Pfft, 1080p? Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, in 2160p

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 19th 2008 at 6:16PM }

What happens when you take four PS3 systems, one copy of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, and a Sony SRX-110 projector and put them all together? Well, you get one incredible GT experience. At the 10th Anniversary Party in New York City, Polyphony Digital ran an interesting experiment, where they were able to render the game in a glorious 2160p resolution. That's four times the resolution of the current maximum standard for HDTVs: 1080p.

The application is surprisingly simple. Each PS3 is dedicated to rendering one part of the enhanced 2160p image, with each PS3 rendering one full 1080p image. When combined, all four images turn into something that would make videophiles cry.

That wasn't the only fun and games at the event. No, Polyphony also ran another experiment with 4 PS3s: they were also able to create a 240 fps experience. Each PS3 would render alternating 60 frames per second, so that the end result would be blisteringly fast. At that point, we doubt the human eye would be able to appreciate such fluidity.

So, guys -- how 'bout you stop partying and making amazing 2160p tech demos, and uh -- you finish Gran Turismo 5? Please?

[Via PlayStation Boards]

Tags: 2160p, gran-turismo, gran-turismo-5, gran-turismo-5-prologue, polyphony-digital

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Gapsdav @ Nov 19th 2008 6:21PM

where can i see this please and thank you

Jared @ Nov 20th 2008 1:22AM

I actually work for sony for their tradeshow division and have not seen this yet BUT we are going to try and show it at ITSEC in orlando coming up in a few weeks...

But what we do have on board is the srx-110 projector with 4 ps3's feeding it most likely playing socom. Either that or resistance 2 or something. The screen if I remember correctly was actual 16'x9' and it will be the same again this year

The projector is capable of 4 1080p quadrants... last year we had COD4 running on 4 systems doing a free for all

If anyone is going to be attending the show I welcome you to come on out to our booth and kick some butt

Rock @ Nov 20th 2008 11:28AM

I wonder how they were syncing them so they all worked together? I assumed it was playable and not just a video.

shade4595 @ Nov 19th 2008 6:30PM

cool. I wanna see this for myself

adolson @ Nov 19th 2008 6:36PM

Andrew, your source link is broken. Cheers.

adolson @ Nov 19th 2008 6:37PM

Sorry - I mean, your "Via" link is broken... My bad!

Bagels @ Nov 20th 2008 1:40PM

*starts driving to New York*

BlingOnMyWrist @ Nov 19th 2008 7:19PM

Magnificent but, can someone please explain how they managed to control all four consoles with one controller?

rohan @ Nov 19th 2008 7:26PM

maybe it is the new controller that is coming out.... it has the power to control everything u own!!!

sho220 @ Nov 19th 2008 6:47PM

so is this what polyphony has been wasting their gt dev time on? i'd rather have a game than have some cool demo that i'll never be able to afford and probably never see.

Easo @ Nov 20th 2008 11:28AM

This is cool, but I agree. They should probably get GT5 out the door before wasting time on a setup that no one will ever use. If it makes you feel better though, The forza guys did the same thing on the 360. not in 2160p (3840 x 2160?) but the whole "Look how cool this setup that you will never have is" thing.
http://kotaku.com/340570/vrx-mach-4-brings-4-screens-2-forza-2-4-u

SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Nov 20th 2008 2:18PM

i was thinking the same thing. all this is time that they could have been using to get the full GT5 out the door before the decade is over.

bluesky_v2.01 @ Nov 19th 2008 6:47PM

Total Nerdgasm.

itbekevin2010 @ Nov 19th 2008 7:03PM

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?message.uid=39856508#U39856508

thats the link
he added some ttp to the link
nice going andrew.

rohan @ Nov 19th 2008 7:13PM

in order to do this, won't u have to mod the PS3 to display a part of the picture? and how will u hook all three up to display one solid picture?

Gate @ Nov 19th 2008 11:54PM

Nope. It'd all be done in software, i.e. the game.

Pablos102030 @ Nov 19th 2008 7:17PM

Well the human eye can only see about 72 FPS, so, kind of a pointless project lol.

SleepingPanda @ Nov 19th 2008 9:40PM

The human eye may only be capable of seeing 60~70 fps but it can discern way higher than that. In other words, you'd notice the difference in quality at 240 fps.

