The tail end of 2013 is going to be a great time for racing game fans, with Driveclub, Forza Motorsport 5 and Gran Turismo 6 hitting the shelves in close sequence. All three games look great in their own right, but let's take a closer look at some of their screenshots to see if we can crown a clear winner, and if Gran Turismo 6 manages to keep up with its younger cousins.
Let's start with something simple. Static pictures for all three games:
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
Moving on, let's see how the three contenders look with close-up pictures of the front end of the rides...
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
Next up, more close-up screenshots, but from the back.
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
More shots from the back end, but moving the camera a little further away...
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
Let's see how multiple cars look together in a few group shots.
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
A quite important aspect of the visuals of a racing game are reflections on the body of the cars. Here's how they look in all three games.
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
What about cars with a matte paint? They have their charm too. Unfortunately the folks at Turn 10 seem to love shiny cars, so I couldn't find one with a matte paint from Forza Motorsport 5.
Gran Turismo 6
Driveclub
What happens when you scratch that paint off your car? Check it out below. Unfortunately no damage has been shown for Gran Turismo 6 yet.
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
But how do the games look when you're actually driving, without fancy camera work?
Gran Turismo 6
(unfortunately no direct feed footage of Gran Turismo 6 has been shown yet from this angle, so keep in mind that the picture below is from an off-screen gameplay video. It's a good one, but the lighting is a off)
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
What about the dashboard view? Here you are.
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
Here are a couple night screenshots. Of course Forza Motorsport 5 doesn't appear here, as it doesn't have a day/night cycle.
Gran Turismo 6
Driveclub
Wind the clock a few hours back, and we can see a couple shots at dusk:
Gran Turismo 6
Driveclub
To close the comparison, let's take a look at something that normally gets overlooked quite a lot in racing games: foliage.
Gran Turismo 6
Forza Motorsport 5
Driveclub
And here we are, at the end of this trip into pure, unadulterated car porn. Which game looks the best? That's extremely hard to say, as all three titles look definitely fantastic under basically every point of view. As usual it boils down to personal preference and taste, so feel free to tell us which one you like the most in the comments below.
One thing is for sure, though: if at the beginning of this comparison you thought that it was a bit unfair for Gran Turismo 6, I'm quite sure by now you changed your mind. It may be "last gen", but it sure puts up a hell of a fight.