Having played the demo, I would say the game looks slightly better than the last one. But it was already a nice looking game. The real reason for the upgrade is the enhancements and features. If I were going for looks alone, I think NFS Shift looks better. But there is just so much great gameplay under Forza 3's hood... I think I gotta go with Forza.
@jgibson75: I would disagree on your second point. NFS Shift is a much better looking game and I can't even push the graphics to there full level. But the beauty is in the details. The static during skids as the tires squeal around the course. the blurring as you pick up speeds to insane heights. I have only played the demo for Forza 3 but overall when it comes to gameplay and immersion Shift is ahead of Forza. The real drawback to Shift is the menu system they use for the races, no integration or style to it.
@Blake Coleman: Hey, I am in no way belittling Shift. It is an impressive game. My only point was for me, all the customization options and things like the online store for trading and selling your creations adds more value to me personally. Technically though, I agree, Shift is a beast of a game. So no argument there. Just a difference in preference.
Most importantly is that the demo for Forza 3, driving wise, is solid. I can definitely tell an improvement over Forza 2.
I always look for controls, gameplay, then graphics last. I knew it wouldn't be a huge jump in the look, it's something like GT3 to GT4. Same system, not much of a difference in look. But the driving physics were improved on the latter.
I've played the demo, and it looks great, so I'm more then happy with it.
@Suprehombre: I agree that the biggest difference is a sense of weight in the cars. Definitely a handling tweak.
I like F3 better so far, but I can't tell which is more accurate. It has been awhile since I've driving my Ferrari California, so I've forgotten which was more accurate.
I think the road toward looking real can only be taken at a crawl.
Forza and GT already look amazing and how much work and money did it take to make that possible? How much more will it be next time, just so it's a little bit better.
These guys are striving for reality, not the hyper-reality of something like Gears of War or Killzone 2 so the flashy stuff is replaced with real-world looks.
Personally though I'd rather Forza. Running round the track at 100mph the games look more or less the same - but when you see a car with a cool personalised paint job, that's when the game feels special.
The Forza community auction house is already one of the coolest things in gaming, if all that Turn 10 do is expand on that, it'd be enough for me.
Why don't they just create one racing game called "Generic Racing Game" and just make the minor graphical updates available for download every year? I honestly can't tell the difference between any of these games any more, and these screens don't help at all. It might as well be the new Need for Speed, or the new GRID.
@Horst Tappert: have you played any of these games? or just looked at the screens and vids? Every game not only looks a little different, whether or not you can see it, but each game, even within the "arcad-y" and "simulation" genres, play extremely differently. If you play GT5 for months and then swtich to Forza3, same car, same track, you'll likely either spin or understeer fairly consisitantly, as there are phsics differences that change the handling enough that when your driving 150 and taking a hard turn, its like night and day.
This reminds me of a PC game that when you buy a better graphics card, you can enable more effects on the game itself. For example, the cars look better but not drastically different just a higher resolution. There are more foliage in the background and the texture is a higher resolution when you look at the street and the grass off to the sides.
I can't criticize the game for that because it looks great. For anyone that believes the game looks the same then I have to say this. I really don't know if its a pat on the back for the developer on the terrific look of Forza 2, or a slap in the face for the comparatively dated look of most other racing games compared to it.
It seems the foilage, road textures, Anisotropic filtering and overall scaling has been improved but the car models don't look any different apart from a less bloom and the grass seems to be more detailed but less varied.
Was anyone expecting a major overhaul of graphics though? They probably just threw a bit of polish on the old assets and reused them, which would explain the quick development time.
Graphics aren't an issue for me but I won't be picking this up if the changes are as subtle across the board as they are between the graphics.
@Gemini-Phoenix: Aha! So it is. I'm sorry, I had literally been awake 2 minutes when I typed that.
@notoriousEIC: I see no indication that the car models are new in Forza 3 so I can only assume, either way, the difference would be negligable and they may as well have used the Forza 2 models. I'd also love to hear how these shots are BS.
@-MasterDex-:
I've played Forza 2 side-by-side with Forza 3's demo and the games look completely different.
Forza 2 was already a great looking game, but Forza 3 destroys it in every way.
