Electronic Arts recently released the trailer for Need for Speed on the PC, at a possible 4K if one’s system is compatible. It is not made clear if the footage from the trailer is in the mentioned 4K quality, however, after watching the normal gameplay for the PS4, it looked very much the same to me. That does not mean that the trailer is not in 4K resolution; it can be hard to spot if one is not experienced with 4K.
Nonetheless, more pixels are still more pixels. Need for Speed may not be as shiny and clean as the Gran Turismo game series, but graphic quality matters. Does it matter enough that PC gamers should consider an investment in a 4K setup, though?
On the PS4 at least, Need for Speed takes the nickname “ Fast and Furious 2.0” to whole new level. The streets are covered in grit, not at all like those plastic surfaces you can find on PS2 racing games, and make the ride feel as adrenaline pumping as it should at over 100 miles per hour. The cars are sexy, with completely customizable looks and detailing. What could be cooler than picking out the body kit and paint tone for your Ferrari? Such features are great for the multiplayer mode when you show off your fierce ride to the competition. The rain (of course) only makes everything look better.
Basically, the graphics are important to how a racing game feels. Atmosphere and mood is almost always fifty percent visual, fifty percent audio. In Need for Speed , the visual details make up closer to sixty percent of my experience because the graphic details are necessary to the environment of each race. Details like readable shop signs or complex street construction are not new, but nothing beats those Ventura Bay city skylines. Fast and Furious references aside, climbing to 200 mph towards the perpetual twilight or night skies of Need for Speed on the PS4 sure gets the adrenaline pumping.
If graphics are so necessary on the PS4, the 4K resolution of the PC version might affect such key elements as atmosphere and mood. For those that may not know, 4K is both difficult and expensive to set up. It requires, “not only two powerful GPUs, but also 4GB of video memory per GPU, for a total of 8GB” (according to Digital Trends ). The most cost-effective monitor from Samsung (the only one with a single tile instead of two), along with an AMD Radeon 295X2 costs about $2,200 – and that’s about as cheap as it gets. If you opt for two Titans and a 30-inch display, the total can go above $4,000.
I believe that Need for Speed is not worth the extreme cost for the average consumer to set up 4K with their PC. In the end, it’s a good racing game, but not a great one. The only new feature that makes the PC version seductive is the promise of manual transmission. However, you don’t require 4K resolution to pull your car from third gear to second and back again. Perhaps if there were more games utilizing this level of graphical fidelity, it might become worth the investment, but for now, it might be good to downshift.