There doesn't appear to be a reduction in image quality for replays, though, at least not at 720p. I checked back-to-back.
The reflections do
appear to have been changed. I have thought of three possibilities:
- They are now of a higher dynamic range themselves, and so must update less frequently (I remember thinking how fluid the reflections looked in 1.10, compared to how they were on the PS2).
- The "base-shinyness" of the cars has been improved and the lower reflection update rate is simply a performance / bandwidth consideration.
- The game seems darker now at night / dusk, so the HDR settings have definitely been tweaked - this would have the effect of reducing "bloom / blowout" and allowing for the very bright objects to seem more bright against the now darker background.
The high-powered lamps on the Toscana themed courses show the difference in the reflections, as the reflections of the lamps seem really bright now.
I'm leaning towards number three myself.
@
guuner: HDR stands for High [WIKIPEDIA]Dynamic Range[/WIKIPEDIA] and in this instance refers to the ability to account for a greater range of brightness levels than can be simultaneously displayed on a typical TV / monitor. [WIKIPEDIA]HDRI[/WIKIPEDIA] (HDR Imaging) is a specific sub-set of the application and is often discussed from a photography viewpoint, where [WIKIPEDIA]Tone Mapping[/WIKIPEDIA] has a particular meaning, too, specifically trying to map a wide range of brightness levels (as visible to our eyes) into one low-dynamic range image as can be reproduced on paper or a screen.
In a game where the light levels are being generated (as opposed to recorded with a camera) tone mapping is a bit different in that you're trying to map a
limited range of brightnesses from the game into a low-dynamic range image. This gives rise to the brightness being "clamped" at zero and the displays maximum ("full-bright-white"), anything outside that range gets displayed at those limits.
In photography, Tone Mapping is often considered an artistic effect due to the way it can be used non-consistently within a single image (local tone mapping), whilst in a game using "HDR lighting", it is a necessity. Without it, the apparent dynamic range of the game is no better for using HDRI; the difference being that the "exposure" level tends to be fixed for all pixels in a given image / frame (global tone mapping) for a game, but can vary as the scene changes, akin to setting the exposure of a photograph (or better, movie) to the "optimum" for varying lighting conditions.
As for antiscopic filtering, I have no idea. It might be a mistake, put instead of [WIKIPEDIA]anisotropic filtering[/WIKIPEDIA]. Anisotropic means "not the same in all directions", and allows for [WIKIPEDIA]mipmaps[/WIKIPEDIA] to be better filtered according to the angles of surfaces relative to the "camera".
