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Reviews Digital Foundry || Forza Horizon 5 Tech Analysis: An Xbox Series X Masterpiece

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ILikeFeet

Warpstar Knight


Playground Games' Forza Horizon 5 is finally complete - a cross-generation game perhaps, but one where the next generation features deliver a new level in fidelity for the franchise and for the Xbox platform. Join John Linneman for this phenomenally detailed breakdown of the technology in the new game.
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www.eurogamer.net

The technology of Forza Horizon 5: an Xbox Series X masterpiece

For nearly as long as video games have existed, the racing game has stood as a monument to state-of-the-art technology …
www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

summary forthcoming, but might be late. read the article anyway
  • quality mode runs at 30fps with increased detail
  • performance mode runs at 60fps with reduced detail
  • quality is native 4k with 4x msaa with nearly the highest level of detail
  • performance mode is a dynamic 4k, dips as low as 1600p, motion blur is reduced and lower scene detail
  • no TAA
  • Series S Quality mode is 1080p-1440p
  • performance mode is 810p-1080p
  • framerate/times is extremely consistent on series x and s
  • loading takes 21 seconds (4 takes 2mins)
  • car models improved with bent normals
  • forza vista and photomode uses ray traced reflections
  • extremely high quality auto models, interiors and exteriors, even during racing
  • parallax occlusion maps on the terrain
  • cone step mapping used on buildings, however only in quality mode
  • ground is procedurally pained in, mixes with geometry drocks
  • screen space shadows to ground the small foliage and rocks
  • quality mode has a tall stack of visual effects
  • new translucent foliage material
  • more assets and dynamic objects in any given town compared to the last games
  • voxel GI has been replaced with a new "circle GI" that's probe based
  • GI is baked but combined with the realtime lighting
  • works on last gen but at less quality
  • large scale AO without artifacts
  • sky dynamically changes with the weather, very realistic
  • sandstorms are volumetric
  • particles are lit
  • audio uses software ray tracing
  • object materials dictates how sound bounces
  • uses Dolby Atmos
  • uses LFE channels for very deep bass
  • John compares the audio/gameplay emotional integration to arcade Outrun and SSX3
  • does not support Dolby HDR, but HDR10
 
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The game is a work of art. I have the premium pass preordered. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.
 
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Everything about this continues to look great. I'll be playing on PC but I'm looking forward to driving all through Mexico next week.
 
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SlightlyMadGames said:
Forza Horizon 5 proved that Cross Generation Games doesn't restrict the XBox Series X Performance.
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The arguments were mostly about XB1 games (especially Halo Infinite) that targeted 60fps on base hardware meaning the geometric complexity / density / size of playable space etc couldn’t go beyond a certain point due to the 2013 hardware being the development baseline.

FH5 only runs at 30fps on XB1 which means they can push the base experience on XB1 much further due to having twice the GPU rendering time to play with. Once the development baseline is raised from a 1.3teraflop GPU to a 4teraflop GPU along with the Velocity Engine technology and crazy fast SSD’s these developers will make even this game look dated by 2023 I bet as crazy as that is to imagine.

FH5 looks incredible, plays really well and seems to have an absolute ton of content to boot. I can’t wait to play it!

@ILikeFeet

Thanks for the video breakdown. These 30 minute videos from John are my favourite. The guy is a treasure!
 
Polygon said:
having twice the GPU rendering time to play with.
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it's actually more than 2x. there's a render cost that doesn't change should the workload be the same (exact same scene and resolution), then shading all the pixels is what takes up the rest of the time.

A note on 30fps vs. 60fps: It's not as simple as you think. When we render at 60 fps, we have around 16ms per frame to render. A big chunk of that frame budget is reserved for the basics: polygons and material costs. Let's say that, to give an example, in a dense scene there is about 10ms of cost per frame, just for the basics. This leaves us 6ms for things like ambient occlusion, screen space reflections, subsurface scattering, particle, bloom, and other post processing effects that serve to make things super cute. This is not a large budget. But what happens if we go down to 30fps? We now have 33ms per frame for rendering. We have the same base cost of 10ms, but 23ms remain for the nice stuff. It is practically a budget for the advanced features FOUR TIMES higher.
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*the source tweets have since been deleted
 
Polygon said:
The arguments were mostly about XB1 games (especially Halo Infinite) that targeted 60fps on base hardware meaning the geometric complexity / density / size of playable space etc couldn’t go beyond a certain point due to the 2013 hardware being the development baseline.

FH5 only runs at 30fps on XB1 which means they can push the base experience on XB1 much further due to having twice the GPU rendering time to play with. Once the development baseline is raised from a 1.3teraflop GPU to a 4teraflop GPU along with the Velocity Engine technology and crazy fast SSD’s these developers will make even this game look dated by 2023 I bet as crazy as that is to imagine.

FH5 looks incredible, plays really well and seems to have an absolute ton of content to boot. I can’t wait to play it!
Click to expand...

I've seen alot of People complaining about Microsoft's Cross Generation Strategy because they thought that this would compromise the XBox Series X Version of new developed Video Games.

I've also seen alot of People complaining about that Horizon: Forbidden West will be released on the PlayStation 4 for the same Reason.

But Forza Horizon 5 proved that Microsoft's Strategy doesn't restrict the XBox Series X Version if the Developers do a great Job ;)
 
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Series vs One Comparison
  • Index
    • comparison video. summary forthcoming


    Forza Horizon 5 makes a grand statement, delivering a level of fidelity worth of next generation console hardware. And yet Playground Games also has this game running on Xbox One X and even Xbox One - how?! Rich visited Playground for some answers, then put together this extensive cross-platform comparison. Every version and every mode tested - six different rendition of Forza Horizon 5 in total!
    Click to expand...
    www.eurogamer.net

    Every console tested: can Xbox One really run Forza Horizon 5?

    We called it an Xbox Series X masterpiece and that isn't hyperbole - Playground Games has delivered a phenomenal game a…
    www.eurogamer.net www.eurogamer.net

    • all the features of Series is in One
    • cross play with all consoles
    • Playground Games had a dev system that allowed them to test the game on all systems in all modes at the same time
    • lacks procedural detail and texture resolution
    • less foliage density and rocks
    • 30fps, 4xmsaa
    • 810p-1080p on One, 1600p-2160p on One X
    • pre day one patch, performance drops quite a bit
    • post day one patch, frame rate is near perfect
    • scales graphics detail before scaling resolution
    • the last gen consoles have a loading screen between the intro drop segment that can be up to 30 seconds
    • in game, loading races can be as long
    • One X seems similar to performance mode
    • One uses a lower resolution models and reflections, no bent normals
    • sparse foliage and no debris
    • foliage rendering is simpler
    • One X has superior texture detail and AO in some areas than the Series S Performance mode
    • Series S has better...everything else
    • Series S Quality missing some parallax occlusion mapping and cone step mapping the Series X Quality has
    • Richard Leadbetter prefers the Series X Quality
     
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