Let's compare visuals: Ridge Racer

by Dustin Burg { Nov 13th 2006 at 7:30PM }

With the release of the Playstation 3 this week we'll undoubtedly see comparisons between it and the Xbox 360 in terms of visual prowess. It's inevitable, because some gamers base their purchasing decisions strictly on which console can produce the prettiest looking environments and coolest HD particle effects. I figured I'd add fuel to this upcoming fire by posting a little comparison between the Xbox 360 version of Ridge Racer 6 and the PS3 version of Ridge Racer 7. What's cool about these comparison shots is that they are of roughly the same environments and locations, depicting a direct and accurate comparison. Though, the screen grabs are just that, off-screen grabs of the games and the article is in a language I have yet to study. Take a look at some comparison shots, which would you give the blue ribbon award for graphics to?

[Via, Digg]

Tags: comparison, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, ridge racer, ridge racer 6, RidgeRacer, RidgeRacer6

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

DannyOB@360insight @ Nov 13th 2006 7:50PM

They each have their pros and cons...the 360 screen shot looks more detailed, but i think the PS3 shot looks better from afar because it is more subtle, jaggies are less prevalent also.

intRvenous @ Nov 13th 2006 10:30PM

You could argue the 360 has more detail, better water and more shadows, but I honestly have to say prefer the overall 'warmth' of the PS3 version. Now, it could just be that the HDR setting is too drastic on the 360...

What's interesting is, this is nearly identical to the old nVidia vs. ATI wars on PC: nVidia always produced a warmer looking output, but for technical detail, ATI always seemed to have an edge. 360=ATI and PS3=nVidia, so it looks like the not much has changed ;-)

Bottom line though, at least for this game, PS3 does NOT have the mega graphics advantage folks have been harping about...

Jason @ Nov 13th 2006 7:55PM

If anything the 360 looks better... it seems like they downgraded the texture quality, etc on the PS3 to compensate for the higher resolution... also the illumination on the 360 looks better... better use of shadows, etc... the PS3 looks like there is the same light everywhere... the 360 one looks like there is more of a realistic look to everything... like the shadows in the road on the pick with the bridge... Also... if you took the time over the last year I am sure you could have made Ridge Racer look better on the 360!!!! I wouldn't worry about graphicial power for the next gen...

Hey also... is it me or is there NO BUZZ at all about any of the PS3 games available? There are only like 3 games at launch that are not already on coming to the 360 at the same time... RFOM looks kind of ho-hum compared to something like Gears... Where is the incentive (other than blu-ray) to pickup a PS3 for $600??? I know it will still sell out but what does the PS3 have that the 360 doesn't?

audioeric @ Nov 13th 2006 7:58PM

I'd say the Blue Ribbon has to go to the 360, but this is Xbox360Fanboy.com.. However, I would like to see someone argue that the PS3 looks better.. From the screens that were shown, the 360 looks much better.. YOu can see what a big effect HDR has on being able to have very dark areas and very bright areas on the screen at the same time.. Definitely should be interesting to see how other cross platform games stack up..

Veron @ Nov 13th 2006 8:29PM

If you look at the larger screens, I'd give the A-ok to the PS3, it seems smoother and warmer, I give the 360 credit for water effect, looks good.

I'd give the blue ribbion to the 360 mainly because everything on the screen is annoyingly blue :S The buildings, the roads, the handover up ahead, the water, the vehicles, even the boats. Its hurting my eyes. The sky, the tower, the bridge, everything is bloody blue, what happened?!?!

The trees on the PS3, although pretty much the same, look better, the 360 ones remind me of the trees in Xbox original games :(

The building looks smoother on PS3, although the windows look better on 360, but the building as a whole looks slightly blocky on 360, you only have to look at the curve at the top.

