14 DAY TRIAL // Developer Slightly Mad Studios aims for Project Cars to run in 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms.
The developer showcased the game running on both hardware platforms at EGX in London, hitting the 60 frames per second framerate marks consistently. Earlier builds were struggling to achieve the coveted PR golden numbers, and it seems that the team has made great progress toward the goal.
However, there is also the question of platform parity, as in cross-platform titles, the Xbox One has been struggling to get up par to the PlayStation 4's performance levels.
"On Xbox One it's not quite 1080p at the moment. But it's not representative of the final quality. We're still aiming to get there," Slightly Mad Studios' Andy Tudor confessed at EGX 2014, as quoted by Eurogamer.
Of course, achieving a smooth and steady framerate is crucial in racing video games, where even a moment's hesitation can permanently put you on the back foot. Hopefully, the team will be able to up the game's performance on the Xbox One in time for launch.
Immersion goes far beyond framerate
But framerate is not all when it comes to delivering a great, truly immersive driving simulation experience.
"For a racing game, 60fps is hugely important. What people don't know is that the physics underneath runs at 600 times a second. We measure the input you're doing on the controller 250 times per second. Project Cars does that way more than any other game - they're all doing that significantly lower."
"The screen refreshes 60 times per second - we're measuring the tires, the physics, the suspension, all that stuff, 600 times," Tudor explained.
There is a lot of stuff happening at once, in addition to modeling the track and numerous other cars, the devs also have to find enough resource for the enhanced physics engine to do its job properly, as well as to work in the dynamic weather system and time of day, two of the game's most touted features.
Project Cars is slated for release on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe, headed to PC, to the PlayStation 4 home entertainment system from Sony and the Xbox One computer entertainment system from Microsoft.
Slightly Mad Studios is also aiming to launch a version of Project Cars on the Nintendo Wii U home console, at a yet undisclosed date next year, which will most likely be unable to share the raw performance of the Xbox One and PS4 editions, but will also ship with the complex weather system and dynamic time of day.
