Project CARS PS4 vs PC Maximum Settings Screenshot Comparison: Gorgeous on Both Platforms

Giuseppe Nelva May 6, 2014 10:58 AM EST

Recently Slightly Mad Studios and Sony Computer Entertainment released a batch of screenshots of the upcoming Project CARS, that will be released on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Wii U starting this fall.

Many wondered how the PS4 version compares with the PC version, and today we tried to respond to that question, by taking screenshots of the PC version at maximum settings reproducing as closely as possible some of the PS4 screenshots.

While it’s not possible to reproduce exactly the same situation without using developer-only tools (there are literally thousands of variable even just for location and camera angle, without mentioning the lighting and weather conditions), we managed to get pretty close, in order to give you a good idea on how the two platforms stand in comparison with one another graphically.

You can check the screenshots out below, with the PC version on top and the PS4 version just below in each pair. of course you should click on each screenshot to see it in its full resolution.

If you think the screenshots above are “bullshots,” they aren’t. At least for what the PC version is concerned, they’ve been taken simply by selecting the external view, unlocking the camera and painstakingly trying to find a matching angle. Project CARS Creative Director Andy Tudor mentioned that the PS4 screenshots have been captured with the same method.

There are a few differences of course: From this early analysis reflections don’t seem to be as detailed on PS4 as with the maximum settings on PC, and the PS4 version seems to use a slightly inferior anti-aliasing solution than the best ones available on PC. The polygon count of the console version is also slightly lower. You can notice it easily by checking out the headlights on the BAC Mono in the second pair of screenshots.

On the other hand texture detail and anistropic filtering seem to be exactly the same, and it’s worth mentioning that to run the PC version at maximum detail with a stable framerate you need at the very least a Geforce GTX 780.

Ultimately the verdict is quite simple, and we have to keep in mind that both versions are still far from completion: while the developers had to inevitably make some small compromises with the console version, both look absolutely stunning.

Update: incidentally, as soon as we posted this article, Slightly Mad Studios released nine new screenshots of the PS4 version. You can check them out in the gallery below, together with a statement on how they were taken:

We’ve also had a number of questions on how we take our screenshots too – do we use some special photo mode or trick that only the development team have access to? Or were they taken on PC really or captured at a huge resolution and scaled down? The answer is no to all the above – all screenshots are taken just like you’ll be able to in the final game… by simply pausing and snapping away.