Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion [2021]

[Silent_Buddha]

Very nice. But some things that stood out to me.

Man, like many games after seeing the UE5 demos, it's so incredibly low poly.

Second, if not for the side by side comparisons I likely wouldn't notice if RT was on or off. RT ON certainly looks better, but RT off is close enough that if RT were turned off, I wouldn't really notice the lack of it, especially during gameplay.

Still nice to see what developers are doing. Some weird things happening with reflections in the game as well. The light intensity of various objects in reflections don't seem to match the actual objects. Most noticable with one of the signs which has s sort of dotted line around the text of the sign. The reflection has the light intensity of the text correct, but the dotted line is incredibly dim in the reflection.

Also, I can't stand looking at the main character with the fist attachment on. The center of gravity would be behind the rabbit so there's no way he can stand like that. It's incredibly off-putting to me, but then I'm the type that walks into a house/building and immediately starts to notice all the things that aren't put together well.

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

Played this on PS5 and it's certainly a stunning game. But be prepared, it is crushingly difficult. Probably one of the hardest games I've ever played, still not sure how I managed to finish it. I was hoping for a RT update but it never came and I'm not sure it ever will.

was it good fun? DF always selling titles to me lol. These tech dives do a much better job than advertising do

 

[London Geezer]

was it good fun? DF always selling titles to me lol. These tech dives do a much better job than advertising do

Super good fun with some super frustratingly difficult bosses and sections here and there. Also the soundtrack is fabulous.

 

[SmooTh]

 

[Karamazov]

that does not look very good, i should delete it from my XsS without even trying it.

 

[BRiT]

Article @ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...rza-horizon-5-xbox-series-technology-showcase

The technology of Forza Horizon 5: an Xbox Series X masterpiece
Plus: a first look at cross-platform comparisons.

For nearly as long as video games have existed, the racing game has stood as a monument to state-of-the-art technology - an opportunity to dazzle audiences with vividly realized automobiles gliding across virtual highways. As this technology evolved so too did the representation of driving - more advanced physics enabled more realistic simulations while more powerful graphics architecture enabled increasingly vivid recreations of the world around you. As new consoles launched, new racing games would inevitably appear to demonstrate why you needed that new machine. From Project Gotham Racing to Forza Motorsport to Forza Horizon, Microsoft has understood this - and with Forza Horizon 5, Playground Games has delivered an exceptional system showcase.

The defining structure of Forza Horizon is the marriage of driving and open world exploration. Players are plunged into an expansive map packed full of races and events - participation in or simply reaching these events allows players to drive a wide range of powerful cars along the way. To make this work effectively, the game needs to render large open areas that are both visually striking yet completely legible while also retaining near-field detail capable of showcasing both the cars and the environment. Oh, and it needs to do all of this at 200 miles per hour.

Forza Horizon 5 does each of these things better than any prior entry in the series - the cars and nearby environments are more detailed than before while distant objects retain a suitably rich silhouette. This is, without a doubt, one of the most visually striking racing games we've played at Digital Foundry. It's at once an astonishing showcase of what the Xbox Series consoles are capable of delivering and yet, at the same time, it also runs well on Xbox One-class kit too (something we'll be looking at much more closely in a piece coming soon). It's the most ambitious cross-gen game we've looked at and a masterpiece of scalability.

...

 

[PSman1700]

Super good fun with some super frustratingly difficult bosses and sections here and there. Also the soundtrack is fabulous.

Never heard of FIST before, bought it immidiately on Steam, its a stunning looking game and even more important quite fun too, im not into this kind of games but this one i like. Supports dlss, reflex and ray tracing aswell (which looks nice).
Certainly good to see smaller studios/devs releasing these technically impressive titles, and they can be very good gameplay wise aswell.

Article

Seriously stunning looking game.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Very good video. I'm sooooo looking forward to experiencing the audio in this game. First racing game I'm going to play since the late 90's early 2000's, and it's mostly due to the audio. Can't wait.

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

damn, the footage of a Mark 4 Supra and Trueno Sprinter ...

dem pine needles.. they nailed it.

 

[snc]

Very good video. I'm sooooo looking forward to experiencing the audio in this game. First racing game I'm going to play since the late 90's early 2000's, and it's mostly due to the audio. Can't wait.

Regards,
SB

if audio in racing games is so important for you try acc, not matched by any other racing game

 

[London Geezer]

was it good fun? DF always selling titles to me lol. These tech dives do a much better job than advertising do

Also one (or two) trophies are tied to a combo training thing which is what I usually call Mozart Piano Lessons in games. Completely impossible combos to pull off, at least to me. So no chance of platinum. And actually, even the final final super duper move you can get (which you really don't need, but there's a trophy for that) can only be obtained by completing that part, so in the end most people won't even get that, which is a bit sad.

