Sevenfold
Member
Looks amazing in motion. So much F-Zero. Low res gives it an arcade feel anyway. Hadn't heard of this before today. Must buy. Wow. 5 people? Holy shit.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Digital Foundry vs FAST Racing Neo
- Thread starter OrbitalBeard
- Start date
Looks amazing in motion. So much F-Zero. Low res gives it an arcade feel anyway. Hadn't heard of this before today. Must buy. Wow. 5 people? Holy shit.
Well I guess I'm not nuts then. Looking at the game when playing it, something just didn't seem "HD." If you look at the rotating fan blades in track 1 as just one example, they don't look crisp at all. I don't have the greatest TV and I tried moving the sharpness of it around and also moving the Wii U itself back and forth between 720p and 1080i. Nothing worked, but the point is I'd done just because something was noticeably off about how the game looked. Instead of the crazy good AA and sharp resolutions Shin'en was promoting, it looks damned jaggy.
I also noticed slight frame drops on a couple of tracks.
The game does look great and I know Shin'en is a small studio but THEY are the ones who are using the graphics as a selling point. It's fair to point out or be disappointed in the flaws of the visual package.
There's probably some neat graphical tricks I'm not seeing or noticing during gameplay but if they are at the expense of 1280x720 resolution, that's the wrong decision. If there's a track or two they could have made slightly less complex to keep it at a strict 60fps, then that was the wrong decision as well. I haven't progressed to faster speed classes to know if that becomes more of an issue later on, either.
Cool game and worth a purchase for sure. Does it look as good as Mario Kart? To me, no. And gameplay wise, the AI seems a bit unfair at times, physics when jumping sometimes feels goofy, there's a lack of customization (not even changing buttons around), and not much production value outside the visuals. Yes, it's a small file size and that's neat if it's a demo, but there's no true benefit since eShop games don't have size limits this generation.
It's worth a buy but it's not perfect.
I also noticed slight frame drops on a couple of tracks.
The game does look great and I know Shin'en is a small studio but THEY are the ones who are using the graphics as a selling point. It's fair to point out or be disappointed in the flaws of the visual package.
There's probably some neat graphical tricks I'm not seeing or noticing during gameplay but if they are at the expense of 1280x720 resolution, that's the wrong decision. If there's a track or two they could have made slightly less complex to keep it at a strict 60fps, then that was the wrong decision as well. I haven't progressed to faster speed classes to know if that becomes more of an issue later on, either.
Cool game and worth a purchase for sure. Does it look as good as Mario Kart? To me, no. And gameplay wise, the AI seems a bit unfair at times, physics when jumping sometimes feels goofy, there's a lack of customization (not even changing buttons around), and not much production value outside the visuals. Yes, it's a small file size and that's neat if it's a demo, but there's no true benefit since eShop games don't have size limits this generation.
It's worth a buy but it's not perfect.
Dommel
Member
This thread is so depressing, this game looks amazing in motion and I'm sitting 4 feet away from a 46" TV.
But no, everybody has to latch on to the 640*720p internal rendering resolution and shit on it regardless of ever playing it themselves.
Never change GAF, never change.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
AA is important to me but I'm glad they made these sacrifices because in motion, the game is a true looker.
I'll report back(maybe, tech talk bores me) when I boot it up on my 42 inch Panasonic Plasma.
I can't imagine this game being ugly in any sense of the word though.
OrbitalBeard
Member
To be fair, some people latching on to the low resolution have played it.
Also, this is a tech thread. People have every right to dissect and criticize this stuff. Sure, some folks are being overly harsh but that comes with the territory, unfortunately.
I agree with you that the game is really great and looks fantastic in motion.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
I know many can't stand to play it this way but have any played it on the Gamepad and how do they think it looks on the controller???
OrbitalBeard
Member
I tried it briefly on the Gamepad. I was very impressed. I'd love to see a version of this game on the NX portable.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
Most impressive thing of the Wii U is playing fully fledged console games "portably"(in quotes for the obvious reason).
Washed out colors be damned, I love playing on the Gamepad.
If the next system has anything like this, I will be in heaven.
It looks great on the gamepad.
Revolutionary
Member
Called it: subHD AND no AA. It's really distracting. Still a fun game though.
shadowsdarknes
Member
How do we think this visually compares to Wipeout HD?
