The lighting in this game is absolutely true to life

[Magog]

When the sun starts to set I swear the air from my AC feels more like a cool night breeze setting in. 😌

I haven't gotten this sort of feeling of presence outside of VR games.

 

[LSFDRX]

I had a similar feeling on a replay at Trail Mountain where the camera followed through the back tunnel and emerged into the twilight, almost gave me a chill! Reminds me of way back when playing Arizona Sunshine in VR and "feeling" the sun on my skin when I came out of a cave.

For all the complaining the game is garnering at the moment, it's sure nice to appreciate the things it is doing so right.

 

[Tenacious D]

Honestly, while good and I like it, I believe it overdoes the HDR thing, even turned off. Dusk is pretty dark, compared to how it looks in RL after I go outside just after sunset, and the shadows are pretty dark in bright sunlight. It needs more environmental scatter. Sometimes, daylight is almost blinding. And the glare of headlights, or coming out of a tunnel, that is blinding. The caveat is I'm on PS4 Pro till I can afford - and find - a sanely priced PS5.

I found the lighting in the Sport engine to be close to ideal. But those aside, tweaked a bit, it's darn photoreal.

 

[TSTO]

Honestly, while good and I like it, I believe it overdoes the HDR thing, even turned off. Dusk is pretty dark, compared to how it looks in RL after I go outside just after sunset, and the shadows are pretty dark in bright sunlight. It needs more environmental scatter. Sometimes, daylight is almost blinding. And the glare of headlights, or coming out of a tunnel, that is blinding. The caveat is I'm on PS4 Pro till I can afford - and find - a sanely priced PS5.

I found the lighting in the Sport engine to be close to ideal. But those aside, tweaked a bit, it's darn photoreal.

The PS5 does HDR better from all the games I've tried on both 4Pro and 5.

 

[Pfei]

Agreed. The lighting in cockpit cam at night is unreal. It's the first time in 30 years of sim racing that I feel that my lights are working correctly and not just a mere result of an algorithm. The shadows that move over the cockpit when passing light sources, or when someone is behind you, is the most realistic night feeling I have ever experienced in a "game" or "sim".

It's superb.

 

[MrNukki]

I am playing on the base PS4, and even it, in 1080p fidelity looks quite spectacular. Very polished and clean-looking across the board for all platforms.

 

[cjr3559]

And the way headlights light up reflective surfaces at sunset/dusk (think roadsigns on Tokyo Expressway) is remarkable. It’s pretty amazing. And this is on PS4 Pro 1080p.

 

[FOG-Smokebeer]

Honestly, while good and I like it, I believe it overdoes the HDR thing, even turned off. Dusk is pretty dark, compared to how it looks in RL after I go outside just after sunset, and the shadows are pretty dark in bright sunlight. It needs more environmental scatter. Sometimes, daylight is almost blinding. And the glare of headlights, or coming out of a tunnel, that is blinding. The caveat is I'm on PS4 Pro till I can afford - and find - a sanely priced PS5.

I found the lighting in the Sport engine to be close to ideal. But those aside, tweaked a bit, it's darn photoreal.

Hi m8 a trick you might try to get a ps5 like i was lucky enough to get was i went to my local independent game shop to get gt7 on ps4 and asked if they get any ps5 in they did now and then so took my phone number and put me on the list. One week later the phone went and they had one for £450 but the deal was i had to buy two games from them so i traded in gt7(£34) ps4 and got gt7 ps5 and F1 2021 ps5 for £521.Still that's a lot of money and not worth it just for gt7 yet

 

[Magog]

Honestly, while good and I like it, I believe it overdoes the HDR thing, even turned off. Dusk is pretty dark, compared to how it looks in RL after I go outside just after sunset, and the shadows are pretty dark in bright sunlight. It needs more environmental scatter. Sometimes, daylight is almost blinding. And the glare of headlights, or coming out of a tunnel, that is blinding. The caveat is I'm on PS4 Pro till I can afford - and find - a sanely priced PS5.

I found the lighting in the Sport engine to be close to ideal. But those aside, tweaked a bit, it's darn photoreal.

The thing about HDR is that to get the best effect you have to dial in the console, game and most importantly your TV settings. It can be as "washed out" or "overly dark" as you want it to be depending on how you have your TV set up. I can't speak to your reality but in mine shadows are dark at night and lights are blinding.

 

[Noz]

Cant wait to play with psvr2!

 

[Magog]

Cant wait to play with psvr2!

If they let you play any race in VR it would be absolutely amazing and with the power of the PS5 I don't see any reason why not.

 

[MajorBriggs81]

Yea! The lighting according to time of day just makes it. The way sunlight reflects off of other cars to blind you is so true to life 😂. Love the dynamic time of day too, where the lighting effects are really noticeable.

 

[Noz]

If they let you play any race in VR it would be absolutely amazing and with the power of the PS5 I don't see any reason why not.

Well, thats excatly my thought, i even think GT7 will be the biggest selling point for PSVR2 and thats the reason they keep their mouth shut at PD about vr compatibility, because they want to surprise us with a juicy vr trailer at the PSVR2 presentation!
If GT7 isnt PSVR2 compatible i sell GT7 and never buy a Sony game again

 

[Tenacious D]

As an example of what I mean by overly bright glare, have any of you watched fireworks in the game lately?

 

[Mercia]

As an example of what I mean by overly bright glare, have any of you watched fireworks in the game lately?

Y'know it's funny you should mention that, I did enjoy a pretty random firework display as I raced into the night at Alsace for a GT Cafe race but when I went to watch the replay and grab some snaps of the cars under the fireworks, they just weren't there, as if they never happened... Very strange!

(I didn't notice any particularly bright glare though)

 

[SkylineObsession]

I too am impressed with the lighting, and know exactly what you mean about 'feeling' the temperature at dusk/dawn in the game. I had the same feeling in GT5/GT6 when racing around the Nurburgring Nordschleife - when the sky started getting lighter in the in-game morning i just had this feeling most times of a sort of morning chill/crispness to the air (and i didn't have AC on in real life back then).

I've never felt like that before in any other game that does day/night cycles.

And the night lighting in GT7 is also by far the best lighting effects i've seen in any game too, or at least any game where you can drive cars. Pic taken pre-1.06 update.

 

[Tenacious D]

Pic taken pre-1.06 update.

Maybe pre-1.06 the bloom around lights was better, it's hard to remember. And it could be that in 1.08 it's a lot like that. But I remember that with many headlights in 1.06, the glare and bloom practically enveloped the front of the car. I had to adjust the glare settings in replay pics in order to make them look realistic. And most telling for me, when in a tunnel, out the other end you can't see much but a blob of whitish glare, which isn't right. But maybe that's a PS4 issue, hard to say because I don't have a PS5 to compare.

I hope I don't have to buy a PS5 to see the graphics as they're meant to be, because that and a Fanatec wheel is about US$2,000! OUCH!!

 

[CustomX]

Bumping this thread because I've been meaning for a long while to express my pure joy at the lighting in this game. The reflections off other cars, the way shadows dance across the windshield and get longer in the mornings and afternoons, the reflections inside the cockpit on inside of the windshield etc.

My question. As of now (July 2023), is there any other sim racing game on the market on any platform that does lighting as well or better than GT7? If so, which one(s)?