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Theorry · Apr 17, 2015

An early look at how the PS4 and Xbox One versions are shaping up.

As a disclaimer, we're told by Bandai Namco's PR staff that the 19GB build in test here is of 'submission' quality. A final certification pass is ongoing at Sony and Microsoft's offices, and we're still shy of a last word on whether this is what we can expect on launch. At the very least, our captures here show Project Cars in its final stages of development, but as ever, certain points are apt to change as we hone in on its release.

Looking at resolution first there's clearly some work to be done. We were originally promised promised a true 1920x1080 as the target for both consoles, but now we see just an internal 1600x900 frame-buffer in effect on Xbox One - as confirmed by the developer earlier this week. Image quality does suffer in this case, and its post-process anti-aliasing method (which falls close to the PC's higher FXAA settings) struggles to cover all its rough spots. A motion blur effect helps disguise the upscale to 1080p to an extent in motion, but pixel-crawl remains noticeable across chrome highlights on cars, and foliage elements especially.

The game's frame-rate is also a sticking point. Project Cars targets an ambitious 60fps on each platform, but the sheer breadth of options gives players the power to determine whether it hits this mark, or drops closer to 30fps. For example, our first race is on the Dubai Autodrome International circuit, a manic 35-car race with light clouds overhead, camera set to interior cockpit view and no damage physics enabled. Even with this number of AI racers, the game sticks to a 60fps line throughout, and only drops for one stretch on the circuit (to 50fps on Xbox One, and 55fps on PS4).

For moments where the frame-rate goes under, tearing is an issue - especially on sharp turns with lots of camera motion. This is a bigger deal once we push the boat out a bit more; our next race featuring a whopping 44 cars on the Circuit Des 24 Heures du Mans track, with a more taxing chase mode camera and heavy rain in play. The impact is immediate, and PS4 tears constantly with drops to 35fps at the busy starting grid, while Xbox One breaches the high 20s. This improves over the course of the race as cars splinter off into packs, though we never catch a glimpse of the 60fps line.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...er&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialoomph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khQqms26aw8

Enter the Dragon Punch · Apr 17, 2015

Good that it's close to 60 on consoles. Curious how the Wii U version is going to handle things if the Xbox gets drops to the high twenties at 900p though

chadskin · Apr 17, 2015

The impact is immediate, and PS4 tears constantly with drops to 35fps at the busy starting grid, while Xbox One breaches the high 20s

Yikes. And that's the 'submission quality'.

RyudBoy · Apr 17, 2015

The impact is immediate, and PS4 tears constantly with drops to 35fps at the busy starting grid, while Xbox One breaches the high 20s.

Eeew.

Vena · Apr 17, 2015

Where's the superior WiiU version benchmark?

Nozem · Apr 17, 2015

Those are some terrible framedrops, especially for the Xbox One which is already 900p.

Clear weather races seem smooth though.

Seanspeed · Apr 17, 2015

Ouch. I'm surprised they even allow for huge fields of cars if the consoles can't handle it when weather kicks in. That's usually the sort of thing that gets sacrificed in the name of consistent performance.

This is very PC-like in terms of the options and variables, except that it's not the sort of game that should be. It's a racing sim, where performance is absolutely king. Devs shouldn't allow people to crash the framerate down below 40-45fps.

shinobi602 · Apr 17, 2015

This is a bigger deal once we push the boat out a bit more; our next race featuring a whopping 44 cars on the Circuit Des 24 Heures du Mans track, with a more taxing chase mode camera and heavy rain in play. The impact is immediate, and PS4 tears constantly with drops to 35fps at the busy starting grid, while Xbox One breaches the high 20s.

Durante · Apr 17, 2015

It's surprising that the XB1 version drops that much lower despite the resolution difference (which should make up for the HW difference mostly). Fillrate-bound?

rokkerkory · Apr 17, 2015

Durante said:
It's surprising that the XB1 version drops that much lower despite the resolution difference (which should make up for the HW difference mostly). Fillrate-bound?

Both are crappy drops regardless

M.W. · Apr 17, 2015

Should have delayed it.

EGOMON · Apr 17, 2015

PS4 maintaining better fps with higher resolution is relatively impressive

Durante · Apr 17, 2015

rokkerkory said:
Both are crappy drops regardless

Sure, but one is quite a bit crappier and I wonder about the technical reason for it.

Scaramanger · Apr 17, 2015

Seanspeed said:
Ouch. I'm surprised they even allow for huge fields of cars if the consoles can't handle it when weather kicks in. That's usually the sort of thing that gets sacrificed in the name of consistent performance.