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
Personally, I think Wipeout is totally cleaner but FAST has better lighting by miles and wins in other categories as well.
1.21Gigawatts
Banned
I think the surrounding track details are more impressive in Fast Racing Neo(especially the lush forrest tracks), but the ships, the tracks themselfs and overall presentation in Wipeout HD looks better, mostly because of the higher resolution.
Fast Racing Neo has a couple modern effects Wipeout HD lacks, though.
It looks good on the pad but the control scheme is very uncomfortable since you have to hold the A button the entire time. Much better with a pro controller.
If you've read again:
Originally they did have physically based shadows. It's clear have implemented it early on but they opted for a different kind that would benefit the player gameplaywise while not looking out of place.
Incidentally enough this was the same gameplay problem Wipeout HD had (telling vertical distance off the track under different lighting conditions).
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
I adapt easy, haven't had much problems.
I'll have to try it with the Pro when I play it on the TV though.
I'm weird though, I use the shoulder button for phase shifting.
I remember Kart 7's complaints about the cramping using the A button and when people revealed to the doofuses that they could accelerate with Y, their lives improved dramatically.
ninjablade
Banned
well wipe hd is nearly double the resolution and has great AA, while fast neo racing has better lighting, effects, etc, but its sub hd and no AA, now its just not sub hd its one of the lowest sub hd games even by last gen standards, if you played those which i thought looked horrible then you know what to expect. i still remember how disappointed i was when i play crisis 2 on 360, ion said it was the best looking game on consoles, but all i could see was jaggies, and it played like crap on top of that, that game ran 1152x720 btw.
ninjablade
Banned
yea that was what the whole argument about, they said the game didn't have shadows under the cars because of the sun position, when in reality it was a design choice.
Stencil shadows are very much real shadows.
brainchild
Banned
It was a design choice primarily motivated by the fact that, when the shadows were physically correct, they caused gameplay problems, due to the positioning of the sun. They didn't just make that design choice for shits and giggles.
Yep. These aren't blob shadows we're talking about here.
Refreshment.01
Member
i don't think there are port beggars on the thread.
Is more about how dubious is the claim that a PS4 wouldn't be able to handle a game of this comnplexity at 1080P/60fps. When the platform has a ton more demanding game already.
Regarding Shinen and this ending on other platforms. Well it would depend of what type of project is the next one on their pipeline. If it's something less intensive than Fast, then they could expend some resources in a potential port if they think it makes busyness sense.
Anyway, i think it was an smart choice of them to render at half the horizontal resolution consider what type of game this is. Havving this runing at 60 fps with what could possibly be the most advanced lighting solution in the Wii U is quite an acomplishment.
Now bring Fzero DLC please, you can do this Nintendo.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
cyberheater port-begged but he has the game.
That's less ridiculous but more Xzbit.
I mean, they probably could, but there were a total of two main programmers working on the game, so "expending some resources" might be a bit difficult.
ninjablade
Banned
sorry i meant there argument was shadow under the car doesn't react to lighting cause there is 3 suns or something like that, and i told them that doesn't make any sense, the design choice makes sense, but still its something that adds to the graphics for me.
TheGreatMightyPoo
Banned
Shinen already ported a game to the PS4 and it seems it didn't sell.
This game seems to be selling very well on the Wii U and a sweetspot for them.
I don't know if they'll ever stray from the company again though.
pinkurocket
Member
That resolution is a bit of a shame, but since it runs so smoothly it's cool. It still looks awesome and I agree the lack of AA helps to keep the image sharp. But you know, maybe they should've just left out car shadows so we could have had 1080p. /s
The WiiU has gotten quite a few little gems at the end of this year. FAST, Mario Maker, XCX. Fun stuff. Also I haven't seen resolutions like that since halo 3. Takes me back man. But it's a console so you just have to take it. The game at least seems like it's worth $15 though.
Refreshment.01
Member
i think Shinen's decision is really interesting.
On the 7th generation we had many games sacrificing resolution for "cinematic" effects.
On the 8th generation we have many games sacrificing frame rate for resolution.
Shinen sacrifices resolution in favor of effects and frame rate.
It would be a real interesting case study if they presented the same game given priority to each category and do a focus testing to see what prevails.
On the 7th generation we had many games sacrificing resolution for "cinematic" effects.
On the 8th generation we have many games sacrificing frame rate for resolution.
Shinen sacrifices resolution in favor of effects and frame rate.