I can't say that these shots are BS but what I can say is that they do NOT faithfully represent Forza 3.
@fanboyish: I can't say that these shots are BS but what I can say is that they do NOT faithfully represent Forza 3.
Well, yeah, obviously the game is going to look better in motion, they always do. However, what I'm looking at here is two stills of two games one on top of the other and that to me is good enough for making the comparision between them.
I can't say I buy that Forza 3 destroys Forza 2 in every way. From all I've seen and heard, it looks like minor updates in all areas but they're significant enough to warrant full price.
Regardless, I'll put my money where my mouth is and check it out for myself.
Forza 3 doesn't look much better than 2, that's why it's time for a next generation console, the Xbox360 technology is 5 years old now, that's more than enough.
@AnthonM2: Buh? The current gen is doing just fine.
Unrelated: there's an unapproved post a bit further down that I *really* want to respond to, just because it's so insanely idiotic that it hits hilarity, but that would approve it.
So, to garc4475: Ell oh fucking ell. For humanity's sake, never step foot in the gene pool.
*edit* Oh, by the way, you can respond without approving. It promotes the comments, but doesn't approve it. I just did it in another article. It'll be confusing for non-star commenters who read your comment, though.
*edit (again)* Scratch that, I just checked and it did approve the comment automatically. Sorry!
@cyruss: I highly doubt that the PC will gain too much lead with DX11*. It took forever for the devs to even use DX10* and only a few games actually uses it to full extent granted now that Windows 7 actually get peoples attention to upgrade.
*= assuming that you have appropriate OS and GFX card.
Another thing is that I seriously doubt that MS is supporting PC gaming as a separate identity but instead merging the Xbox sectors with PC ones. Almost every multi-platform AAA game is built for consoles and then later released for the PC and then the publishers are pissed at the PC sales (no shit since they didn't release it at the same time) and most of the time it's using GFWL so if most people have XB360 version then why would they buy it again and people like me who tried to get away from XB live MS points and its restrictions isn't all too happy about it either.
@Neko_Tech: The PC already has a big lead tech-wise over the consoles. The PC equivalents of the console gpus aren't even on sale anymore and if they were, they'd be worth about $30 now...maybe less
@Th3w-san: Yup. A sub $200 video card will play just about any game at 60fps, rendered at 1920x1080p
No sub 720p upscaled nonsense. No 1440x1080p upscaled nonsense.
Though, I'll say F3 looks much better, just for the lack of bloom lighting alone. Bloom is and always was garbage, and a cheap way of masking jaggies. You can't see poor image quality when everything is glowing white.
@-MasterDex-: Ok besides running the game at higher res and having a higher frame rate. So far there hasn't been that much of a leap from DX9 and DX10. I'm just stating that unless PC gaming industry actually support PC from ground up instead of having the games built for consoles as a base then it doesn't matter about dx11 or not.
I don't think you understood my statement. Just because it's more advanced doesn't mean people will support it. If companies feels that they're going to get more profits from console release then they'll be no reason for DX11 at all. DX10 is at the end of it's life and DX11 is out already and how many games actually used DX10 fully?
@Neko_Tech: I don't think you understand DirectX, the improvements each DirectX revision has made or the graphical advantages PCs have. Learn a bit about it first before damning it.
@-MasterDex-: TBH I simply judge this on the games. PC purists can whine and talk shit all they like but other than some improvement in physics handling I see little that justifies the purchase of a high end graphics. 90% of the PC games I see still dont look better than Uncharted 2.
@uchennaokafor: nobody makes games for PC anymore, so nobody really puts in the effort firstly.
secondly, DX10 was a disaster, because MS limited to Vista, and nobody wanted to upgrade to Vista, so nobody was going to bother to make good DX10 games. Windows 7 may change this (I use Windows 7, and it is really good).
Crysis looked great, I think that looks better than Uncharted 2.
@Neko_Tech: "Another thing is that I seriously doubt that MS is supporting PC gaming as a separate identity but instead merging the Xbox sectors with PC ones. Almost every multi-platform AAA game is built for consoles and then later released for the PC"
but they are supporting PC gaming as seperate. Otherwise why release DX11?
