High Effects Mode?

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I remember way back in GT1 there was an option after beating the game to do a race with the framerate cranked up and texture resolutions a little bit better. Of course, due to the PS1 processing power, it was limited to one track and only one car on the track. All the same, it was neat.

This gave me an idea. Why doesn't PD allow us to select a special mode that increases the FX of the game. I realize that the reason most of the effects aren't very good is to conserve memory to retain 60fps, so that would likely drop to 30fps and the number of cars on track might only be 6. But here are some possible improvements:

-Better sound quality by allowing more samples for a given car
-Higher texture resolution (this is already very strong, so this might not need to be improved)
-Higher rain-drop/snow resolution. Doubling the amount of rain (and halving their individual size) on the windshield would make it look so much better.
-Improved shadows and particle effects (these just suck in GT5)
-Imrproved weather effects (lets see wet tracks actually look wet! kinda like SSR7)
-Improved light-scattering from headlamps. I think the reason the headlights in GT5 are not very effective is they take huge amounts of memory to calculate in real time
-Vsync (enough said really)

In addition, perhaps freeing up memory would allow PD to implement some new graphical features:
-Depth-of-field blur..perhaps not as radical as NFS-S, but something more along the lines of Red Dead Redemption where they use it cleverly to hide lower-res background details
-Effects like being able to see glare in the windshield and more dirt/dust collecting on the car
-Increased damage effects

I would gladly slash 60fps down to 30 for the option of such a mode, what do you guys think? I don't believe it would be too difficult to implement either.

 

[Cobaiye]

Replay graphics (motion blur + AA4x + 30FPS) ingame would be great.

 

[sinbad]

For me fps is far more important.

The only feature I'd like to see on a mode like this would be a rain mode with an actually wet looking surface, but I'd rather trade scenery and the number of cars on track for it, than frame rate.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

For me fps is far more important.

The only feature I'd like to see on a mode like this would be a rain mode with an actually wet looking surface, but I'd rather trade scenery and the number of cars on track for it, than frame rate.

Well like I said, it would be an optional thing.

And maintaining 60fps is the biggest drain on memory of anything in GT5 I believe.

 

[Marcus Garvey]

I would imagine if they had the ability to do that efficiently they would make the game operate like that all the time. It certainly would play into the marketing with the graphics war going on right now between the big racing games. With the added cost of more sound samples and more graphics development the accounting team would probably require it pays off in increased sales, and I don't think they'd see the same increase in sales if it was only available at the end of the game. The game market has changed in the last 15 years, and fewer people play to fully beat a game with the depth of the games these days. A lot of people instead have many many games that they only play 50-70% through. I think it's part of today's insant gratification seeking consumers.

I would think at the stage in the PS3's lifecycle that the limitations of the hardware would be the biggest obstacle rather than simply having it available but hiding it until the end of the game.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I do not understand your post at all.

 

[Marcus Garvey]

I think that if they had the ability to include those features in the game with the resources they had to develop they game that they would have done so. But sure, it would be great to have better effects in the game, yes.

 

[counter345]

I would imagine if they had the ability to do that efficiently they would make the game operate like that all the time. It certainly would play into the marketing with the graphics war going on right now between the big racing games. With the added cost of more sound samples and more graphics development the accounting team would probably require it pays off in increased sales, and I don't think they'd see the same increase in sales if it was only available at the end of the game. The game market has changed in the last 15 years, and fewer people play to fully beat a game with the depth of the games these days. A lot of people instead have many many games that they only play 50-70% through. I think it's part of today's insant gratification seeking consumers.

I would think at the stage in the PS3's lifecycle that the limitations of the hardware would be the biggest obstacle rather than simply having it available but hiding it until the end of the game.

I fully agree. Whilst these features would encourage the person to beat the game, it wouldn't do a lot to the overall sales, and, also, a lot of people would whine about how they can't complete the game for whatever reason.

 

[eran0004]

The entire game already have that feature. It's basically a preview of what GT on the PS4 will be like, that's why some things are so glitchy on the PS3...

They should focus on adding more gameplay content and tweaking already existing features rather than improving the graphics for the very limited kind of event that this would be.

And I'm sure that once the PS4 is launched we'll be getting a prologue for that console as well.

Edit: What I'm trying to say is that they should focus on making GT5's lifespan last until the next game is released. And there's a lot more on the to-do list than adding a new hi fi feature. It would be quite embarassing if people went back to GT4 while waiting for GT6...

 

[sinbad]

The gt "hifi" mode mentioned in the first post was made in the same circumstances. Gran turismo pushed the psone to its limit, just as gt5 does the ps3, but it's a compromise, of course. Just as gt hifi mode made 60 fps possible on psone, there's no reason why a similar mode couldn't focus the ps3 on certain elements, at the expense of others, naturally.

