Shogun PaiN said:
You don't think those look good? Really?
The thing that just blew me away visually is the night racing (especially the day to night cycles). I just raced the Toscana track and, man, the was perhaps the first time I could say a racing game delivered anything approaching atmosphere. Seriously, watching the sunset as I whipped around the course was just incredible. There was a beautiful remixed London Elektricity track playing to the whole thing that really topped off the experience. As night fell, the whole soundscape changed and the desert became quieter while gusts of wind picked up all around me. The way the headlights play off the surfaces realistically made it FEEL like night racing in a way that I've never seen. My car has HID lights in real life and the effect of the light hitting signs is portrayed perfectly here.
I have to say, it was something special. It's a shame the game is such a mixed bag. Some of the basic tracks raced in daylight just don't look all that attractive. The city courses are glorious, of course, but there are a lot of average looking tracks.
There's a recipe for beautiful visuals here, but it's very uneven. I feel that the only way they could really nail the visuals all the way through would be to limit the content available. There are just too many variables at play here and they obviously could not deliver content at an even quality.
Also, it's a shame about the 1080p mode. It looks much nicer, but man, the framerate just doesn't hold up. It's not perfect in 720p either, but it's much steadier overall.
I especially love this shot. It really captures night time driving in the rain better than any other game I've ever seen. Seriously, there isn't anything even remotely close to this.