If DX11 and Windows 7 kicks off, then this may push developers back onto Windows Gaming. If MS wanted to keep the Xbox and PC in-line, they would have not released any new DX and instead waited until the next Xbox was released before they'd release the new DX version.
maybe this is what they're trying to achieve tho with limiting it to Vista, so programmers aren't likely to move away from Xbox... I don't know.
the way I see it is they're releasing new technology for PC to showcase capability, essentially teasing developers on what they could do if they were working on a more powerful system..... now most game developers love that sorta stuff, so I can imagine it must irritate them that they can't play with these new toys that are in Direct3D 11. Personally if I was a game developer working on Console games, i'd feel like I was a baby programmer, working on old $20 technology instead of working on the real stuff. that would piss me off.
@cyruss: The only reason it would be supported is if the developers have a reason to. If Windows 7 does hit off big and see a bigger market then it may help but for now most of the games are built ground up for CONSOLES since DX10 did not improve that much in performance to benefit.
Yea I guess if I was a programmer for a game it would tick me of that I must cater to the console technology to limit my games but I'm sure the publishers only care about the bottom line $$.
It wouldn't surprise me that a true DX11 game wouldn't come out until 2011, just in time for the next gen version of the Xbox console. It would be suicide for MS to release the new potential Direct X after the release of the next gen xbox console.
@Neko_Tech: I think they'd only need to release the new technology/new DX a year prior to a new next gen console.
anyway I don't see it happening in 2011... not with Natal coming out now... otherwise they would have been better off ditching Natal and implementing it straight into their next-gen Console instead of selling it as an "add-on".. an expensive one at that (they still could have shown off the technology but just said it will be in the next-gen console).
@cyruss: The reason I think that MS will release it around late 2011/early 2012 is that by then DX11 will probably be big enough were devs are utilizing it on PC games before the development of the next console. By then the GPU makers (ATI/Nvidia and possibly IBM/Intel) will have the GPU chipset mature enough where it'll use smaller efficient chips to be used on the console even though it may be mostly modified version from PC gfx card.
I also think MS will make it so it'll be 100% or near BC with the XB360 games and accessories, so Natal will not be a issue since the DX11 also have hybrid API using XNA so there shouldn't be that much work (legacy support). Plus I think MS will include a Blu-ray drive since by then by the way some games are progressing will require more space on the disk and hopefully it'll use at least 4x drive unlike the 2x PS3 uses.
I don't think it would be financially suicide for either MS and Sony to release a new console by then. MS pretty much will have legacy support and have pretty much the same standard in coding (but phasing out the original Xbox using Live is most likely).
For Sony the Cell processors will be most likely still be used but will have more/higher speed Cell CPU and possibly add one more CPU that does general processing instructions but still retain PS3 legacy support.
But I hope both of them will have more RAM for Christ sakes, at least 1GB or more worth since most of the games are using lower res but up-scaling textures.
"Bilderna i denna artikel är alla fångade i den upplösning som båda spelen renderas i och alltså inte uppskalade. De visas här i 1280x720p med minimal komprimering och inget efterarbete alls. Om du inte kan se hela bilderna direkt i fönstret (beroende på webbläsare) kan du snabbt spara ned dem till hårddisken och kika på den i 720p i valfritt bildprogram."
Rough meaning: All the pictures are taken in resolutions they were rendered in (1280x720p), with minimal compression and no alteration afterwards.
EDIT: They also did a comparison between NFS: Shift and Forza, if someone is interested in more meaningless discussions.
@Deunan: That video makes me laugh. I love the GIF they made of comparing the car to a dog rolling on it's back, good stuff.
They are making it do that on purpose though, it's not that it cannot roll back over. If you continue to hold the stick on direction the car will right itself
@Deunan: That's pretty good stuff... people give Gran Turismo hell for not being able to flip cars, but in Forza they flip and then creep across the track on their roofs, lol... not counting the flip failure, just the classic 3D engine slope physics.
10/06/09
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Every game made with the Unreal engine looks essentially the same. I mean you can tell when a game has used the Unreal engine when you see it.
10/05/09
I always look for controls, gameplay, then graphics last. I knew it wouldn't be a huge jump in the look, it's something like GT3 to GT4. Same system, not much of a difference in look. But the driving physics were improved on the latter.
