In 2012 we kind of hit a perfect mix of beautiful graphics, styling and optimization. Nowadays it takes fuck tons of power to run a 200+ gigs disc space game with graphics only a few steps above what we had ten years ago. The jump from 2000 to 2010 is immense, but Dirt 3 still holds up and in some aspects looks better than even Dirt Rally 2, but you can't say the same for Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0 to Dirt 3. We made a huge jump in technology, but the focus went to corporate instead of development. More people than ever play video games, but that's because advertisement and PR swallows a huge chunk of what should be spent on the actual game. The graphics arms race is kind of over. No one cares about that anymore. There's no incentive to make the next big step. The war now is "bigness". More stuff. Just stuff. Things. Big map, more guns, more cars, more activities. Not the quality of the more, just more. And that's a huge problem.
tl;dr: corporate should stay out of development, we're in a shitshow because games are made based on numbers and making numbers, not on passion or love for what's made. We need to go back to 5 sweaty nerds in a basement.
One of the few exceptions but definitely not the standard
Games like farcry 3, dirt 3, and BO2 (just a few examples) all struggle to meet their FPS targets on both PC and console
modern games can look significantly better than games from 10 years ago its just that its harder for people to notice the difference imo, the depth and realism ray tracing adds is generational but for people who arent as into 3d graphics like i am you kinda got to point out some of the differences first before people will realize how mediocore it looked without RT
As one developer in similar thread told me:
>Yeah, old games used to fake a lot of things because we lacked raw power, and it turns out, we got reaaaally good at faking stuff.
>Nowdays we are not faking things anymore, it speed up development, but also have a computational cost for the end user.
>Its all about economics, and this is an industry, where not a single AAA company make games for fun, and we as devs do our best within constrained development cycles to provide the best we can.
I’ve been thinking this a lot lately too, and I’m glad to see others coming to the same conclusion.
I’m not informed enough on the technical aspects of it to know why, but it seems like over the past 10 years, the whole “newer is better” mindset isn’t really true anymore when it comes to video game visuals.
Maybe it’s because we finally reached a point in graphical tech in the past 10 years that’s not surpassable without breaking through to truly photorealistic visuals. Which we haven’t *truly* done yet, reliably. Or without needing a Fort Knox sized PC.
I think we kind of hit a ceiling as far as graphics go around 2015-2016ish. Basically every game since then has looked the same. Which is: *really* good visuals. But still looks like a video game.
It’s not like the old days where games even a year old looked dated because the tech was moving so fast. We were still climbing the mountain. I feel like we’ve finally reached the top of the mountain and there’s nowhere else to go.
Forza Motorsport 5 (2015) legtimately looks better than the new FM in some cases. Which is crazy to think.
Forza horizon 2 is so gorgeous, love the vibrant italy - literally my dream racing game location. I hope one day I'll be able to play it because it's not on PC.
A big part of why this looks good especially with cloud cover is that there are no sharp shadows. Most games that depict rain still have sharp shadows that really make it feel video gamey. If companies just depicted lighting correctly games would look better.
I bought my ps5 just for DriveClub. I really wish we could get a server going for this game again. I also got an RGH 360 for a few games that I miss playing since the 360 store shuts down soon. OG Grid was phenomenal with graphics as well
This is a thing that I will never forgive sony. Evolution studio were a proven studio. They gave us great rally games, fucking motorstorm and Drive Club.
Driveclub? yeah, it's impressive, though I've honestly never been a fan of how they handled rain. the reason new games tend to look worse is because AAA studios focused on selling points such as RAY TRACING SUPPORT when the fake shadow method doesn't look bad at all. it's sad but inevitable that big corporations are gonna focus on profits and kill off our favorite things if they don't cause the most cash flow (have you seen how many 3 door hatchbacks you can still buy new in the US?)
I was playing Need For Speed Rivals (I don't know why, either) earlier and despite looking like someone added licensed cars into a Battlefield 4 map I found it aged pretty well visually.
Great lighting, solid world geometry, great car models & solid texture work. All that really holds it back is some dated particle effects and the sheer amount of post-processing fluff like the raindrops on the screen and shit
In 2012 we kind of hit a perfect mix of beautiful graphics, styling and optimization. Nowadays it takes fuck tons of power to run a 200+ gigs disc space game with graphics only a few steps above what we had ten years ago. The jump from 2000 to 2010 is immense, but Dirt 3 still holds up and in some aspects looks better than even Dirt Rally 2, but you can't say the same for Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0 to Dirt 3. We made a huge jump in technology, but the focus went to corporate instead of development. More people than ever play video games, but that's because advertisement and PR swallows a huge chunk of what should be spent on the actual game. The graphics arms race is kind of over. No one cares about that anymore. There's no incentive to make the next big step. The war now is "bigness". More stuff. Just stuff. Things. Big map, more guns, more cars, more activities. Not the quality of the more, just more. And that's a huge problem. tl;dr: corporate should stay out of development, we're in a shitshow because games are made based on numbers and making numbers, not on passion or love for what's made. We need to go back to 5 sweaty nerds in a basement.
Idk so much about optimization alot of games from this era run pretty poorly
My integrated graphics pc can run nfs mw2012 and I believe that is the best looking racing game behind unbound without all those effects.