 

[cheapchips]

Pleased John called out Forza's foliage movement. The different weight of movement between trunks and branches and different plant types is something all games should be doing these days.

It's something that really bugs me when it's bad. The tree animations on Elden Ring, for instance, wouldn't look out of place in Steam Boat Willie. Bouncing in unison to the beat of a song only they can hear. Maddening!

 

[BitByte]

One of the best DF videos I've seen in a while. You can tell that a lot of passion was put into the video. With regards to the game, I must say, I'm not really impressed and that's surprising. At the initial showing, i was quite wowed but the closer I look at it, the less impressed I become. I guess, its due to the fact that it's cross-gen but there are quite a few things that really kill the wow factor for me. LOD management, foliage rendering, low polygon buildings and shadows surprisingly really kill the immersion for me. The first 3 are noticeable in gameplay while shadows are only noticeable when you slow down and pay close attention. I also wish this game had RT-GI and RT Shadows on PC. It would make a huge difference. Also, the towns/cities are too clean. No build up of dust or grime in the crevasses which is a real head-scratcher since they have a dust/particle system in the game. You can't really expect too much from a cross gen game though. The imperfections are more obvious as we get closer towards the realism goal we're chasing with regards to rendering. I do look forward to their true next gen entry in a few years and I expect it to be stunning.

 

[snc]

One of the best DF videos I've seen in a while. You can tell that a lot of passion was put into the video. With regards to the game, I must say, I'm not really impressed and that's surprising. At the initial showing, i was quite wowed but the closer I look at it, the less impressed I become. I guess, its due to the fact that it's cross-gen but there are quite a few things that really kill the wow factor for me. LOD management, foliage rendering, low polygon buildings and shadows surprisingly really kill the immersion for me. The first 3 are noticeable in gameplay while shadows are only noticeable when you slow down and pay close attention. I also wish this game had RT-GI and RT Shadows on PC. It would make a huge difference. Also, the towns/cities are too clean. No build up of dust or grime in the crevasses which is a real head-scratcher since they have a dust/particle system in the game. You can't really expect too much from a cross gen game though. The imperfections are more obvious as we get closer towards the realism goal we're chasing with regards to rendering. I do look forward to their true next gen entry in a few years and I expect it to be stunning.

imo visible lod management is not because its crossgen but because playground chose to keeping native 4k often instead of using more aggressive dynamic res

 

[BitByte]

imo visible lod management is not because its crossgen but because playground chose to keeping native 4k often instead of using more aggressive dynamic res

That's fair I guess. Honestly, 4K should not be a priority in the age of reconstruction techniques. The performance saved could be used towards additional rendering features. I'm just rewatching the video again and the lighting is a problem at times, particularly when it rains. The sky and the lighting of the environment seem to be at odds with one another. It affects the cohesiveness of the visuals as some things look like they don't belong in the scene. There are times when everything just looks off, like a facade. At times it's due to the lighting and other times, it's due to the physical interaction between objects in the world. Sometimes it seems like things should physically interact but they dont and, at other times there's only a partial reaction. Take the rain for example, it just looks fake at times like a filter.

Here's a legacy bug I found in the video that has not been fixed yet:

 

[Johnny Awesome]

This game looks incredible to me. I'm just sad I came to the FH party so late that I'm still working on FH4.

 

[Sonic]

The only thing that bothers me is that the geometry isn't quite at the level to where polygon edges aren't visible. Other than that it looks great to me in an artistic sense and can't wait to play it. 60 fps racing game in an open world that looks this gorgeous, yes please.

 

[higherARC]

Goodness this game simply has the best graphics I’ve seen yet

 

[see colon]

That's fair I guess. Honestly, 4K should not be a priority in the age of reconstruction techniques. The performance saved could be used towards additional rendering features. I'm just rewatching the video again and the lighting is a problem at times, particularly when it rains. The sky and the lighting of the environment seem to be at odds with one another. It affects the cohesiveness of the visuals as some things look like they don't belong in the scene. There are times when everything just looks off, like a facade. At times it's due to the lighting and other times, it's due to the physical interaction between objects in the world. Sometimes it seems like things should physically interact but they dont and, at other times there's only a partial reaction. Take the rain for example, it just looks fake at times like a filter.

Here's a legacy bug I found in the video that has not been fixed yet:

That's just a Men In Black reference.

 

[iroboto]

imo visible lod management is not because its crossgen but because playground chose to keeping native 4k often instead of using more aggressive dynamic res

offering another opinion on this: may not be resolution as the issue for this particular scenario. I think they still have an older streaming system based around 30fps. They would need to remove last gen to be able to bring it up to speed to support 60fps. 4K native is not locked on performance mode, so I don't think the correlation between LOD management and resolution is that strong. (load times are still 20seconds for instance a very far cry from the speed Demon Souls and SM:MM load at).