World's best looking car game *stupid smackdown thread of Sigh-Ents and Tacky-Cal

[SlimJim]

Probably unrelated, but Xbone had very simple static skybox in Ground Zeroes, while PS4 got that full dynamic sky simulation that KojiPro hyped at their GDC keynote.

True, although that was only in 1 level, and the Xbox One had the OBM which was missing from the PS4 version. The recent 30 minute PS4 demo featured both the dynamic sky, and the OBM, so it's possible that the Xbox One can receive it as well.

I actually think the Xbox One can do a lot of things. Looking at what Polyphony achieved on PS3, I think even on the Xbox One, the only limitation, is the developer.
Again, look at NFS:Rivals. This is a launch game. Future Xbox One racing games will far exceed it

 

[Shifty Geezer]

You mean the lack of (dynamic) clouds, or do you really mean the actual color blue? In all the FH2 footage I have not seen a single blue sky.

FH2 does not feature the color blue, as there is a very large amount of yellow post-processing slapped over it.

That's completely false. Open the B-video. Opening clip - realistic blue sky. Next scene at 32 seconds, blue sky. Next scene at 43 seconds, blue sky. Next scene at 50 seconds, blue sky. Next scene at 59 seconds, night time, convincing blue-grey sky. Next-scene at 1:09, blue sky. Next scene, 1:17, green sky. No, hang on, it's blue. Next scene, 1:31, can you guess the colour of the sky? It's a tricky one, pretty unusual for this game. Yep, it's blue. Go figure! At 1:42, Playground Games have decided to mix it up a bit, and put some blue up there.

So in the video provided in this thread, there isn't any scene that hasn't go a blue sky, which suggests you're not seeing any blue skies necessitated you watching all media with your eyes closed...

As for the 'yellow filter' on every shot, clearly the white balance tends to favour 'warm', especially with brightly lit scenes (eg. 1:09 in Australia), and there's also a slightly yellow tint to the lens flare, but it's far from a yellow filter. Certainly blue is not turned green or grey thanks to a yellow filter.

Ultimately that post just makes you look kinda foolish as your claims are so easily and categorical disproved with the most readily available media.

 

[SlimJim]

This is from the B-video.
My display is calibrated btw, so my only logical explanation is you have your display set to Adobe RGB (1998) colorspace. Either that, or we just have a different interpretation of the word "blue"

Anyway, compare the B-roll footage on your display to my supplied screenshot, or the Outrun (2006) screenshot below. For that screenshot accurately portrays what my definition of "blue sky" is

edit: I re-watched the B-roll footage with my display set to "Adobe RGB (1998)", and the sky does appear more blue-blue in that situation. But in the beginning there is a color-chart, and that looks completely off in that color mode, so there's that

 

[HTupolev]

Strictly speaking, the sky in the FH2 B-roll footage does tend to be slightly blue, but saturation is very low.

The game does have a "yellow filter" in the sense that non-yellow colours are desaturated, though it's not a "yellow filter" in the sense of just evenly adding yellow or reducing non-yellow across the image.

 

[SlimJim]

Strictly speaking, the sky in the FH2 B-roll footage does tend to be slightly blue, but saturation is very low.

The game does have a "yellow filter" in the sense that non-yellow colours are desaturated, though it's not a "yellow filter" in the sense of just evenly adding yellow or reducing non-yellow across the image.

I did notice that during nighttime the effect is not enabled or at least not as apparent

 

[DieH@rd]

2 year old showcase of clouds in Project CARS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmYsvRef964

 

[SlimJim]

2 year old showcase of clouds for Project CARS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmYsvRef964

Looks we have a new number 1

 

[iroboto]

Anyway, compare the B-roll footage on your display to my supplied screenshot, or the Outrun (2006) screenshot below. For that screenshot accurately portrays what my definition of "blue sky" is

You are onto something, but it may not be as you think. From IGN.

“Light is a really big deal for us for this game, and the reference points we’ve chosen for this game are famous for their quality of light,” says art director Ben Penrose. “So on this game we didn’t want to leave anything to chance. We didn’t want to give you an impression of what the places are like that we visited and have tried to reproduce.

So, either they are wrong, or you haven't seen enough to make a full judgement on how the lighting in done in FH2. I can tell you in that particular screen shot, from the position of the sun and my general time telling abilities I would guesstimate it is approximately 4.00+pm in that shot. So definitely should be expecting more hues and less blues.

Technical director Alan Roberts breezes through the ins-and-outs of a real-life optical phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, which is what causes both the vivid blue hue of the midday sky and the red and yellow tones of the sky at sunset. In a nutshell, the sky in Horizon 2 is blue because science dictates it, not because an artist glanced out a window and settled on the closest shade he or she could find.

“This now means that we can simulate the way that light interacts with particles in the atmosphere,” says Roberts. “We no longer have to have artists picking the colour of the sky from a colour picker; we can model the amount of particles in the atmosphere and the sky and the lighting reacts accordingly.”

“That’s how it works in real-life, and that’s exactly how it’s working here,” adds Penrose.

The pair go one step further, stripping away the particles from Horizon 2’s atmosphere. We can now see the stars (which Penrose assures us are also accurately modelled) because, as Roberts explains, “t’s like being on the moon or a planet without an atmosphere.”

