Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis

Woah. This is without doubt one of the technical analysis richer in detail than we've ever done, but Polyphony Digital is a study that looks in depth the technical details, and to be honest, a highly anticipated game like Gran Turismo 5 is well worth the effort. http://jugar-online.blogspot.com/


In this article I criticize the visual aspect, we analyze the game modes 720p, 1080p and 3D, and comparisons with which to measure the technical development of Polyphony in the 71 months that have passed since they released their epic Gran Turismo 4 for PlayStation 2 in Japan.

Besides being a title GT5 looks down to the smallest detail - something that, obviously, we appreciate - we have also studied the less important and curious additions, such as head-tracking with PlayStation Eye. Given the importance of this release, and work to create our video material, we also publish downloads of clips 720p60 more important.

There are many points to discuss in a game as huge and technologically advanced as Gran Turismo 5 that while it is impossible to make a definitive analysis on the time we had at our disposal, along the following five pages you have all the major issues we have studied. Click to go directly to interest you more if you wish:

* Framebuffer / Image Quality
* A generation gap? Gran Turismo 4 vs. Gran Turismo 5
* The HD era: Gran Turismo HD / Prologue vs. Gran Turismo 5
* Modeling of vehicles: Cars vs Standard. Premium
* Performance Analysis: 720p vs. 1080 vs. 3D
* Gran Turismo 5: 3D Experience
* Head-Tracking with PlayStation Eye
* Extras: Import PSP and Photo Mode
* Gran Turismo 5: Findings of Digital Foundry

Framebuffer / Image Quality

Let's start by looking at the configuration of the framebuffer. The truth is that the principles of rendering has not changed much compared to Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The game renders natively at 720p with 4x anti-aliasing multi-sampling (MSAA) when the XMB is set to 720p, while the change to 1280x1080 resolution with 2x quincunx (QAA) if it is 1080p. So you will not see 1080p native resolution anywhere, but a 50% increase in the number of pixels rendered.

Thin objects and flashing mirror like shine on the cars (one of the most important elements in the visual composition) will benefit greatly with increasing resolution, adding more precision to the look of the game. However, the combination of upscaling of 1280 to 1920 pixels wide, with the use of quincunx anti-aliasing, textures makes the look more blurry in 720p mode with 4x MSAA.

There is the argument that Polyphony could have considered using 720p with 2x MSAA for a lower resolution mode. Running at 60FPS tends to mix things up naturally to the human eye, and this effect is amplified when everything is in motion, like a driving game. It would also have better performance and reduced tearing.

That said, get 4x MSAA with frame-rates and details as high as this is definitely a technical achievement that has not reached any of the competitors of Polyphony (Forza 3 runs at 720p with 2x MSAA, for example), and really stay with the sense that Kazunori Yamauchi's team enjoys going to the limit.

The 3D mode is an interesting experience, working in 1280x720 effective for an eye, the vertical format of the HDMI standard 1.4. 4x MSAA here goes (presumably for performance reasons or even DMA) and 2x mode QAA 1080 takes its place. There is no apparent change, and although there are slight differences in lighting between the left and right eye, this is probably due to the change in point of view of each eye.

There is also a menu option to switch between Normal, Flicker Reduction and Sharper. We suspect that their function is to optimize the game for standard-definition screens, because as you will see in the comparative catches no difference if the ways are activated in 720p, 1080p or 3D. Here are a few to 1080. We have tested both within the game and in the repeat mode, but the picture remained the same regardless of our choice.
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot Normal1
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot normal2
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot flicker1
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot flicker2
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot sharper1
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot sharper2

Comparison between Normal, Flicker Reduction and Sharper. Gives all the feeling that they are there to optimize the game in standard definition monitors.

You can not be putting too many drawbacks to the display: there are models of exaggerated quality for each premium-level cars (100,000 polygons to their higher LOD) and although the lighting is basic compared to the technical view other car games (the lighting system by Environmental sampling of NFS: Hot Pursuit is particularly spectacular), the specular clean Polyphony applied in cars has an aura of beauty, giving the feeling that you are immersed in a world of CG quality.

What is not so impressive is the use of alpha. Splashes in the wet levels are - be honest - quite appalling. What we see here is the size 1 / 16 of the buffer.
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' alpha-1 Screenshot
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' alpha-2 Screenshot

Some of the alpha effects of GT5 are crappy - splashing in the car when you run in wet conditions, for example. Even the thumbnails are catch blocks of pixels. Click to view the full 1080p resolution captures.

Another aspect is much improved implementation of the shadows of the cars on some circuits. That did not pose a big problem in Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, but that there was no real-time weather effects and changes in the time of day.
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' Screenshot shadows-1
'Gran Turismo 5: Technical Analysis' shadows-2 Screenshot

Implement schedule change requires the use of dynamic shadows. The PCF shadow falls in GT are quite hard. The shadows are computationally demanding, and it is hard to do anything more beautiful when GT5 renders the entire frame in just 16 milliseconds.

But leaving these items rather ugly, the overall look of the game is unblemished and exemplary, and is clearly a jump to that seen in Gran Turismo 4. This is the fist on the table of Polyphony Digital. The low resolution, frame-rate at 30FPS, clear defects of clipping and the need for frame-buffer modes of lesser quality made the difference between the original GT and Gran Turismo 3 was abysmal. There we saw a much higher resolution, better modeling and twice the frame-rate. So ... Do we see here a comparable jump in the series?
A generation gap? Gran Turismo 4 vs. Gran Turismo 5

The leap from GT4 to GT5 is based on the resolution, lighting and modeling. There is a clear goal by Polyphony playable cars to offer quality photo mode - and they are many more.

To illustrate the evolution chart, here's a comparison video. We have a Mini Cooper-S in the circuit Tokyo R246, and a Lotus Elise 111R in the Clubman Special Stage. There are two clips per course for those who try to maintain the highest possible timing. Gran Turismo 4 running at a modest 632x448, so the jump to 1280x720 (not to speak of 1280x1080) is enormous. Sumadle the best lighting, drawing greater distances and a more refined art materials and it is clear that GT5 is the generation gap than expected.

Look also in the modeling scenario has changed significantly, perhaps not just for technical reasons but also artistic. In terms of the composition of the scenes, there are areas in which the PS2 game has many objects on stage, though of course the detail is much simpler compared to the new game.

That said, the frame-rates in GT4 are certainly higher and the tearing, although present, is not nearly as pronounced as in GT5. The public seems to be denser on PS2, the lower resolution means that the models can be more basic. Additionally, it should be noted that the architecture of PS2 is a monster in terms of fillrate, and also the PS3, so operating in 1080, has 400% more pixels on screen than its predecessor.
Gran Turismo 4 at 480p against GT5.View this video in HD

Gran Turismo 5 has been published just one month of the sixth anniversary of GT4 (Polyphony's masterpiece for the PS2 was launched in Japan on December 28, 2004). Since then we have seen three new releases from Polyphony Digital, two of them free and to some extent regarded as demos of GT5.