I've played the demo, and it looks great, so I'm more then happy with it.
10/05/09
I like F3 better so far, but I can't tell which is more accurate. It has been awhile since I've driving my Ferrari California, so I've forgotten which was more accurate.
10/05/09
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;)
10/05/09
Forza and GT already look amazing and how much work and money did it take to make that possible? How much more will it be next time, just so it's a little bit better.
These guys are striving for reality, not the hyper-reality of something like Gears of War or Killzone 2 so the flashy stuff is replaced with real-world looks.
Personally though I'd rather Forza. Running round the track at 100mph the games look more or less the same - but when you see a car with a cool personalised paint job, that's when the game feels special.
The Forza community auction house is already one of the coolest things in gaming, if all that Turn 10 do is expand on that, it'd be enough for me.
10/05/09
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10/05/09
I can't criticize the game for that because it looks great. For anyone that believes the game looks the same then I have to say this. I really don't know if its a pat on the back for the developer on the terrific look of Forza 2, or a slap in the face for the comparatively dated look of most other racing games compared to it.
10/05/09
Was anyone expecting a major overhaul of graphics though? They probably just threw a bit of polish on the old assets and reused them, which would explain the quick development time.
Graphics aren't an issue for me but I won't be picking this up if the changes are as subtle across the board as they are between the graphics.
10/05/09
Foliage my friend, foliage. (One of the most memorable Simpsons moments)
10/05/09
"They probably just threw a bit of polish on the old assets and reused them, which would explain the quick development time."
Having been inside Turn 10 Studios, I know for a fact that this is not the case. And never mind that these are BS screenshots anyway.
10/05/09
@notoriousEIC: I see no indication that the car models are new in Forza 3 so I can only assume, either way, the difference would be negligable and they may as well have used the Forza 2 models. I'd also love to hear how these shots are BS.
10/05/09
I've played Forza 2 side-by-side with Forza 3's demo and the games look completely different.
Forza 2 was already a great looking game, but Forza 3 destroys it in every way.
I can't say that these shots are BS but what I can say is that they do NOT faithfully represent Forza 3.
10/05/09
Well, yeah, obviously the game is going to look better in motion, they always do. However, what I'm looking at here is two stills of two games one on top of the other and that to me is good enough for making the comparision between them.
I can't say I buy that Forza 3 destroys Forza 2 in every way. From all I've seen and heard, it looks like minor updates in all areas but they're significant enough to warrant full price.
Regardless, I'll put my money where my mouth is and check it out for myself.
10/05/09
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10/05/09
10/05/09
Unrelated: there's an unapproved post a bit further down that I *really* want to respond to, just because it's so insanely idiotic that it hits hilarity, but that would approve it.
So, to garc4475: Ell oh fucking ell. For humanity's sake, never step foot in the gene pool.
10/05/09
*edit* Oh, by the way, you can respond without approving. It promotes the comments, but doesn't approve it. I just did it in another article. It'll be confusing for non-star commenters who read your comment, though.
*edit (again)* Scratch that, I just checked and it did approve the comment automatically. Sorry!
10/05/09
We're now up to DirectX 11 and Shader Model 5.0... technology has been advancing in the past 5 years
of course consoles will never get the newest technology as they would make a huge loss since it would be so expensive to implement
10/05/09
*= assuming that you have appropriate OS and GFX card.
Another thing is that I seriously doubt that MS is supporting PC gaming as a separate identity but instead merging the Xbox sectors with PC ones. Almost every multi-platform AAA game is built for consoles and then later released for the PC and then the publishers are pissed at the PC sales (no shit since they didn't release it at the same time) and most of the time it's using GFWL so if most people have XB360 version then why would they buy it again and people like me who tried to get away from XB live MS points and its restrictions isn't all too happy about it either.
10/05/09
10/05/09
No sub 720p upscaled nonsense. No 1440x1080p upscaled nonsense.
Though, I'll say F3 looks much better, just for the lack of bloom lighting alone. Bloom is and always was garbage, and a cheap way of masking jaggies. You can't see poor image quality when everything is glowing white.