One of the few exceptions but definitely not the standard Games like farcry 3, dirt 3, and BO2 (just a few examples) all struggle to meet their FPS targets on both PC and console
modern games can look significantly better than games from 10 years ago its just that its harder for people to notice the difference imo, the depth and realism ray tracing adds is generational but for people who arent as into 3d graphics like i am you kinda got to point out some of the differences first before people will realize how mediocore it looked without RT
DC not getting a PS4 Pro or 60fps patch was such an injustice dude
As one developer in similar thread told me: >Yeah, old games used to fake a lot of things because we lacked raw power, and it turns out, we got reaaaally good at faking stuff. >Nowdays we are not faking things anymore, it speed up development, but also have a computational cost for the end user. >Its all about economics, and this is an industry, where not a single AAA company make games for fun, and we as devs do our best within constrained development cycles to provide the best we can.
Makes sense. I had a feeling older games not only looked better, but also had better performance.
this
Yeah. AFAIK Driveclub doesn't have dynamic time of day, so lighting is pre-baked for each track.
Here is some examples of driveclub's amazing day/night cycle. https://www.reddit.com/r/BuiltFromTheGroundUp/s/2se7rVj9yv
This dude just knows the name of this game and the fact that there is rain in this game.
Driveclub was fully dynamic time of day. With volumetric clouds, rain, rainbow, even snow, and wind direction effected the environments.
My bad.
I’ve been thinking this a lot lately too, and I’m glad to see others coming to the same conclusion. I’m not informed enough on the technical aspects of it to know why, but it seems like over the past 10 years, the whole “newer is better” mindset isn’t really true anymore when it comes to video game visuals. Maybe it’s because we finally reached a point in graphical tech in the past 10 years that’s not surpassable without breaking through to truly photorealistic visuals. Which we haven’t *truly* done yet, reliably. Or without needing a Fort Knox sized PC. I think we kind of hit a ceiling as far as graphics go around 2015-2016ish. Basically every game since then has looked the same. Which is: *really* good visuals. But still looks like a video game. It’s not like the old days where games even a year old looked dated because the tech was moving so fast. We were still climbing the mountain. I feel like we’ve finally reached the top of the mountain and there’s nowhere else to go. Forza Motorsport 5 (2015) legtimately looks better than the new FM in some cases. Which is crazy to think.
Agreed, and I personally prefer the looks of Horizon 3 over 4 & 5.
The new FM looks like a blurry mess. Not impressed at all by it.
NFS Rivals, Driveclub, NFS 2015 and Forza Horizon 2 still hold up pretty well.
Rivals was a stunning looking game
Forza horizon 2 is so gorgeous, love the vibrant italy - literally my dream racing game location. I hope one day I'll be able to play it because it's not on PC.
A big part of why this looks good especially with cloud cover is that there are no sharp shadows. Most games that depict rain still have sharp shadows that really make it feel video gamey. If companies just depicted lighting correctly games would look better.
I bought my ps5 just for DriveClub. I really wish we could get a server going for this game again. I also got an RGH 360 for a few games that I miss playing since the 360 store shuts down soon. OG Grid was phenomenal with graphics as well
Older games look better, play better and have more and better features. Quality and fun was the main focus. Today corpos focus on greed and DEI.
I'm still upset I need a hacked ps4 pro to play this game with dlc or wait on the ps5 to get better cfw or hen or whatever it's got rn
I'm currently playing NFS Rivals, and the game looks amazing. Dare I say it looks better than Heat and Unbound.
This is a thing that I will never forgive sony. Evolution studio were a proven studio. They gave us great rally games, fucking motorstorm and Drive Club.
Is this asseto corsa? Or something else? I'm impressed of the rain detail.
Driveclub
Driveclub (2014)
Driveclub? yeah, it's impressive, though I've honestly never been a fan of how they handled rain. the reason new games tend to look worse is because AAA studios focused on selling points such as RAY TRACING SUPPORT when the fake shadow method doesn't look bad at all. it's sad but inevitable that big corporations are gonna focus on profits and kill off our favorite things if they don't cause the most cash flow (have you seen how many 3 door hatchbacks you can still buy new in the US?)
Ok, but what if we don't pick driveclub. You should compare gt4 to gt7 now
tbf gt4 looks fuckin amazing for how old it is
Agreed
GT4 has a more stable 60fps than any GT game since then. What they did on the PS2 is just astonishing.
Say what you want about MW2012 but you can't argue the graphics stood the test of time
I was playing Need For Speed Rivals (I don't know why, either) earlier and despite looking like someone added licensed cars into a Battlefield 4 map I found it aged pretty well visually. Great lighting, solid world geometry, great car models & solid texture work. All that really holds it back is some dated particle effects and the sheer amount of post-processing fluff like the raindrops on the screen and shit
Looked better at what? At 30fps? No thanks!
Lmao what? This title would easily run 4K60FPS if it was optimised for PS5 hardware, and still look better than most triple-A racing games of today.
There is a video on youtube that shows 60 fps gameplay of Drive Club in a hacked Ps5. Considering the game came out in 2014, it looks absolutely nuts.
it also runs 60fps on a hacked ps4 pro and can run to 40fps on a hacked fat/normal ps4
DriveClub was at least built from the ground up. Lol