Everything from fencing to roads look smoother and textured better on the PS3. Meh, I work with graphics, so these differences are easy for me to spot.

audioeric @ Nov 13th 2006 8:29PM

Something else that I noticed was that the light was a bit different between them, so I've tried to make the background (behind the Monitor) the same.. Check these out:

http://www.audioeric.com/images/RR6xbox360.jpg
http://www.audioeric.com/images/RR7ps3.jpg

Then I did a little animation by matching up the mountains and trees in the background:

http://www.audioeric.com/images/360vsps3_ridgeracercompare.gif

enjoy...

rijit @ Nov 13th 2006 8:31PM

Without actually seeing the HD screen myself, I could not say which looks better, my laptop's screen is good, but it is not in HD, neither are those images. As for those these images, I think the 360 images have better detail because the PS3 shots are heavily antialiased, distorting more than just the edges it seems. Though, RR is not the game to be comparing as it really didn't impress me with it's graphics in the first place.

Surrealistic @ Nov 13th 2006 8:50PM

i would have to say 360 wins this one from those pictures....although they are only pictures of the screen which makes them both look blocky as crap. The only way to get an accurate result is to see the screen themselves. But the PS3 does look too...monotone i guess you could say. Its like someone put a white layer over it and brought down the visibility (like in photoshop) which makes it look really dry. The xbox360 though looks very realistic and "wetter" (no nastyness intended) and i think overall better graphics go to the xbox360... and i also deal with 3d modeling and photoshop and crap like that so i know something :P

DeadPlasmaCell @ Nov 13th 2006 8:58PM

This is a good one.. I'm liking that the PS3 version has more brightness to it, but that could be cause by many factors.. But I'd have to go with the 360 on this one.. The textures are just plain better (in the screens provided at least) and In this crazy HD era we're in, it's all about the details.

/.02

Mark Ansman @ Nov 13th 2006 9:22PM

Looking at the other pictures, the 360 clearly is the winner. I am sure each system will out do each other in some games, but for this game, the 360 much nicer.

cerberus414 @ Nov 13th 2006 10:24PM

PS3 seems to have better trees, but 360 seems to have richer colors. I think textures on the PS3 are slightly better, or is it because of AA? Everything else is pretty much the same. The only question remains, which one is smoother?

Andrew @ Nov 14th 2006 7:11PM

everyone typed long responces all i have to say is

HA!

Edison Warden @ Nov 13th 2006 9:32PM

X360 is better looking. I really looks more accurate and I think the PS3 version might give me headaches.

Tony @ Nov 13th 2006 10:12PM

Honestly, I look at both of these and wonder why people are going so nuts over RR7. Is it the same people who cared about RR6?

Other than it running in 1080p, it doesn't look much better on PS3... if at all. I'm not understanding a lot of the hype and interest in this title since it looks to play just like RR6... which, honestly, was pretty forgettable.

Oh well.

Tom @ Nov 13th 2006 10:58PM

They both look the same to me, but maybe the afterimage from fire fights with the Locust has impaired my vision.

Gaurav K @ Nov 14th 2006 1:03AM

PS3 is raw calculating power, the graphical power should be fairly equivalent to 360 but PS3 in the end will be noticebly better because of HDMI and 1080p native, the high resolutions reduce jagged lines, in this particular game its really on what you prefer, I like the warmer aspects of the PS3 where it looks more like a tropical landscape but the 360 causes it to look like a Urban rural area. The lighting is the main difference, the 360 does have more detail and more detailed textures overall the PS3 is still a little bit better for overall image, no one when playing the game is going to notice the details as they wizz by on there screen and gamers look for overall picture, texture details are important but only to things like grass because thats things that gamers would notice right away and not grass 2 miles away that you cant even reach. The 360 does have better textures and details and less problems in rendering (the building has a line for the curve which the ps3 didnt properly render) overall the PS3 is better

djphatjive @ Nov 14th 2006 2:57AM

Let me put it this way. The ps3 looks like a game. And the 360 version looks real. There!

googoodai @ Nov 14th 2006 2:59AM

I guess if it take 2 detail pictures to tell the differences bwt ps3 and xbox360, why would someone pay extra 200 bucks to play the same games? Hmm.... I don't! Damn, don't get me wrong, i am a ps3 fanboy! Damn! Hopefully, there is gonna be kill apps for ps3!

