You make it sound like Polyphony is underfunded compared to T10. You might remember that at the time GT5 was one of the most expensive video games ever made, until GTA V crushed everyone and everything. Polyphony has only gotten bigger since then, and I doubt it's gotten any cheaper to make video games.
I meant more like T10 has no problem outsourcing assets and PD does, Obviously PD should either outsource or hire more staff to remain competitive.
OK, even though I was clear that there's more to a model than simply polygons
Well true, but not really. Materials, lighting, textures etc all improve the look of a model but are not directly related to geometry, or polygons (whatever your preferred term is). And I'm strictly talking polys because i was responding to the topic of having to remodel the cars again for next gen.
let's do this as a thought exercise. What more could you do with polygons that would improve the model? Assuming that we're not adding a damage model and no one will ever want to look at any parts of the car that aren't already modeled.
Would it be worthwhile to go back over and add imperfections into the model? Many of these are taken from CAD models as a base, but a real car isn't so perfect. Is it worth adding variation into the panel structure and how they're positioned relative to each other? It's not uncommon, particularly for GT, for the cars to be accused of looking "too perfect".
Funny you mention that, as i think PD paid more attention to that than other devs. In GT6 it was quite noticeable how the old muscle cars, especially the GT350 had some slightly misaligned panels and such compared to modern cars. Can't say I've noticed that in other games really. And while I agree that tiny imperfections improve overall realism, all of the things you mentioned can be added to current models if necessary. If PD wants to misalign the door on a Porsche they can do it, it's not necessary to remodel the car.
Is it worth having modeled paint or sticker layers that are separate from each other? A decal is not physically on the same layer as the paint, although currently the engines treat them as though they are. Is that valuable to have separate physical layers of base coat, metallic, and clear? Depending on how your lighting engine works it could be.
But that's the purpose of material shaders and not the geometry, isn't it? Many recent games' shaders simulate base coat, clear coat etc. For extremely thin things like a coat of paint it's far more effective to use layered materials. Materials are a separate thing from the geometry. And if you really want for decals to be made with geometry it can be done. In fact FH3 models actually have decals as geometry and not textures. It's not necessary to redo the car for that.
I'd say there's almost certainly materials that could benefit from an unlimited poly budget. Carpet. Fabrics of all types. Rough metal or plastic. The way that these things are dealt with currently are ingenious hacks, and with increasing hardware power it may be preferable to simply have them modeled as the textures materials that they are.
Even if you are totally nuts (and you have the hardware power) and want to have every little bump in the plastic on a dashboard, or every strand of fabric in a carpet to be actually modeled and not textured, these things are usually not done manually but with an algorithm that would spread these shapes across a surface. Again, it's not necessary to remodel the car and PD can easily add that when there is enough hardware power.
Games look great now, but they don't look real. Still shots are getting there, but there's still a gulf between something like a Scape and real gameplay. It's only in the last handful of years that CGI has really gotten good enough to seamlessly integrate cars into things like car commercials, and that's with essentially unlimited hardware power. You don't think that there are parts of the modelling that add to that? Up to you. Bit of a lack of imagination on your part though, to think that we're somehow at the pinnacle of what can be done to make something look real.
Whoa now, I never said that. Scroll up and notice I simply said that car models are so detailed now, you won't achieve much by pumping more polygons into them. With the whole point being, that I don't see a reason why PD to remodel the cars anytime soon. PS1 to PS2 was a huge jump, PS2 to PS3 too, but PS3 to PS4 not nearly as much. The next evolution in realism will be in lighting (like ray tracing), materials, textures, animations and such. But PD is PD, so who knows what they'll do.
I dont think I have seen any game up to date to be that 3d cad model:ish as those found in Project cars. Would be so cool if GTS really did have as advance models as in PC and not only a realistic looking body shell.
