It’s seemingly becoming the “too hard to handle” part of driving games these days — dynamic weather. And in a new interview, Polyphony Digital CEO and Gran Turismo Sport designer Kazunori Yamauchi has confirmed that the new GT is following the same path Driveclub did at launch.
According to Yamauchi, the exclusion of dynamic weather was for purely technical reasons. And if you’re wondering what those were, chances are you’ve probably already guessed it: the frame rate.
“We opted to not have the transitions in the race this time in order to raise the framerate and the quality of the image during the race,” Yamauchi told GT Planet. “So the user will be able to set that before they enter the race. So you’ll still be able to have night races, morning, races at dawn, dusk, and so on.”
It’s an understandable decision considering the criticism levelled at GT6 for its inconsistent frame rate. But it also makes sense considering that weather transitions in GT5 and GT6 were only available on certain tracks.
Given that the new GT is aiming for a full 1080p/60fps on the PS4 — and that other games in the same territory, like Asseto Corsa and Project CARS, achieve their level of fidelity by targeting 30fps — it was probably a stretch too far.
Still, it’s going to be a bit weird doing a 24hr endurance race when the sun never sets. Or rises, for that matter. But on the flipside, not having to deal with dynamic weather changes means more focus can be directed towards making the water physics more comprehensive too — such as simulating aquaplaning, puddles, and a more realistic loss of grip when the track’s wet.
[GTPlanet]
Comments
15 responses to “The New Gran Turismo Won’t Have Dynamic Weather Either”
That’s not weather…..
Those transitions won’t be in the game either. I was just making a quip, at any rate.
There’s going to be a morning sun this morning, with a chance of afternoon sun in the arvo, followed by the appearance of a moon.
People keep supporting the game so it must not be important.
Out of curiosity, has any racing game been able to do this yet? or is this a decision of them choosing between graphics and performance over weather physics?
The Crew and driveclub have dynamic weather.
The PC sims have been doing it for over a decade.
Forza Horizon 2 had it in free roam and those events. Not races I think.
GT6 had it, and it worked quite well, but it did come at the expense of some rather ugly shadow effects and a few framerate issues. Still, coming out of the rainy night into a clearing morning at the Nurburgring was something special.
I wouldnt count on them making up for the feature shortfall with more comprehensive surface physics, GT has been hilariously behind in that realm since the get-go.
Gonna need next gen consoles ASAP, sounds like current gen are already struggling.
Assetto Corsa (currently a PC exclusive) doesn’t do dynamic weather or a day/night cycle either, so it’s not a question of hardware. Especially when you consider that both dynamic weather and day/night cycles have been around since at least Le Mans 24 hours on the PlayStation 2.
I swear article said it is because frame rate is a problem?
I’m aslo hearing the PS4 is only getting 15-20fps in the new Fallout 4 DLC.
Project Cars has dynamic weather, day/night cycles AND a 35-car grid. Digital Foundry combined them all in their stress test; even in those demanding conditions, the game still pulled frame rates around 40ish. And that’s a multi-platform title from a developer who doesn’t have any previous PS4 programming experience. GTSport only has a 20-car grid, and a team who know how to get the best out of the hardware. They could put in dynamic weather if they wanted to and still achieve very good frame rates, but that would probably delay it. Besides, they’re probably trying to save some features for GT7.
It seems to be part of a trend to remove previous features from games, like split-screen gaming. The N64 could do 4-player split-screen, but now you can’t even find a racing game that lets you do 2-player split-screen, despite the hardware being many, many times more powerful.
As for Fallout, that’s Bethesda for you. The same thing happened when Fallout 4 initially released; the frame rate was absolute shite, but was improved with patch 1.02, which showed it was a software issue and not a necessarily a hardware issue.
Maybe the obsession with graphical horsepower is the problem.
I would happily play a driving game that didn’t look cutting edge if it maintained 60fps and had interesting weather effects.