What this demo is doing very well is combining GI with high density assets (nanite) and RT reflections in a big map on console for the first time AFAIK. I wouldn't say open
world because it's has very limited interactivity being a demo. But it's a very good basis for a multiplatform engine (and this is exactly that apparently) that will have to run on very different machines with very different I/O capabilities, including maybe Switch and PCs with HDDs. The fact that it loads faster on XSS than on PS5 clearly shows that they aren't even using the custom I/O on PS5, at least for the main loadings, which is really a shame (and odd) after last year demo.
As such I think I was more impressed by the first demo running on PS5. The last part showcasing assets loaded on the fly was very impressive, even on a video, and actually new, still new if we ignore Ratchet onrails sections, and the 30fps wasn't impacting the wow factor of that.
But while overall it's very good at combining all those technologies the main problem is that it's only 30fps which will destroy every pixels in motion. They maybe aimed for a too high average resolution. With TSR and the quality of the textures they should lower the resolution and aim for 60fps. I can't forget how incredible GI can be on a very dynamic open world game (way more dynamic than here) at locked 60fps like Exodus (even if it's noticeably less sharp and with lower quality of assets).
Some people are quite happy with XSS 864p + TSR at 30fps (I think obviously because of GI + nanite + high quality textures), with a few optimizations couldn't it run at average ~1080p + TSR at 60fps on PS5 and XSX? Finally I wonder if those RT reflections are not actually detrimental to the otherwise excellent GI (the best thing for me in that demo). They are really low quality (noisy?) and can look awful at times but here I am probably spoiled by Insomniac reflections.
ok, THAT was the most impressive aspect of the demo...
But at what cost? when you start creating car collisions (with like with just a dozen cars) the framerate is worse than early PS3 games (I have seen down to 16fps on PS5).