Smoking Area @ Nov 14th 2006 4:19AM

soo... let me get this straight.... noone here knows Spanish right?

The author clearly states that the 360 version is better and more detailed.... like the road, the ship and other effects such as the water have disappeared from the PS3 version.....

Carl @ Nov 14th 2006 4:31AM

Sad thing is that this will sell thousands in Japan (and even move systems) and the "same" game has been out for a year now.

Always Right @ Nov 14th 2006 5:04AM

The world isn't complty blue, how can that be real? And everything looks rather rough and jagged.

You can argue on the water when you come to think about it, both types are fairly real looking, one is still though, while the other is a moving stream.

Anyway, this is Xboxfanboy, which person in here will say otherwise...

Christian @ Nov 14th 2006 4:46AM

With the city scene comparison, I do like the 360 version better. With the mountain side scene, I like the PS3 better. It's too bright for me to look at regarding PS3 in the city. 360 has too much contrast or color burn or something when it comes to green scenery.
Of course, since you'd be staring at your car that you drive most of the time, I actually like the PS3 version.
I'm still not picking fav's as I'm a gadget whore.

Lewis @ Nov 14th 2006 5:41AM

Hahaha, unlucky Sony fans, you've been screwed.... again. When will you learn.

Lewis @ Nov 14th 2006 5:41AM

I've performed blind tests (show them the pic but not which one it is) and they've said the 360 is much better lighting and detail.

Ogden2k @ Nov 14th 2006 9:52AM

I actually thought at glance that the 360 version was a photo. I think the 360 version looks better.

Andy @ Nov 14th 2006 8:38AM

Hi

To be honest this looks a bit wrong. The contrast on the PS3 pic is too high, and this causes it to look naff. The 360 pic also looks too dark which is reducing the detail. If you simply do an auto contrast adjustment in Photoshop it really improves the ps3 image. Looking closeup the car is less jaggy, and the trees have more detail. The water effect on the 360 pic is not there on the PS3 because it is a reflection, showing a perfectly calm lake.

I think the PS3 is better, although there is next to no difference, once the brightness/contrast has been set correctly, and this is down to the screen, not the console (and personal taste of course)

bubba stump @ Nov 14th 2006 10:49AM

While were doing comparisons...check out these shots of Gears of War and Resistance Fall of Man. 360 has the clear edge here.

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/315/928399_11120...
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/310/reviews/9282...

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/315/928399_11120...
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/310/reviews/9282...

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/315/928399_11120...
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/290/928234_20061...

edhe @ Nov 14th 2006 12:18PM

p.s.

People forgetting that the ps3 version is a year newer than the 360 version? That's got to count for something..

Fezmid @ Nov 14th 2006 6:21PM

The one thing everyone's missing is this:

RR6 for Xbox360: $19.82 from Amazon
RR7 for PS3: $59.82 from Amazon

So, to those who think the PS3 grahpics are better (not me), do you think they're $40 better?

dorango @ Nov 14th 2006 7:43PM

From the two screen shots, the 360 appears to have some heavy colour saturation. The contrast and brightness are a cranked a little too high. Look at the mountains and the detail is lost in the overexposed washed out white while the trees and bridge lose detail in the overly black shadow.

The PS3 appears to have flattened the colours a little and balanced the contrast and brightness better to show more detail in the bright light areas as well as in the shadows.

If you like highly saturated colours then maybe the 360 is for you. I prefer the slightly flatter colours and better brightness and contrast levels of the PS3 in those pictures.

I saw comparison screens of Fight Night Round 3 in the Dec '06 PSM and the PS3 had better brightness and contrast levels as well as more detail.

in the end we all know that some games will look better on one console than the other and vise versa, that both will have their strong and weak points, so I say buy both and stop madness.