GT5 vs. GTHD video comparison

292w ago - Gran Turismo has always been known as a series that pushes Sony's hardware to it's absolute maximum, but then GT HD turned up and although it looked nice, it lacked that 'wow' factor.

Now the GT5 Prologue demo is out on the Japanese PlayStation Store (free to anyone cunning enough to sign up for a Japanese PSN account), it shows what GT should really look like on Sony's high-performance hardware.

We've run the two demos side-by-side to give you some idea of what Sony's eye candy department has been up to over the past year.

The first thing to note is the fluidity of GT5P. The 60fps frame rate is solid as a rock. But the whole game just looks a lot slicker than the first GT HD demo, which now looks comparatively dull and washed out.

Sony has clearly upped the bloom lighting in the new version of the game, thrown in the fan-favourite heat haze (which blew us away in the PS2 era - remember that?) and brightened all the colours too, giving the game a sharper, shinier look.

The dust and smoke kicked up by the tires are far more convincing too, and can be so thick it's almost blinding when a car up ahead runs off the course and makes a mess.

Is this the best-looking racing game yet? Yes. Forza 2 looks smooth but bland and not as slick. Maybe we'll throw up some comparisons between that and the full version of GT5P when it's launched later this year.

Video's can be seen at the link at the top of this news story!