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
I don't think you understood my statement. Just because it's more advanced doesn't mean people will support it. If companies feels that they're going to get more profits from console release then they'll be no reason for DX11 at all. DX10 is at the end of it's life and DX11 is out already and how many games actually used DX10 fully?
10/05/09
10/05/09
10/05/09
90% of the PC games I see still dont look better than Uncharted 2
Yeah, I can see you don't talk shit at all. Btw, I'm no PC purist. Facts are facts.
10/06/09
secondly, DX10 was a disaster, because MS limited to Vista, and nobody wanted to upgrade to Vista, so nobody was going to bother to make good DX10 games. Windows 7 may change this (I use Windows 7, and it is really good).
Crysis looked great, I think that looks better than Uncharted 2.
@Neko_Tech: "Another thing is that I seriously doubt that MS is supporting PC gaming as a separate identity but instead merging the Xbox sectors with PC ones. Almost every multi-platform AAA game is built for consoles and then later released for the PC"
but they are supporting PC gaming as seperate. Otherwise why release DX11?
If DX11 and Windows 7 kicks off, then this may push developers back onto Windows Gaming. If MS wanted to keep the Xbox and PC in-line, they would have not released any new DX and instead waited until the next Xbox was released before they'd release the new DX version.
maybe this is what they're trying to achieve tho with limiting it to Vista, so programmers aren't likely to move away from Xbox... I don't know.
the way I see it is they're releasing new technology for PC to showcase capability, essentially teasing developers on what they could do if they were working on a more powerful system..... now most game developers love that sorta stuff, so I can imagine it must irritate them that they can't play with these new toys that are in Direct3D 11. Personally if I was a game developer working on Console games, i'd feel like I was a baby programmer, working on old $20 technology instead of working on the real stuff. that would piss me off.
10/06/09
Yea I guess if I was a programmer for a game it would tick me of that I must cater to the console technology to limit my games but I'm sure the publishers only care about the bottom line $$.
It wouldn't surprise me that a true DX11 game wouldn't come out until 2011, just in time for the next gen version of the Xbox console. It would be suicide for MS to release the new potential Direct X after the release of the next gen xbox console.
10/06/09
anyway I don't see it happening in 2011... not with Natal coming out now... otherwise they would have been better off ditching Natal and implementing it straight into their next-gen Console instead of selling it as an "add-on".. an expensive one at that (they still could have shown off the technology but just said it will be in the next-gen console).
10/06/09
I also think MS will make it so it'll be 100% or near BC with the XB360 games and accessories, so Natal will not be a issue since the DX11 also have hybrid API using XNA so there shouldn't be that much work (legacy support). Plus I think MS will include a Blu-ray drive since by then by the way some games are progressing will require more space on the disk and hopefully it'll use at least 4x drive unlike the 2x PS3 uses.
I don't think it would be financially suicide for either MS and Sony to release a new console by then. MS pretty much will have legacy support and have pretty much the same standard in coding (but phasing out the original Xbox using Live is most likely).
For Sony the Cell processors will be most likely still be used but will have more/higher speed Cell CPU and possibly add one more CPU that does general processing instructions but still retain PS3 legacy support.
But I hope both of them will have more RAM for Christ sakes, at least 1GB or more worth since most of the games are using lower res but up-scaling textures.
10/05/09
These pictures were taken from the nordic game-magazine named Gamereactor. They did this test themself and there's no alteration of the pictures.
[www.gamereactor.se]
"Bilderna i denna artikel är alla fångade i den upplösning som båda spelen renderas i och alltså inte uppskalade. De visas här i 1280x720p med minimal komprimering och inget efterarbete alls. Om du inte kan se hela bilderna direkt i fönstret (beroende på webbläsare) kan du snabbt spara ned dem till hårddisken och kika på den i 720p i valfritt bildprogram."
Rough meaning: All the pictures are taken in resolutions they were rendered in (1280x720p), with minimal compression and no alteration afterwards.
EDIT: They also did a comparison between NFS: Shift and Forza, if someone is interested in more meaningless discussions.
[www.gamereactor.se]
10/05/09
10/05/09
They are making it do that on purpose though, it's not that it cannot roll back over. If you continue to hold the stick on direction the car will right itself
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