This is very PC-like in terms of the options and variables, except that it's not the sort of game that should be. It's a racing sim, where performance is absolutely king.

I'm genuinely surprised by this, been playing locked 60 on my mid range PC for months and although I expected the consoles to suffer (low settings, FXAA etc.) I really thought they would be close to a consistent 60.

I'm kinda hoping this is all some misunderstanding and Namco had a build from 3 years ago or something!

RyudBoy · Apr 17, 2015

Both are crap, but in this case, the other is much crappier.

Fezan · Apr 17, 2015

And people in other thread were expecting that xbox1 would have better fps and af

KingSnake · Apr 17, 2015

Is there an instance when this is fluid 60fps for the whole race, without drops or tearing? Because it doesn't sound like it.

PodcastFips · Apr 17, 2015

Sounds good enough to me, apparently no sub-30 drops on PS4. I'm in.

HTupolev · Apr 17, 2015

Fezan said:
And people in other thread were expecting that xbox1 would have better fps and af

Well, it does seem to have better AF. Texture filtering in the PS4 version is bizarrely awful according to DF's pics. Hopefully another case that the dev can quickly resolve.

Seanspeed · Apr 17, 2015

Marcellus Wallace said:
Should have delayed it.

They should've cut the grid size down and optimized the game to run at 60fps or near enough to it with all options on. If an option hurts the framerate too much, cut it. Turning options on/off should be a matter of personal preference, not performance compromise. Not in a racing sim.

And unlike on a PC, you will never be able to make this run better.

Not really sure this is the right way to handle the console side by the devs.

chadskin · Apr 17, 2015

KingSnake said:
Is there an instance when this is fluid 60fps for the whole race, without drops or tearing? Because it doesn't sound like it.

Time Trial in sunny conditions somewhere in the desert.

CassidyIzABeast · Apr 17, 2015

Basura.

Game4life · Apr 17, 2015

Disappointing.

Risk Breaker · Apr 17, 2015

I can understand drops when you have 44 cars on track at the start and, honestly, I'd rather have the option than having only 12 maximum with 60 FPS.

That 10+ FPS difference, pushing 30% more pixels... yikes. That lack of TMUs and general power really hurts the Xbone.

And, unsurprisingly, all of those saying it's trash, disappointing, should've delayed it... We're talking about FORTY FOUR cars on track. Maintaining 30+ FPS at 1080p with 44 cars on track with a "netbook CPU" and "ancient GPU" sounds pretty good to me, huh?

Seanspeed · Apr 17, 2015

Risk Breaker said:
I can understand drops when you have 44 cars on track at the start and, honestly, I'd rather have the option than having only 12 maximum with 60 FPS.

Because there's no middle ground between 44 cars and 12?

Mabufu · Apr 17, 2015

Well, it seems that they graphical configuration is more than just 'only esthetic changes that doesnt have impact in performance'.

Fezan · Apr 17, 2015

HTupolev said:
Well, it does seem to have better AF. Texture filtering in the PS4 version is bizarrely awful according to DF's pics. Hopefully another case that the dev can quickly resolve.

Looks about same to me . beside one screenshot

ricelord · Apr 17, 2015

didn't this game get delay like 2 times?

Ninja Dom · Apr 17, 2015

I guess that Wii U version will sacrifice the amount of cars racing to preserve frame rate.

stryke · Apr 17, 2015

Fezan said:
And people in other thread were expecting that xbox1 would have better fps and af

X1 has better texture filtering.

maquiladora · Apr 17, 2015

Yikes....

Nyx · Apr 17, 2015

Why even bother with 60 FPS then?

I would have preferred a steady 30 FPS than this.

Risk Breaker · Apr 17, 2015

Seanspeed said:
Because there's no middle ground between 44 cars and 12?

I like having the option, especially for online races which could be fantastic with other GAF people.

It doesn't drop below 30, and that's with rain which, I guess, is very alpha-heavy, which means it should be better on dry conditions and maybe also better if there's no AI.

I mean, maybe they should've made the Xbone version a time trial with just one car, but 1080p and 90FPS? Because fuck gameplay options, "framerate is king" (ugh) and the only thing that matters. It's not like it falls to 15 FPS, man.

artsi · Apr 17, 2015

Mabufu said:
Well, it seems that they graphical configuration is more than just 'only esthetic changes that doesnt have impact in performance'.

So you already have the following test data?

We enable all post-process effects for our tests, but the actual impact (if any) on PS4 and Xbox One performance for each setting is an area we hope to investigate on release.

Seanspeed · Apr 17, 2015

Risk Breaker said:
I like having the option, especially for online races which could be fantastic with other GAF people.

