcements in some of the other long-running series? I'm def excited.
 
It doesn't, and it's partly because particles are only generated in a very limited box ahead of the window. I can't really fault Driveclub too much for it, because afterall there's a limited amount of resources available for this, even at 30fps. Realistic looking particles would eat up even more. What puzzles me more about Driveclub is its relatively low IQ, I'd trade some snow and rain for less fuzzy visuals. If FH2, and open world racer can do it, I'd think Driveclub, a corridor arcade racer, could do better. But I guess with nice weather effects there would be a trade off.
Aside from the aliasing, everything else looks better(in my opinion) in DC. The weather effects seem to be better in DC when compared to FH2. All that considered, I can see where the extra horsepower went.
 
Top Bottom