OK, I've just spent the evening with GT3, GT4, and Apex, just to try and narrow down the what's what and who's who of racing game graphics.
Let me start by saying that GT3 is still a mighty fine-looking game. The visuals have held up remarkably well, especially by PS2 standards.
The move to GT4 revealed subtle improvements, some of which had to do with art direction. For example, I played Trial Mountain on both games, and GT4 seems to sport newer, more realistic textures on some of the rocks and other objects.
Colors seemed a little less bright and garish as well. For example, grass in GT3 looked overbright and unnatural, whereas in GT4, it had been toned down a bit to look more real.
Unsurprisingly, texture shimmering remained a problem in both games, with some of the grassy areas beyond the road appearing quite grainy. Shimmering was especially apparent on finely detailed objects, such as powerlines and chain-link fences.
Interestingly, most of the signs in both games looked sharp and clear. A few, however, suffered from shimmering, even in GT4. (I'm thinking right now of some that adorned the wall alongside the track - they buzzed and jumped, while the signs above the road and directly in front of me looked solid and clear.)
It's funny, but some of GT4's road surfaces look very nice, while others seem to fall victim to a bit of shimmering. In general, I think they're probably an improvement over GT3.
(And yesterday, I must have posted my impressions after playing for too long on one of the slightly shimmery tracks, because tonight I experienced a variety of raceways, and the majority of them looked quite nice.)
I would have loved to have compared the two games side by side, as it's not nearly so easy drawing comparisons the way I'm doing it. Henceforth and therein, caveat emptor - I'm
trying to relay this info with as much accuracy as possible, but between my display and my thirty-five-year-old eyes, I'm not making any promises as to its accuracy.
So then I popped Apex into my Xbox, and sure enough, I think my earlier post was pretty much spot on. The game is quite beautiful, with courses that feature realistic, animated objects (balloons, billboards), lots of pretty textures, and more geometry than GT4 is pushing.
What's more, fences and power lines looked straight and true, with nary a pixel out of place. The antialiasing of this game really makes a difference.
And I'll say it again - the bump-mapped roads really help. As you round a corner and drive into the sun, you really get a sense of texture on the road as the light reflects bumpily off the porous pavement.
A side note about the texturing in Apex. Some objects, like a few bridges I passed under, didn't look very impressive. Just white "concrete" with some bluish strokes to resemble shadowing. But mostly, the textures in Apex are very detailed and realistic. While playing, I got the impression of a beautiful, hand-drawn animation.
The colors were warm and vivid, maybe a tad brighter than realistic, but very easy on the eyes. Lighting was nice, too. The result was improved immersion - I think that overall, Apex suspends disbelief quite well, pulling you into its world and - wonky physics aside - convincing you that you're really there.
As nice as GT4 looks, the texture shimmering takes away from the overall effect; it's a near-constant reminder that you're playing a PS2 game.
But that's the biggest complaint I have with the visuals of GT4. And perhaps I was a little hard on the game in my post yesterday. It's not so much jaggy pixels that hurt the visuals; it's more the buzzing on some of the textures and objects themselves. All in all, it's a great-looking game.
But hey, cut me a break. I'd just spent several hours basking in the visual glory that is Tekken 5 - which is remarkably smooth and sexy - so perhaps the few flaws in GT4 struck me as more jarring than they normally would.