It doesn't drop below 30, and that's with rain which, I guess, is very alpha-heavy, which means it should be better on dry conditions and maybe also better if there's no AI.

The game shouldn't be getting anywhere close to 30 in the first place. Ever.

Theorry · Apr 17, 2015

Risk Breaker said:
I like having the option, especially for online races which could be fantastic with other GAF people.

It doesn't drop below 30, and that's with rain which, I guess, is very alpha-heavy, which means it should be better on dry conditions and maybe also better if there's no AI.

Thats true i think yeah. I always optimized my performance wih rFactor and AI cars. So i for certain knew with online races with 50 cars i was always good fps wise. Because i got alot more frames without the AI cars.

Liamario · Apr 17, 2015

I'm out. Solid 30 would have been a better option, but in either case, I'm out.

Dalto11 · Apr 17, 2015

So in the last comparison screenshot they say something is missing from the fender on the PS4's car model but I'm not seeing anything different?

mrklaw · Apr 17, 2015

You'd have thought they'd be able to be more aggressive wih LoD on large grids, or when weather is turned up, t try and help keep the framerate up. Those dips are disappointing - especially so on xbox. Although i probably won't race in the wet unless the single player forces me to - it's fun for the effects, but I'd rather be able to see where I'm going. So hopefully it won't affect me too badly.

Better shadows on PS4 as well, and better-but-worse motion blur it seems?

I wonder if DF tried turning some of the effects down in the options menu, see if that reduces some of the frame drops at all?

Kezen · Apr 17, 2015

Liamario said:
I'm out. Solid 30 would have been a better option, but in either case, I'm out.

This is....non final code.

Risk Breaker · Apr 17, 2015

Seanspeed said:
The game shouldn't be getting anywhere close to 30 in the first place. Ever.

That's the developers choice. They decided it was preferable to have the option, despite the unavoidable framerate drop. I agree with them. If you don't agree, that sucks, but you can just try to avoid 44 car races and keep it to, I don't know, 16?

Liamario · Apr 17, 2015

Kezen said:
This is....non final code.

Fair enough, but I don't imagine that final code will be a drastic improvement.

flipswitch · Apr 17, 2015

They should cut down the car count ( and other graphical fx) until it reaches a solid 60fps.

viveks86 · Apr 17, 2015

This was a terrible, terrible idea. They should have stuck to having just one setting on consoles. Leave all this customization to PCs. Not having a single performance setting is a dev's way of blaming the gamer if it doesn't play well.

"Performance sucks? Who asked you to change the setting?"

Don't give us configurable performance settings on non-configurable hardware. That isn't a meaningful choice. It's a minefield of compromise that you are egging the gamer to walk through.

BigDug13 · Apr 17, 2015

Durante said:
It's surprising that the XB1 version drops that much lower despite the resolution difference (which should make up for the HW difference mostly). Fillrate-bound?

Yeah with the framerate difference announcement, I kinda expected relative framerate parity. Seems to be quite a difference.

HTupolev · Apr 17, 2015

Fezan said:
Looks about same to me . beside one screenshot

Looking across the images again, it does seem to have fairly constrained impact.

Deband · Apr 17, 2015

Tearing is gonna ruin this for me.

Seanspeed · Apr 17, 2015

Risk Breaker said:
I mean, maybe they should've made the Xbone version a time trial with just one car, but 1080p and 90FPS? Because fuck gameplay options, "framerate is king" (ugh) and the only thing that matters. It's not like it falls to 15 FPS, man.

Framerate *is* king in a racing sim. This is not about options, but about having the gameplay hold up so people can drive properly.

You keep making exaggerated alternatives. Nobody is asking them to do 1080p or 90fps or only have one car. But not letting the framerate drop into the 30's or even low 40's would significantly improve the actual act of driving, which is what this game is all about in the end.

In my experience, large grids in these sorts of games run into CPU limitations that cause these framerate drops. Cutting down the grid to like 24-30 could potentially increase performance dramatically without having to do anything extreme like you keep suggesting.

mrklaw · Apr 17, 2015

If it never drops below 30 on PS4 then give us a 30fps cap option please simply.

I think this kills my Xbox version thinking though. If you use an xbox one controller on PC, does it support rumble triggers? And would steam home streaming the PC version to my TV look better or worse than it running natively on PS4? I have a GTX979 so should be able to run 1080p/60 on high detail, but wondering about detail loss with compression and maybe input lag?

Three · Apr 17, 2015

Liamario said:
I'm out. Solid 30 would have been a better option, but in either case, I'm out.

If they add an option for a framerate cap then the PS4 version seems to hit a solid 30 as it didn't go below. The XB1 version would still struggle though.

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