Video: Gamer vs. Sebastien Loeb

12th April 2021

Ethan Jupp

Just how close are we to photorealism in gaming? With every passing title, it seems games are as good as they’ll ever get. Take Dirt Rally 2.0 as an example. Taken in isolation, its graphics are near flawless. Could they do any better? Well, compare a Monte Carlo Rally stage on the game, to one in real life and observe for yourself…

In the small frame, rally titan Sébastien Loeb tackles a stage in the principality for real. That’s laid over an on-board from the game. The biggest differences are in lighting, with the game not quite able to get sunlight as crisply as it needs to be. There’s a smoothness to it that’s quite unlike the mania of real-life rally driving, too. Other than those two quite frankly nitpicky points, Dirt Rally 2.0 is a proper visual treat and pretty close to the real deal.

Then there’s the pace. The two stages are more or less perfectly in sync, meaning this driver is keeping up with and even outdoing Le Patron himself. Perhaps the lack of risk with a game helps in pushing on...

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