Time & weather in Project CARS

Driftwood
Sunday, April 12, 2015 | 1:05 PM
27 comments

GSY Video PC PS4 Xbox One

Although Project CARS is still supposed to ship in May, we still don't know exactly when it will be released. Some will say that the passing of time is particularly slow when it comes to this game, so we decided to capture it to enjoy the moment while it lasts. The following video was recorded with high settings to show you how it looks, but it was also downsampled from 4K and MSAA was activated. It will show you the weather effects and the passing of time, which we both accelerated in the game's menu. Enjoy!
Update: Time Lapse video added. We shortened our full hour of capture to a bit more than 6 minutes.

Commented on 2015-04-11 22:44:57

Project Cars suffers with that "glass coated paint" effect you get by using too simple shading for complex light interactions (like you get on a car paint). Dunno, maybe I'm just an insufferable graphics whore, but it really bugs the hell out of me. I mean, right in the first image, the reflection on the side of the car looks completely unrealistic. In many Ultra videos (and also in my Medium experience) the hood of the car looks like a mirror, or glass coated piece of matte painted metal, which is giving this really "gamey" look I can't stand.

It's a good thing then that I haven't backed Project Cars for the graphics but for the gameplay (which is awesome) :)

In reply to

exenter

Commented on 2015-04-11 23:12:06 In reply to prdelator

Posted by prdelator

No other racing game looks better.

In reply to

Xoar

Commented on 2015-04-12 00:31:14

Beautiful!

In reply to

prdelator

Commented on 2015-04-12 00:33:01 In reply to exenter

Posted by exenter

No other racing game looks better.

Both Forza Horizon 2 and (especially) Drive Club look far better. And that's coming from a PC gamer. It makes sense too, since they're both 30fps games optimized for their platform.

In reply to

exenter

Commented on 2015-04-12 09:53:40 In reply to prdelator

Posted by prdelator

Both Forza Horizon 2 and (especially) Drive Club look far better. And that's coming from a PC gamer. It makes sense too, since they're both 30fps games optimized for their platform.

Forza Horizon 2? Really? Project Cars has much more detailed cars and tracks than FH2 and Driveclub. Project Cars is a racing game with actual race cars and real life circuits. I'm not interested in street cars racing outside proper racing circuits. The only thing that looks better in Driveclub is the environment outside the tracks, probably because of a much higher budget.

In reply to

SheikYerbouti3

Commented on 2015-04-12 13:10:40

I think Project CARS looks great for a racing sim with realistic physics, many cars at once and 1080p /60 fps target on PS4

In reply to

Badassbab

Commented on 2015-04-12 14:39:58 In reply to prdelator

DC only looks good in the rain. In the day time it can look quite fugly.

In reply to

SirAdamFrisk

Commented on 2015-04-12 15:33:29 In reply to exenter

Posted by exenter

While I don't feel like wasting my time on explanations of why your "opinion" is so terribly wrong, I will enjoy watching the pounding you're about to receive by others.

In reply to

SirAdamFrisk

Commented on 2015-04-12 15:37:13 In reply to Badassbab

Posted by Badassbab

DC only looks good in the rain. In the day time it can look quite fugly.

That's not true.

In reply to

Badassbab

Commented on 2015-04-12 16:02:17 In reply to SirAdamFrisk

I think it does. Just compare Gamersyde videos of the game at daytime and during a thunderstorm, the latter looks fantastic but the former shows up all kinds of graphical shortcomings that Digital Foundry pointed out. Bad AA at times, shimmering, poor AF, low resolution car reflections, low frame rate leaves and personally I don't like how the motion blur is implemented though that's just my opinion. I much prefer the look of Driveclub at night time and especially during a thunderstorm because it 'hides' all those issues. Plus being a circuit racer I was disappointed it was just 30fps. If it was open world that would be more forgiveable but PS4 can't handle a circuit racer with arcade physics at 60fps? In this day and age? Thank goodness for PC gaming. I'd love to see DC on PC, it would eliminate all those technical shortcomings but of course that's never going to happen.

In reply to

vansant

Commented on 2015-04-12 16:36:55

Tiny tiny detail, in the first video you can see the track side camera boom is moving. Pretty cool.

In reply to

exenter

Commented on 2015-04-12 17:00:00 In reply to SirAdamFrisk

Posted by SirAdamFrisk

While I don't feel like wasting my time on explanations of why your "opinion" is so terribly wrong, I will enjoy watching the pounding you're about to receive by others.

