IMO when people talk about lifeless and boring they are not talking about balloons. They are talking about grit, personality, tarmac wear, etc. Hard to explain but each track has it's own, but what I do know it's not balloons
Yes ... for a real world track, the accurate replication of it IS the life-ness of that particular track.Fair enough
While you may have a point on the balloons and the green flyover thingy at the start finish, you still have to take consideration into season changes (being windy, or calm etc etc) for example the trees in the infield could have been a capture from a time period where they were there and simply dried out and died.Yes ... for a real world track, the accurate replication of it IS the life-ness of that particular track.
I like the buildings and surroundings to be as representative of the actual place as they can be.
The graffiti on the Nordschleife, the banked oval intersecting Monza, ferris wheel at Suzuka, buildings along the Mulsanne straight ... they all belong there.
When things are inserted that don't belong there in reality, it can kinda bug you.
That green gantry/flyover on the start finish straight at Willow just doesn't belong, nor the trees in the infield,
nor those pesky balloons ...
When they get the other stuff down, so perfectly ... down to the orange spray paint patches, etc. on Willow's actual tarmac surface .... when they get that degree of realism so fine, but then plant a lot of fake things into the scene, it takes away life-ness, not adds it.
It's little things, but they matter .... accuracy at Willow doesn't matter as much as accuracy at Monaco, maybe, but ... my opinion
The video clearly shows trees with green leaves .... my bad, I've driven there many times, and just never seen leaves in the infield ... I stand corrected
In like-for-like scenarios where the objects are lit similarly, there isn't really a difference, as evident by that comparison. In replays, we can see per-object motion blur quality is the same, depth of field blur is the same, shaders and lighting quality haven't changed. The only difference I see is the change in time of day where midday in the new video (and beta) just looks less flattering depending on where you're positioned.
Seems tessellation was disabled in the old Porsche video too. I agree with you the old Porsche video looks better but I think it has more to do with the change in time than anything rendering related.
In like-for-like scenarios where the objects are lit similarly, there isn't really a difference, as evident by that comparison. In replays, we can see per-object motion blur quality is the same, depth of field blur is the same, shaders and lighting quality haven't changed. The only difference I see is the change in time of day where midday in the new video (and beta) just looks less flattering depending on where you're positioned.
Seems tessellation was disabled in the old Porsche video too. I agree with you the old Porsche video looks better but I think it has more to do with the change in time than anything rendering related.
@5:23 two cars is not possible. There I messed up my race. I should have brake harder to avoid the wall. I gave space to the other car but he also had no room and thus had to bump me couple of times. 
Had a bad start because of my gearing and dropped to 3rd, managed to work my way back into the lead though despite there being quite a bit of lag.
Got my 50th race win today in the Gr.4s at Dragon Trail!
The second race was at the Nurburgring in the N300s and it was my first after the update using the Audi TTS instead of the Lancer. Went right down to the last straight racing against @Firehuntah.
As for the Dragon Trail race, I saw you having those battles up ahead but unfortunately I failed the chicane of death in lap 2 and fell back quite a few places. 
Got to see @BrainsBush because of that though, didn't even see he was in the race before that point. Can see it in his video as well, I'm still used to the chicane being open I guess, often turn in too early and hit the wall.
Couple of nice races today. Besides the lag/latency which is distracting the driving quality was good
Race 1: started #1 and ended #1. Tried another view and this is easier then in car cockpit but less realistic. I still prefer the interior view. Only real action see @1:35. Car #2 tried to overtake me on the wrong side. He should have take the inside. Now he wanted to push through a too narrow gap.
Race 2: see the start which was real strange because of lag. No idea what and when to do. Can happen. Started #6, fall back to the end and finally ended eight. The whole race car shifting from left to right. Hardly impossible to avoid them because of the lag. See @1:50 --> I bumped Toumpas (because I was bumped too...). He hot the wall and I passed him. Three secs later he is in front of me? See also the yellow car going back and forward. @2:50 I passed Toumpas saw him in my mirror and went back to the ideal racing line. Then suddenly his car was faster then light (also because of lag?) and then we touched each other multiple times. What happened @8:00? Nobody passed me but went from #7 to #8.
Race 3: Started #6 ended 9th @3:33 see my professional driving skills
Race 4: where is my quali time? Started last. Ended ... Some nice battles during the race. @6:48 I felt a clear push from behind and my car accelerated in the corner but there was no car behind me? From that moment the lag increased and also my car was hard to handle. See @7:40. Two cars lifted to the left and my to the right. BUMP Major crash. bye bye race
Wrap up: great evening with nice racers! Thx guys and dolls.
people dont know/follow the one line change rule. 
