So, after I heard about the upcoming update 5, I decided to install the new AMD drivers (24.1.1) that bring fluid frame rates to the cards in the 6000 range (6600, 6650, etc.) to see how they perform.
Now, on PC you can opt for one of the dynamic render quality presets (low, medium, high, and ultra) and just leave every other setting in auto. Ultra and high are meant for 4K and 1440p, respectively, and medium and low for 1080p for graphic cards in the mid-low range.
For my specs, the dynamic render quality ("DRQ") sets at medium, but while the performance in fps is acceptable, the visuals are not. The image looks upscaled and track details are lost, specially at distance. Not unlike the performance mode in the Series S.
So, I changed the DRQ to high, willing to accept the fps hit in exchange for better visuals... and while some areas improved (lighting, shadows, reflections) in the overall it still just didn't look like native 1080p.
I looked into Digital Foundry's recommended settings, and checked other YouTube videos, web articles here and there, and even Reddit, of all places, where finally I got a clue.
The setting that I had to change to get clearer and more detailed graphics was the resolution scale to up to 140%-150%, and then work all other settings to regain some fps. The easiest way for that is getting back to medium DRQ, turn off ray tracing and motion blur, for more clarity.
Long story short, if you have a midrange card for 1080p, regardless of Nvidia/AMD upscaling technologies, because I don't use them, you can try this for a "quality" mode:
-Dynamic render quality: Medium
-Resolution scale: 150%-140%
-Anisotropic filtering: 16X (if you like more detail on track over distance, otherwise, leave at auto which is 2x, the same for the consoles.)
-Ray tracing quality: off
-RTAO quality: low (because there is no off setting, but it does nothing with RT off.)
-Shadow quality: high/medium, your preference.
-Cubemap reflection: medium. It mostly has to do with the aliasing of said reflections, their resolution is fixed, according to many sources.
-Car model quality: high. But it's only applicable to the other cars because yours' is always at the maximum quality.
-Car livery quality: auto, which may be either low or medium, they look about the same. On track it doesn't matter, only in the podium cutscenes you can tell if it is at low/medium quality.
-Mirror quality: medium.
-Track texture quality: high, and at higher resolution/anisotropic filtering details will pop more (signage, fencing, vegetation, grass, etc.)
-Particle effects quality: auto or low, not much difference.
-Motion blur off, as mentioned.
-Lens flare quality: auto, it really only is noticeable when you are facing the sun.
For my CPU/GPU/memory/storage combo, this will get to 80 fps on the benchmark, but in game it ranges from mid 60s (in heavy traffic) to 90-100 fps when the traffic clears. And the graphics are clearer and quite good looking, especially in some night races, like the final Suzuka race of the JDM Legends tour.
While there can be some stutters here and there, here comes the new AMD drivers that I mentioned at the start of the post, and the fluid frame rates that do work and do away with any major stuttering, just at the expense of a bit of lag. While they are not real frames, IMO the graphic quality holds, and I expect to play on PC with that option on, moving forward.
Sorry for the long post...
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