Why...Exactly... are Replays at 30fps while Gameplay is 60fps?

[Simple SIM]

Does anyone know?

My question doesn't have to be aimed directly at GT 5 as this scenario is common among MANY racing games. Gameplay 60, Replay 30.

Regardless of which forum you go to and regardless of which racing game you're talking about I find a common negative comment to be something along the lines of "yeah that pic is from replay/photo mode, show me some gameplay pics."

The obvious insinuation is that Replays/Photomode are better looking than Raw Gameplay... and it's true. But I don't know EXACTLY why it's true.

To cause the frames per second to drop from 60 to 30 other "effects" must be added such as anti aliasing or perhaps some kind of blur or depth of field ect.

So I think I know generally what's going on, but if there is someone here who knows a more exacting answer....please share

 

[ddl8]

Simple Sim YOU ARE absolutly correct, its due to anti aliasing which is if I am not mistaken X4 for 720p and x2 for 1080p during replays. You can see it yourself just switch to cockpit view e.g. on suzuka track and YOU gonna see a bit improved graphics - less jaggy.

 

[Sniffs]

GT4 shows this as well.

 

[Simple SIM]

"No slang words that promote laziness"

What the...? LOL

 

[hardvibes]

I think they're at 30 fps because the cinematic camera takes a wide shot of the area surrounding the car (not to mention the other cars on screen and effects), and that requires more calculations per second. Sometimes it could go faster than 30fps but I think they locked the cinematic replays at that value to avoid fsp drops and that wouldn't be nice to watch.

p.s. actually the replays still go at 60fps if you switch to the cockpit/bumper view

 

[G.T.Ace]

More stuff on screen + motion blur + the ability to switch through the cars without a loading screen + depth of field + the ability to zoom.

 

[hardvibes]

exactly

 

[Havok_]

I wish the Gt5 replays could actually be paused. Gt5ro lacks this option.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Yes a pause function is needed.

 

[dancardesigner]

Simple Sim YOU ARE absolutly correct, its due to anti aliasing which is if I am not mistaken X4 for 720p and x2 for 1080p during replays. You can see it yourself just switch to cockpit view e.g. on suzuka track and YOU gonna see a bit improved graphics - less jaggy.

I thought that was the level of anti aliasing in game, and higher for replays. Otherwise it would mean we have no anti aliasing at 1080p in game.

As for the recent statement of true 1080p in GT5, i think that's rubbish. Where is PD gonna get the extra performance to pull off 1920x1080 when GT5p stutters at only 1200x1080p. I think what the PS3 is kind of doing at the moment is kind of like pixel doubling, but not quite doubling. When you apply pixel doubling in other games it looks crap, but releives a lot of performance.

Is there a difference between pixel doubling, and halving half the resolution and upscaling visually does anyone know?

 

[Custer85]

The Prologue build is 2 years old, so i guess we can expect some improvements, though i doupt they can pull of native 1080p.
Its going to be just like the Prologue and hopefully with less aliasing, or less tearing.

The replay will be ~30fps, just because of the 3D cam and lots of post processing effects. The replay has to be enhenced because a photomode will be available during replay and the shots are supposed to look good. I guess they will add some more post processing effects as soon as the picture is taken in addition to some more anti aliasing and more blur i guess.

I guess this thread may be closed, because its quite obvious why the replays run at a lower framerate and some other users have allready posted about that. If the framerate should change for the full game, it may be posted in other threads within a featurelist or something.

 

[seanchump]

I'm still hopefull that they can optimize the build to get replays closer to 60fps. prologue replays just aren't as smooth as gt4 replays, which really take away from the experience IMO.

 

[cicohipe]

Actually a lot of what is written above is true (i don't think there is more AA though).

But another factor (and arguably the most important) is to make it look more real, i know this might sound silly at first but 60fps looks too fluid. If anyone has ever watched a movie at 60fps or higher will know what i mean.

Movies in the cinema's run at 24fps or about that, while dvd's etc are about 30fps. It is what we are used to and looks very natural.

 

[Terronium-12]

I can give a bit of a rough answer (opinion) as I'm a bit of a, well, that's not really important...

But my opinion would be that replays are essentially "replayed" at 30 frames as opposed to the in-game 60 because the calculations are a bit more precise and continuous. Things such as motion blur, or for argument's sake HDR aren't rendered as heavily because it would be a waste of resources as that wouldn't be as precise due to the various calculations of determining where all of the 16 cars, the buildings, trees, etc...are, so it's possible it would turn into something of a "ghosting" situation.

Which is why if you look at any GT5 replay the colors are a bit more intense, and the shadows are a little lighter. I may be looking too much into the question, and I may have even answered incorrectly but most is based on what I can remember, but it's usually replays/photos look better than the in-game result because of those little subtleties that are being accounted.

So, I'm going to shut up now and go find my books and refresh my memory and make sure everything I just said doesn't make me look like a dunce.

 

[ComposerRyan]

I don't mind it at all...simply because when you go to a movie theater and watch a movie, the movie is running at 24 FPS. While I do prefer 60 FPS during actual playing of the game, I don't mind 30 FPS during a cinematic replay experience, just like watching a movie.

Plus, with 30 FPS, you get true motion blur which is EXTREMELY important in duplicating a camera's shutter speed and, most importantly, it captures the sense of the speed of the car and shows how fast the camera is tracking the car around the track. Motion blur and the angle of the camera, as well as the tracking speed of the camera (due to the car's speed), are all of the elements that make GT5's replays look almost identical to the real replays we see on TV. This attention to detail is seen in NO OTHER game. That's why GT5 is going to be so real.

 

[Zer0]

KY replied that question in a interview, basically is because the extra camera effects(depth of field, motion blur, etc) and the extra wide shoots needed for the 16 car external cameras.

30fps with motion blur looks fine for a replay.

 

[Nomino]

It's so that they can make the replays look prettier for their "in game" marketing videos!

 

[G.T.Ace]

It is in game.
But the cars and tracks itself are the same while driving, the DOF effect wouldnt work outside of the replays anyway.

 

[AERO_HDT]

I'd love to see wheels in 60fps at 200km/h!

No not really, LOL, one of the great things about GT was ability for the replays to replicate a camera effect.

I would just like the lens effect to be not as pronounced as it is - you can see the blur fields on certain shots are fixed at the top and bottom third of the screen and often you can literally "see" the AA filter in many shots.

60fps does look unnatural, our eyes are trained to look at 2D images in 24-30fps. Watching things at double this rate makes the images appear far too fluid and has the effect fooling our brains into translating the image into 3D. It does look better, but it takes a bit of getting used to...