 

[eran0004]

The gt "hifi" mode mentioned in the first post was made in the same circumstances. Gran turismo pushed the psone to its limit, just as gt5 does the ps3, but it's a compromise, of course. Just as gt hifi mode made 60 fps possible on psone, there's no reason why a similar mode couldn't focus the ps3 on certain elements, at the expense of others, naturally.

Of course it can be done, but GT hifi was a one track time trial only, to add that to GT5 would be fun for one week and then no more. Consider the time it would take to make new textures for a track, basically rebuilding the graphics for this single event. Modelling a track with the normal graphics, well, took almost a year before we got Spa as a DLC, how long and how much work would it take to make a GT5 hifi mode? Far more than making the hifi mode for GT1, it's a totally different universe. They can spend that time a lot better.

 

[leighton]

I think the whole of GT5 is fully cranked up, there is enough screen tearing as it is, I'm not complaining it's my favourite PS3 game but I'm happy with the graphics as they are

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I think the whole of GT5 is fully cranked up, there is enough screen tearing as it is, I'm not complaining it's my favourite PS3 game but I'm happy with the graphics as they are

To this post and all others

I'm not really saying improve the graphics, but let us pick a compromise. Either locked high frame rate, or better effects/more polish. They both take lots of memory, and thats why we can't have both. The texture resolutions are fine how they are.

The tradeoff:

60FPS = No AA, No 'wet' tracks, poor Particle effects, poor lighting effects, fairly poor weather effects

30FPS = 4XAA, Properly wet tracks, improved particle effects, improved lighting effects, improved weather effects

Just remember, running at 60FPS, the PS3 is having to process double the amount of information that 30FPS would require. Cutting this to 30 would free up a TON of memory.

It's almost as if GT5 is running in hi-fi mode all of the time. I'd rather see more polish and better effects. A game is supposed to immerse you into it's 'realm.' Every time I see a pixelated particle effect, horrid screen tearing, jagged shadows, or hear overly synthed engine noises (to fill in the gaps between samples; usually idle and redline with nothing in between!) it takes me right out that realm. I remember PGR4 had a way of pulling me right into it's world. It was so polished, and the fact that it ran at 30fps gave me that 'suspension of disbelief' that GT5 just fails at. 30FPS ftw, 60FPS ftl!

 

[ghostrider135]

Heres an idea for PD, What about having wet reflective track surfaces when only 1 car is on track in a free run 💡

 

[NjLowrider]

Give us the ability to link 2 ps3 consoles for double the power. There was a post about polyphony running a few consoles to show the power of gt5.

 

[play3man]

GT5 is running in 60FPS?? Really??? Maybe in the menu...

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

GT5 is running in 60FPS?? Really??? Maybe in the menu...

If I give PD anything, I give them that the framerate is pretty damn steady, even with a ton of cars on track.

 

[Grayfox]

The gt "hifi" mode mentioned in the first post was made in the same circumstances. Gran turismo pushed the psone to its limit, just as gt5 does the ps3, but it's a compromise, of course. Just as gt hifi mode made 60 fps possible on psone, there's no reason why a similar mode couldn't focus the ps3 on certain elements, at the expense of others, naturally.

The only thing PD could do is a Preview of what GT6 will look like.

It can be a download option with a track(something like Monaco with a F1 Ferrari) just 1 car and with textures and models having more detail to show case what GT6 will look like could be done.

 

[play3man]

If I give PD anything, I give them that the framerate is pretty damn steady, even with a ton of cars on track.

If is steady, why is tearing?

 

[counter345]

If is steady, why is tearing?

How do I shot web?

In all seriousness, the FPS only gets lairy when there's 12-16 cars out in the wet. That's really all I've seen.

 

[spunwicked]

Heres an idea for PD, What about having wet reflective track surfaces when only 1 car is on track in a free run 💡

Is it SS7 that has reflective track surfaces? I think the only reason it is possible on that track is because there is little else going on other than the cars, road and walls.

It really would be nice to have reflective parts to some wet track surfaces. I remember being quite disappointed that this wasn't implemented when I was watching all the pre-release videos of cars racing in the rain.

 

[play3man]

Sorry guys, but I am sure, that with only one car on the track (no weather or time) isn't FPS steady.

 

[phil_75]

30fps would kill the response time!

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

30fps would kill the response time!

Perhaps. I don't think the physics engine runs at the same frequency as the framerate though. I would think that the physics engine is probably 1000hz or more? No? It might delay the reponse time in as much as the time it takes for you to react based on visuals from the game, but I don't think the inputs would be delayed.

 

[BWX]

I'd buy a second PS3 if I could somehow link them up for 2x the image quality in GT5.