 

[djskribbles]

Looks we have a new number 1

Personally I think DriveClub is equally as good as Project Cars. And if we're talking about console versions only, I think DriveClub wins from what I've seen. The E3 PS4 footage was a bit rough. Of course Project Cars will be 60fps.

Either way, I'll be getting both games.

 

[iroboto]

So I wanted to follow up, the yellow is actually the strength of the rays of the sun directly positioned into the camera.

When the rays are blocked there is a visible difference, you can see the rays travel around objects it hits. In this particular screen capture of the B-roll, above the tree you can see 2 skies, the blue that you expect, and the direct sunlight into your eyes version.

This particular effect of strong rays seems to be throughout, and in scenarios where the drivers view of the sun is obstructed by the environment you get a very clean look of the landscape. Watch it a few times and you'll spot it appearing in quite a few areas.

 

[SlimJim]

Great find iroboto, I didn't know they could do an accurate realtime Rayleigh scattering simulation, let alone do it through particles.. But if the developer explains it, then it's probably true.

To quote Dan Greenewalt, in Forza 5 they "reverse-engineered the sun", While they did not "model the amount of particles in the atmosphere", they did create a realistic looking blue sky, as demonstrated in the following video, claimed to have been running in realtime on Xbox One comparable hardware:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_NySJyi2pw

 

[SlimJim]

So I wanted to follow up, the yellow is actually the strength of the rays of the sun directly positioned into the camera.

actually that looks like a correct hue of blue!

Is the yellow tint caused by a constant lens-flare like effect?? If so, then it's a shame that the Rayleigh scattering particle simulation gets 'obstructed' most of the time, if not constantly

 

[iroboto]

actually that looks like a correct hue of blue!

Is the yellow tint caused by a constant lens-flare like effect?? If so, then it's a shame that the Rayleigh scattering particle simulation gets 'obstructed' most of the time, if not constantly

Yes? I don't know, AFAIK you should only be able to see rays like that if there are mass particles in the air for the sun to reflect off. That's not necessarily an effect of lens flare I believe. You tend to see that effect (of light cutting through trees) more often in the forest/rain forest where the humidity is higher and it's generally damper.

If someone lived there, maybe they could comment how accurate they got it to real life. I live in Toronto lol, I'll never know what it's like to live up high in the mountains against an ocean coast.

If FH2 is doing a particle based system in atmosphere, and they over did the number of particles or something, then yea I guess this could be an effect that either needs correction or something, or it could be ridiculously accurate. I do recall that when the particles get exceptionally thick in the game that is when grey clouds form and the rain begins to fall.

EDIT:
I think it's just the way it's supposed to be, driving into the sun just sorta creates that effect, any hobbyist photographers want to comment? Parts of the b-roll footage the you can see when he drives directly into the sun it's completely whitening out the sky, and when turning away you see a very nice blue. If the driver had turned around completely it would likely be the complete blue sky you're looking for.

I think the footage you are seeing are to showcase some of the lighting effects in play, when the full game rolls around there you'll see all the skies, suns, and moons, and clouds.

 

[DieH@rd]

 

[function]

Bru, bru skies

As for the 'yellow filter' on every shot, clearly the white balance tends to favour 'warm', especially with brightly lit scenes (eg. 1:09 in Australia), and there's also a slightly yellow tint to the lens flare, but it's far from a yellow filter. Certainly blue is not turned green or grey thanks to a yellow filter.

Irn Bru?

 

[function]

Yes? I don't know, AFAIK you should only be able to see rays like that if there are mass particles in the air for the sun to reflect off. That's not necessarily an effect of lens flare I believe. You tend to see that effect (of light cutting through trees) more often in the forest/rain forest where the humidity is higher and it's generally damper.

I've seen it at the seaside (most recently Cornwall in the UK, particularly on days with an offshore breeze) and less so on really, really, horribly, snottily havfeverish summer days in the countryside.

It cool that FzH is doing dynamically generated Sega-sih blue skies. I guess the amount of time Sega peeps spent in California was their inspiration for stuff like Daytona.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Anyway, compare the B-roll footage on your display to my supplied screenshot, or the Outrun (2006) screenshot below. For that screenshot accurately portrays what my definition of "blue sky" is

edit: I re-watched the B-roll footage with my display set to "Adobe RGB (1998)", and the sky does appear more blue-blue in that situation. But in the beginning there is a color-chart, and that looks completely off in that color mode, so there's that

1) Blue means more blue component than red and green. 2) WTF regards Outrun Blue? FH2 is a pretty realistic renderer, whereas Outrun was a cartoony racer. Of course FH2 isn't going to have Outrun-blue skies. No racing game is save for some specialised locations and times of day - the real sky isn't that blue. FH2's sky is very natural looking.

 

[joker454]

I've seen it at the seaside (most recently Cornwall in the UK, particularly on days with an offshore breeze) and less so on really, really, horribly, snottily havfeverish summer days in the countryside.

It's similar here in LA near the beach cities, usually around May or June where the water temperature is such that a fog lifts off it and rolls inland which here they tend to call "the marine layer" or "june gloom". It means that you don't see pure blue skies until the sun finally burns away that fog later in the day. That's what that FH2 screen grab reminded me of. People that visit LA to come to E3 have probably noticed this if they ventured near Santa Monica or some other beach city here at that time of year. Normally it's usually sunny blue skies year round here except in the May, June time frame.

 

[iroboto]

June gloom. Lol awesome. Learned something today.