It would be a real interesting case study if they presented the same game given priority to each category and do a focus testing to see what prevails.
All the good effects rarely seen on WiiU implemented?
The fact that it rarely drops to 50s fps and only in a few tracks?
sturgboski
Member
Man, this game and SLR in Destiny make me all the more disappointed that F-Zero and Wipeout are essentially dead. Needed to pick this gave up.
Peterthumpa
Member
I think that since they're so tech focused, it would be nice for their games to have some kind of graphical options. Like a 900p resolution with a 30 FPS lock, for example. Wouldn't hurt since even DF said that the motion blur does a great job on making it feel smooth even at half the standard frame rate.
I have a 720p Moto G LTE.
You are partially correct. Resolution still absolutely matters and it is one of the primary reasons I have dropped consoles like a rock and never looked back (although I do make exceptions for low-resolution tech like the 3DS).
Insane Metal
Gold Member
Goddamn what a beautiful game... and the UI is awesome too! Love it.
Please be on PS4 too... Please Shin'en... ._.
Please be on PS4 too... Please Shin'en... ._.
I think it's pretty likely that Fast Racing Neo would have better sales than their last game on PS4 since I'm sure some Wipeout fans would buy it, plus Europe (Sonyland) seems to like racing games more than North America.
It does seem to be selling quite well early on (#2 in eShop behind Xenoblade Chronicles X) on Wii U.
They're getting a lot of marketing benefits, etc from coming out on the Wii U where NOA is pushing the game by showing it on the E3 stream, showing the trailer in a Nintendo Direct, etc, plus all the coverage from Nintendo sites. It'd probably get buried a bit on the PS4 in comparison.
Astral/H3X
Member
The resolution bit is a shame, but I didn't really notice it being sub 720p when I was playing it. Just looked like 720p. I'm sure if I counted the dots yeah it'd look bad but the game is moving so fast you can't really see it.
Astral Dog
Member
Looks cool, thank you 60 fps mr.Dark, shame about the low resolution though 
frankie_baby
Member
Number 1 in the UK
Zomba13
Member
Are you still going on about the shadows under the cars?
Terbinator
Member
distgusting.gif
Stiflers Mom
Banned
I really don't get some people.
This is one of the visually most stunning games on the Wii U, it's fifteen bucks, plays like a dream, has online, and people are still complaining...
It's probably because I don't give a shit about "jaggies" if the whole package is pleasant to my eyes. Great lighting, nice colors, good atmospheric effects, etc..
I know, opinions etc, but some people I swear....
This is one of the visually most stunning games on the Wii U, it's fifteen bucks, plays like a dream, has online, and people are still complaining...
It's probably because I don't give a shit about "jaggies" if the whole package is pleasant to my eyes. Great lighting, nice colors, good atmospheric effects, etc..
I know, opinions etc, but some people I swear....
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Surely there's one thing evident in this whole situation..
Great articles, dark10x. Can you please try to squeeze a bit more info ; ) I'm very curious what they used GPGPU for.
ThatsMytrunks
Member
This looks incredible visually, but I've never been that into F-Zero style racers. Maybe when it's around $10?
I wonder if a 3DS port is feasible if they strip down some of the admittedly gorgeous visual effects. Seems like it could do incredibly well on there.
"Fulton Capital" on the back of the ship is hilarious, though.
I wonder if a 3DS port is feasible if they strip down some of the admittedly gorgeous visual effects. Seems like it could do incredibly well on there.
"Fulton Capital" on the back of the ship is hilarious, though.
Toadthemushroom
Member
From the DF article and video:
"So while image quality may fall short of expectations, the rest of the package far exceeds them. Features such as motion blur, ambient occlusion, physically-based rendering, HDR lighting, and high quality shadows are all expected on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One - but seeing each of these techniques in play on Wii U at 60fps is an impressive feat."
Worthy trade-off for half the resolution of 1280 x 720 in my opinion.
For example, some of the best looking Vita games, like Need For Speed: Most Wanted, render at 640 x 368, but it's a necessary trade-off, even if that game cut a lot from the 360/PS3 versions (no deferred rendering, reflections, lower poly vehicles etc). But it made for a game that wouldn't have been possible at 960 x 544.
drotahorror
Banned
Looks great, wish I still had my Wii U. Here's hoping Shin'en may put it on PS4 like they did Nano Assault.