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[LordOfLore]

An updated article.

UPDATE 25/5/17 1:00pm: Sony has been in touch to point out additional 1080p features in Gran Turismo Sport for PS4 Pro users, specifically that along with the significantly improved in-game frame-rate and unlocked replay performance we've highlighted in the 1080p comparison further down this page, anti-aliasing is also enhanced with the inclusion of 8x multi-sampling (MSAA).

This does change the conversation, as 1080p with 8x MSAA would be a fascinating comparison point with an 1800p checkerboard presentation downscaled to full HD resolution - conceivably, the presentation could be cleaner. Polyphony has done something similar before with its lower resolution modes of course, with improved MSAA present on the 720p mode of Gran Turismo 5.

It's an aspect we should have picked up on and apologise for missing, because reviewing further media does show the difference - though in fairness, the MSAA coverage does seem a touch inconsistent and the effect overall is subtle. Polyphony Digital has supplied a brace of shots here (the first two in the sequence), and we've supplemented that with a few of our own shots.

Original full article at the link.

 

[nemisis0]

Great stuff, can't wait for the game.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

That's great news I wonder whether performance is better at 1080p with 8x MSAA versus downscaled 4k. The lighting in that game is beautiful, especially in replays. Bring on the photo thread.

 

[benzy]

What's the AA coverage on regular PS4?

 

[jett]

Considering it's supposed to be 8X MSAA I don't really see a lot of difference to be honest in the updated article's screenshots.

What's the AA coverage on regular PS4?

The article has comparison pictures.

 

[LostDonkey]

How on earth can 8xmsaa be subtle?

 

[Tyaren]

So they don't plan to enable downsampling...ever? :/

 

[Dictator93]

Not the best MSAA coverage

I wonder if it is before tone mapping

Still nice to see MSAA though!

 

[Boss Mog]

Kind of hard to get interested in this game's graphics when the backgrounds look so awful. I can only hope they'll be better in the final game because honestly we're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

 

[dragn]

replay need to be 30 locked, way better than the drops from 60.

 

[AbandonedTrolley]

Kind of hard to get interested in this game's graphics when the backgrounds look so awful. I can only hope they'll be better in the final game because honestly we're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

No you're being hyperbolic there is no way it's PS2 level stuff

 

[8byte]

Kind of hard to get interested in this game's graphics when the backgrounds look so awful. I can only hope they'll be better in the final game because honestly we're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

I was skeptical at first...but then you said you weren't even joking so I knew it had to be true.

 

[Zombie James]

Not the best MSAA coverage

I wonder if it is before tone mapping

Still nice to see MSAA though!

Plain MSAA in general is just so antiquated. It completely ignores key areas like shader aliasing and transparencies and it's not performant.

 

[Bucket-o-roadkill]

Kind of hard to get interested in this game's graphics when the backgrounds look so awful. I can only hope they'll be better in the final game because honestly we're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

Wow! Seriously?!

 

[InsaneTiger]

Oh no, MSAA! What will I ever do? I think the game looks great.

 

[adamsapple]

Not the best MSAA coverage

I wonder if it is before tone mapping

Still nice to see MSAA though!

Not a huge difference TBH. I'll stick to the 1800p mode but good to see 1080p TV owners aren't getting shortchanged.

 

[Gestault]

Not the best MSAA coverage

I wonder if it is before tone mapping

Still nice to see MSAA though!

Looking at examples like this, and some extended (higher quality) footage from PS4 Pro players makes me understand how they overlooked it. It's cool that Sony got in touch to clarify, though.

 

[Neuromancer]

Kind of hard to get interested in this game's graphics when the backgrounds look so awful. I can only hope they'll be better in the final game because honestly we're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

PS2 level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like Sega Saturn level stuff!

 

[CaLe]

Is this game ever coming out?

 

[Wishmaster92]

Not the best MSAA coverage

I wonder if it is before tone mapping

Still nice to see MSAA though!

Instead of making a mode where you could get replay graphics in 1080p gameplay they gave us this.... Better than nothing i guess.

 

[Jacob4815]

Not the best MSAA coverage

I wonder if it is before tone mapping

Not impressed. They should give options, I still don't understand the lack of downsampling. It would be in the game, but 1080p users are not allowed to use it.

From the previous DF article:

It's disappointing because on a technical level, there is no reason whatsoever why this feature cannot be implemented.

This is proven very easily. If you have an ultra HD screen, you can boot the game with 4K display output active, then jump back to the front-end, select 1080p and gameplay continues as normal with system-level super-sampling engaged. However, if you only own a 1080p screen, there's no way to access the 4K output to begin with - unless you buy an expensive 4K downscaler like HDFury's HDLinker. That's why we need the developer to provide an in-game toggle, or at the very least an option to choose which Pro implementation to use when the game boots.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Not a huge difference TBH. I'll stick to the 1800p mode but good to see 1080p TV owners aren't getting shortchanged.

1080p mode is clearly the way to go regardless of what display you own.

Edit:

Speaking solely about this game only

 

[nOoblet16]

Plain MSAA is just not worth the cost anymore, especially 8x. The implementation here seems borked and applied before the final lighting pass.

