So what do we have? The build under our magnifying glass is confirmed by Ghost Games as 99 per cent close to final, with only minor tweaks left ahead of its launch this month. The claim to achieving a native 1080p on PS4 and 720p on Xbox One is also made, and certainly holds muster with our tests.Up close, there's no difference in assets between the two. Textures appear just as sharp, rain effects, motion blur and destruction physics are each fully instated, while town and car detailing is like-for-like. You can judge this for yourself with our 30-strong Need for Speed: Rivals image gallery, taken from the tutorial section where day-night cycles and weather are uniquely synchronised. It's worth noting, however, that landscapes are still occasionally toned differently due to randomised cloud positions, which affects the lighting in spots.With that being said, there is one difference between the PS4 and Xbox One version. Sony's platform makes use of a bokeh depth-of-field effect to distinguish the foreground from a backdrop, noticed mainly during pre-race camera angles. It's a pleasant effect that recreates the results of real-life photograpy when a camera's aperture is reduced, causing distant lights to appear as enlarged luminous specs - a look that's entirely absent on Xbox One. In its place, Microsoft's platform applies a less refined haze filter that slightly impacts the clarity of car details in the foreground. Thankfully this only applies for these fleeting moments, and once the race gets started both platforms remove their chosen depth-of-field effects to unleash like-for-like images.Update: Wow, that was quick. We've just had feedback to this article from Ghost Games' Andreas Brinck, rendering lead on Need for Speed: Rivals - 'I wanted to thank you for the excellent technical analysis of our game, but also ask for a small correction. The article states that the PS4 version of the game is missing ambient occlusion, but the fact is that the PS4 version actually is using it in the form of HBAO. Here are two screenshots from the PS4 demonstrating the difference between having it enabled (this is what's shipped and looking at the screenshots from the article it seems like this was in the build you played as well) and disabled. The effect is most visible on the exhaust pipes and the background, but can be seen on the armco as well.'Our mistake and we're happy to make the correction.FULL ARTICLE HERE
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