dynamic time makes graphics better?

[disguisedpotato]

There are a few things about the graphics of this game that bother me: jaggies, some low res textures, some standard cars and on some tracks the flat color of the grass and other textures.

Take the TG test track for example, the grass is just one shade of green and together with the low res airplane and textures this makes it one of the worst looking tracks of the game. The nurburgring however looks pretty awesome, but here the grass also has too few different shades of green, that is without dynamic time.

When dynamic time is turned on in practice mode, it looks like everything gets better shading and the grass looks much better, theres a nice sun in the sky and all colors suddenly look amazing. Dynamic time change makes the game look 10 times better, it really is amazing.

Does this mean that when dynamic time is turned off, dynamic shadows are also turned off and its not just one set time of the day? Do other people agree that this makes the nurburgring look 10 times better and it should be defaulted for other tracks to increase graphics quality of the entire game?

Why can it be done on a massive track like the nurburgring and not others, and why don't all events use dynamic time change? It's just weird.

The high speed ring also got these features in 1.06 and when doing the license test on it I noticed that it suddenly looks really sweet, before it looked pretty bad actually!

 

[pantherjag]

I kind of know what you mean, i always think le mans looks much better when playing it on dynamic wether

 

[sumbrownkid]

I kind of know what you mean, i always think le mans looks much better when playing it on dynamic wether

It looks great when the Sun is rising and the track is damp. Seeing the Sun's reflection in the water makes me giggle like a girl.

 

[XxOnLySBz4mExX]

Disable the HUD and take the classic Fiat 500 to the Nurburgring 24H circuit. Enter the one-make race, give the opponents a 30 second lead and just enjoy the beauty of it all. The accelerated day/night cycle means it'll be dark by the time you're halfway through the lap, and it's just such a breathtaking experience.
Doesn't solve the racing issue, but I just thought I'd share that.

Best idea that I've heard today. I'm gonna try this later.

 

[Dmarc_Atl]

yea high speed ring looked way better with dynamic weather
before it started to rain
its was very bright

 

[ghsnu]

I used to play a free game called "Rigs of Rods" (quite fun, has a lot of community made cars, but is quite intensive on your CPU).

Some maps had day-night transition and actually looked better.

I think the main cause of the grass looking better is separate images of the whole "map", one for every X amount of time to smoothly transfer between day-night.

But that's my guess. Rigs of Rods does that, and it looks nice, too bad my computer needs a major upgrade.

 

[Griffith500]

It's partly because, especially with dynamic weather, the lighting conditions are constantly changing - overcast lighting conditions are done really, really well in this game, too.
Otherwise the lighting is perfectly static, which can lead to the environment looking flat and bland. Lastly, the default time of day is different in each case.

The other benefit is evolving track conditions, although it's better to avoid accelerated time in this instance, or else the swings in track grip will be dramatic and sudden.

There's a thread around here, though, that states Suzuka loses its procedural grass sprites in dynamic weather mode, so it seems odd that other tracks would get more detail...

 

[aR_ChRiS]

time acceleration?
i thought time would only slow down if you go faster (lol relativity =P)

 

[CodeRedR51]

When dynamic time is turned on in practice mode, it looks like everything gets better shading and the grass looks much better, theres a nice sun in the sky and all colors suddenly look amazing. Dynamic time change makes the game look 10 times better, it really is amazing.

After running some laps on the Nurburgring last night, I thought I would bump this thread to the top. I totally agree with the OP about the time change tracks having better lighting. Everything looks more realistic. I for one hate Kaz's idea of "perfect lighting" that is portrayed on all the non-time changing tracks.

I LOVE when I can select the Nurburgring time change track and do an early morning lap with the sun coming up and a nice mist in the air. The atmosphere on the track is down right awesome.

👍

 

[VBR]

Why can it be done on a massive track like the nurburgring and not others, and why don't all events use dynamic time change? It's just weird.

I agree! Also, why do we have a full weather system on Nurburgring 24 Hours & not on Nurburgring GP/F, GP/D & the 4 Hour version? Makes no sense at all. It's similar with Suzuka, we have rain on the full track but no rain on Suzuka East & why don't we have Suzuka West like in GT4? PD haven't made the most out of what they've got in so many areas of GT5 & it comes accross as being really half-assed of them!

 

[DIA1974]

I LOVE when I can select the Nurburgring time change track and do an early morning lap with the sun coming up and a nice mist in the air. The atmosphere on the track is down right awesome.

Absolutely, positively the best thing for me in the whole game is the 'ring with the time set to early morning or early evening. Often set up an on-line room and just put in lap after lap on this circuit, all on my own. Love it!

 

[strtgng]

Take the TG test track for example, the grass is just one shade of green and together with the low res airplane and textures this makes it one of the worst looking tracks of the game. The nurburgring however looks pretty awesome, but here the grass also has too few different shades of green, that is without dynamic time.

I was watching an old Top Gear last night and was noticing most of the grass areas off track hadn't been mowed in ages and had about two feet high brush and weeds. The grass in game is totally off - looks like a golf course in comparison.

 

[spapadillion]

I was just at the real Nurburgring this morning, lying in the grass: I counted seven crickets, two grasshoppers, one hundred fifty three red ants, eighty two black ants, a dead moth, three worms, two slugs and a pillbug. GT5 only has half that. ****ing lazy bastards.

 

[budious]

I like the Toscana course generator when on 20:00 time, you can create nice crests into the direction of the sunset, if you drive in cockpit view then you catch a glare off the windshield or a tree occasionally casts a shadow into the corner with the sunset glaring around the edges. It can be more impressive than the lighting features on the ring.

 

[Gran_Turismo]

Yes the graphics has multiple set ups based on in-game conditions, for optimal performance. The game looks its worst when the contrast of the light system is at its highest, but when there is less lighting, everything looks more realistic and the shadows look A LOT smoother.

Heck I even some how managed to get into a 16 car race in arcade mode the other day for the first and only time ever since i got the game back in november, but could only do it on one of my custom tracks with certain settings.

The games changes its settings based on condictions. Its very inconsistant, but impressive at times.