Car Modeling/Details. (GT4,Forza, Enthusia)

[Chris Criswell]

I've been reading different posts in different threads and noticed a hint of "This vs. That"

For example: "Enthusia blows Forza's car models away"

This could be true, yet Enthusia & Gran Turismo only has to render 1 car model per car, in different colors. Which would make it very easy to make it look pretty darn nice.

On the other hand, Forza does have a damage system. Internally and Externally. When the body takes damage, it has to look like it, and when it has to look like it, it has to take the shape of a damaged part of a car. That being said, Forza has to render MORE than 1 car model per car per color. In that case, the car models wouldn't be as nice looking since it has to change in real-time and at unexpected times.




Overall, while comparing car models between Enthusia/Gran Turismo and Forza, it is somewhat unfair due to the number of models that have to be made for each car. The Enthusia models look decent, but I think Gran Turismo 4's car models are far superior for some of the cars. Forza's look good as well, but there are more camera angles while racing, and different damage models for each car.


So, can we all get along now?

 

[MikeCUK28]

They don't have to have a different model per color. Just a different texture, same as if there wasn't any damage. Plus its not like the fact that they added damage deformation models would mean the overall quality of the models would go down. The non damaged model is probably a composite of all the damagable components in their non damaged state, then they just get deformed or removed as necessary.

 

[Chris Criswell]

Texture was what I meant when changing colors.

But as for damage, the look of the car has to change while racing, which still would take up more space that could be used to make the car model look a lot nicer.

 

[Wolfe]

What you're saying works just fine in a general situation, but for the sake of argument, there are a few other factors that mess with things a bit...

For one, the Xbox features hardware that is significantly stronger than the PS2's hardware. This is an assumption on my part, but that implies that the Xbox has more video and/or system RAM than the PS2. Thus, it has a greater ability to store extra things away until they're needed, such as extra modelling for damaged cars. Of course, this extra grunt also means that, overall, the car models can be more detailed than on the PS2.
Another thing is that Forza features much less content than GT4, which means the developers of Forza should have had an easier time modelling cars with more detail without having any space issues.

But hey, I actually don't notice any difference in model quality between the three games -- I only notice the differences in paint/reflection effects, and each game gets some of that right and some of that wrong...