How is that just my "opinion"? Project CARS has race cars and real life circuits. FH2 and DC2 does not. The cars and tracks in Project CARS are more detailed. Look at all the videos posted here for crying out loud.

In reply to

Angelsx

Commented on 2015-04-12 20:38:52

Anyone got problem watching 1080p 60fps on ipad?

In reply to

MrWhite

Commented on 2015-04-12 21:22:58

Visually, this looks better than FH2. The cars, and especially the weather and lighting are just much more realistic to look at, and just look at those skies. They look almost real. I can't speak for Driveclub, as I've yet to see that game in the flesh. And being critical of reflections in any game is being hyper-critical, given that shaders in video games aren't that complex yet to attenuate distance of reflection blur. You want shit like that, best wait a bit for a real-time ray trace engine to appear. It'll take a bit.

In reply to

bleachedsmiles

Commented on 2015-04-13 14:45:36 In reply to MrWhite

DriveClub is the best looking racing game (arguably best looking ps4 game full stop at times) I've personally ever played. I've no idea about FH2...can't really see any merit in the argument when ones an open world racer.

Light source in DriveClub is what makes it shine. Car models are flawless (particularly shown off in photomode..where you can zoom right up to the tires and read the print running around it if you wish). But being in a point to point race that goes from the sun glistening through the tree branches, to dark clouds coming together and a flash of lightening lighting up every rain drop falling...it's the only time this new generation of consoles has had me audiably say "wow".

In reply to

Hypoman

Commented on 2015-04-13 17:42:44

I think Driveclub is one of the worst driving games i've ever played! The only thing that is really impressive is the rain effects. It is an arcade fest for Ridge Racer fans! There is a constant feeling of 'tunnel racing' b'cause you can't really leave the track and if you do ,you are placed back immediatly.

In reply to

MrWhite

Commented on 2015-04-13 18:18:33 In reply to bleachedsmiles

From the videos I've seen, I'd agree that the lighting in DC is what makes it stand out. It's arguably the most natural I've seen to date. Although, I'd say that this game, and Assetto Corsa are not far behind.

In reply to

andrewsqual

Commented on 2015-04-13 18:51:50 In reply to Hypoman

Lucky you, not ever playing a Need for Speed game not made by Criterion Games before. I envy you. :)

In reply to

bleachedsmiles

Commented on 2015-04-13 19:07:12 In reply to Hypoman

Yeah it's an arcade racer...more in common with sega rally, ridge racer (i remember getting loads of abuse here when it was first being shown for saying it reminded me of ridge racer), or grid...than GT or Forza. There is some skill needed for it though, and the cars do handle differently.

My biggest gripe (part from all the dlc in the menues) is that you can't set up your own private races...I quite fancy playing a race against just my mate, or brother, but you have to join a lobby - the lobbys could also do with their start up times cutting in half...you can be waiting 3-5 mins between every race.

In reply to

bloodforge

Commented on 2015-04-13 20:46:30 In reply to Angelsx

Runs fine on my Air 2.

In reply to

INDIGO

Commented on 2015-04-14 01:58:25

That was incredibly cool - thanks for making it!

In reply to

marker

Commented on 2015-04-14 15:37:37

DC is artistically more beautiful game compared to Pcars on max settings but not realistic. Weather of Pcars is rather disappointing though. For example this video looks beautiful but it is not realistic IMHO. Pcars replay look realistic and that is the way to go for sims:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1pvygDEU-o

In reply to

bubble2020

Commented on 2015-04-15 13:22:47 In reply to Hypoman

Posted by Hypoman

Wow. Ridge Racer? Not. Even. Close. Just stop. Please. You've either never played Driveclub or you've never played Ridge Racer.

In reply to

bubble2020

Commented on 2015-04-15 13:31:39

PCars has it's good sides and bad sides like all racing games. It's graphics are pretty good overall, and at the right angles at the right time it looks breathtaking. At some other angles, however, it looks like it needs some work.

Haven't gotten my hands on it yet, but all in all if you enjoy the game then it seems well worth it. It's graphics are certainly nothing to gripe about (puddle reflections excluded).

In reply to

bubble2020

Commented on 2015-04-15 13:34:20

Also, all this mentioning of Driveclub makes me want a time and weather video for DC as well. Would be nice to have a comparison.

In reply to

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Time & weather in Project CARS

21 Gamersyde images

Time and weather

Time Lapse

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