I was just watching some of the shaky cam PGR clips on the 360 which Joystiq has a link to. It’s really neat to watch the subtle details of these next-gen games in action. With level of detail and photo-realism aside, I first noticed the fans. It was entertaining to see how they reacted when the car hit the side wall. They were startled and moved back. I also picked up on the dirt and scratches on the windshield, the wavy fumes bending the air from the car’s exhaust. The smooth, smokey particles from the car as it peels out. All simple things really that we don’t notice in real life because we’re so conditioned to it. When it’s in a game though, we tend to “oooh…” and “ahhh…” don’t we?

With regards to game realism, why do we bother to head in that technological direction anyway? It’s the same with movies, art and any other medium that introduces fantasy. Perhaps the reason for this is to reach that level of realism so that we can still escape into something entertaining and believable, yet still hover close to that comfort level we are conditioned to in our own lives. We know what’s real and believe its close enough to our own. Or if you let your imagination run wild, maybe realism isn’t so important.