1800P downsampled to 1080P would work better, even better would be to use the additional GPU headroom for higher resolution reflections, better particles and such.

 

[adamsapple]

1080p mode is clearly the way to go regardless of what display you own.

Edit:

Speaking solely about this game only

That's an interesting chain of thought. I can see why you're saying that, more strict adherence to target frame rate and 8X MSAA.

Unfortunately the game so far doesn't seem to support down-sampling so we can't compare directly which mode has better image quality, but I'd prefer the higher resolution for my 4K display.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

I was watching some footage and one thing that stood out were the trees. They were absolutely brutal.

They were like 2 jpeg's spliced into each other.

Take out the cars, and lots of this game is very ugly.

 

[Steve McQueen]

Kind of hard to get interested in this game's graphics when the backgrounds look so awful. I can only hope they'll be better in the final game because honestly we're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

It's a pretty good joke though.

Game looks great.

 

[Haint]

Why in the fuck are they using msaa in 2017? 8x msaa is the most comically ridiculous waste of resources I could ever imagine. Is their engine still based on their PS2 work?

 

[Timu]

Should be using SMAA.

 

[KarasuEXE]

PS2 level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like Sega Saturn level stuff!

Sega Saturn level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like Sega Genesis level stuff!

 

[Outrun]

GTS moves from strength to strength.

Good on PD.

 

[Dynomutt]

Sega Saturn level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like Sega Genesis level stuff!

Sega Genesis level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like 7800 level stuff! Look at the mountain range, the lighting, pixel based rendering, and the clouds are real-time from NOAA data all top notch stuff.

 

[Meantime]

Sega Genesis level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like 7800 level stuff! Look at the mountain range, the lighting, pixel based rendering, and the clouds are real-time from NOAA data all top notch stuff.

7800? Too generous. More like 2600.

 

[JP]

Is this game ever coming out?

No, this game is never coming out. The beta tests were all a mistake, they've all gone home and will probably never return to work again.

 

[pixelation]

I was watching some footage and one thing that stood out were the trees. They were absolutely brutal.

They were like 2 jpeg's spliced into each other.

Take out the cars, and lots of this game is very ugly.

Agreed, i ain't even joking when i say that i'd honestly prefer a toggle to have trees enabled/disabled. They're that bad looking.

 

[LukasTaves]

It's jaggy on Ps4 base, and cleaner on Pro, but I thought MSAA8X would erradicate pretty much all the jaggies. SMAA can't be more resource hungry than MSAA 8x right? Hope they change to that.

 

[Silent Hill]

7800? Too generous. More like 2600.

2600 level? You're being too generous. These backgrounds are more like BBC Micro level stuff!

 

[CaLe]

No, this game is never coming out. The beta tests were all a mistake, they've all gone home and will probably never return to work again.

That's what I thought, thanks for the confirmation !

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

8 x MSAA is great.

Any extra graphical details over standard PS4?

 

[funkystudent]

Wonder why they went with hella msaa instead of downsampling.

Surely that would be a better choice?

 

[N7.Angel]

Pro was a mistake...

 

[Boss Mog]

This is what I was talking about, the super shitty textures and lack of polygons on the mountains

I know people will find excuses to disagree and that's fine but it doesn't change the fact that I think those kind of backdrops are incredibly ugly especially when you compare them with ones from a last gen game like Forza 4.

 

[AstroNut325]

This is what I was talking about, the super shitty textures and lack of polygons on the mountains

I know people will find excuses to disagree and that's fine but it doesn't change the fact that I think those kind of backdrops are incredibly ugly especially when you compare them with ones from a last gen game like Forza 4.

I'm fairly confident that's an unfinished track.

 

[SuperShadow271]

7800? Too generous. More like 2600.

I know right? Totally 2600. Look at the similarities!

 

[cakely]

This is what I was talking about, the super shitty textures and lack of polygons on the mountains

I know people will find excuses to disagree and that's fine but it doesn't change the fact that I think those kind of backdrops are incredibly ugly especially when you compare them with ones from a last gen game like Forza 4.

We're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Ok. I get the joke. Can we move on

 

[TheAdmiester]

I'm fairly confident that's an unfinished track.

Unfinished never stopped them before. Deep Forest and Trial Mountain on GT5/6 are basically just raw PS2 ports:

Not to mention the whole standard/premium debacle.

 

[backbreaker65]

Digital Foundry, the technical guessers and oh it's soft. Their analysis are so...

 

[GameAddict411]

Waste of GPU power if you ask me. MSAA is super expensive and it doesn't have full coverage. 2x MSAA + SMAA would have been amazing. I also would have taken 1800p + SMAA over 1080p and 8x MSAA.

 

[AstroNut325]

Unfinished never stopped them before. Deep Forest and Trial Mountain on GT5/6 are basically just raw PS2 ports:


Not to mention the whole standard/premium debacle.

Yes, they did that in the past. But it looks like PD isn't going down the mixed generation stuff with GTS.

Also note that many of the tracks in GTS were unfinished just towards the end of 2016. They've improved/finished a lot in the time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCLi1GH7YiE

 

[Boss Mog]

We're talking PS2 level stuff and I'm not even joking.