Pablos102030 @ Nov 20th 2008 12:32AM

True, but it's still WAY overkill.

Mr Bunky @ Nov 19th 2008 7:18PM

Yeah, that's great if the game ever comes out. I'll be playing Forza 5 by that time.

WTangoFoxtrot @ Nov 19th 2008 7:48PM

lol true. lets not forget though forza 2 also has the feature built into it when i launched last yr but i think it only works with 3 tvs/consoles while the 4th one serves as a rear view mirror.

iamkid @ Nov 19th 2008 9:20PM

games already out. they did it with gt5 prologue. still really crazy though!

sirpilf @ Nov 20th 2008 12:04AM

gt5 will never give PS3 the boost it needs if it stays in this weird $40 "demo" form... is gt5 actually gonna come out or do they just plan on updating gt5p? gah

Gambit07 @ Nov 19th 2008 7:39PM

4 PS3s=PS4! get it!

Jake @ Nov 19th 2008 7:45PM

This makes the PS4 look ever more interesting.

MBO @ Nov 19th 2008 7:51PM

WOW.

beebop @ Nov 19th 2008 8:05PM

cool, but a total waste of time. wheres my finished gt5?

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 20th 2008 1:52AM

It was the Gran Turismo 10th anniversary party man. Get a grip.

beebop @ Nov 20th 2008 8:01AM

I think a better way to celebrate the 10th aniversary would be to release the game. Or is hookin up 4 PS3s more important.

MexicanTerrorist @ Nov 19th 2008 8:08PM

I wonder how much time this took out of actually DEVELOPING GT5.
Because, you know, it's great that they can do this and all, but it'd be even better if I could actually play the damn thing.

TctclMvPhase @ Nov 19th 2008 9:04PM

What they really need are 16 PS3s so they can run 2160P at 240FPS...maybe then Ill be impressed.

nakedatthecomp @ Nov 19th 2008 9:10PM

... i didn't even know that existed or was possible in the first place!

iamkid @ Nov 19th 2008 9:22PM

neither did i. i would imagine its 20 times the price of something 1080p related, seeing as its 4 times the resolution. thats just insane

kamiboy @ Nov 19th 2008 10:51PM

2160p, eh?

Pffft, humbug! Let me know when they can crank i out at 4k resolution.

Gate @ Nov 19th 2008 11:56PM

It's absolutely amazing to me how many people don't care about innovation.

Josh @ Nov 20th 2008 12:15AM

What kind of display where they using that can actually display 240 fps?

Josh @ Nov 20th 2008 12:30AM

"The other display was a playable demonstration on a Nano-Spindt FED / Field Emissions Display developed by Sony, with a frame rate of 240fps (240 frames per second)."

Oh, there we go. I had no idea they were still making FED displays... I thought they died pretty much alongside SED.

Kman79 @ Nov 20th 2008 12:48AM

I still don't understand why everyone is so persistent about the man rushing the release of GT5.

To him, its Artwork, to you, it might just be entertainment. You guys cry about the how long it's taking, but I bet you'll cry even more if it comes out now and doesn't have the number of cars you want, or the number of tracks you want, or as detailed and polished as it could be. Give the man a break, it comes out when he says it will and when he says he's done and satisfied.

1664 @ Nov 20th 2008 8:03AM

i think ur missing the point, i dont think people are moaning because its taking a long time to make in general, but more becasue of "why" its taking so long, because the dude thats in charge seems to spend more time living his life as a mini celeb and dossing about at race day etc, maybe if he just got his nut down and got on with it it'd be done by now, mans had 2 years plus however long they got before ps3 was even put on shelves, in couple of months and i would have owned gt5p for a year and onlines still a big of a joke as it was on day one, about time he fiished what he started

beebop @ Nov 20th 2008 8:05AM

I agree with what your sayin, its already been delayed (nothing unusual for a GT game) surely they know the fans are desperate to get their hands on the finished product and this would only take time away from developing the game

Mike Crazy @ Nov 20th 2008 1:41AM

That's just incredible! Damn too bad I don't know anyone else with PS3. :(

DesiKid @ Nov 20th 2008 11:27AM

I wonder if that's commercial too? If i had two ps3's (not that i do) could i run gt5p at 120 fps? that would awesome. plus they can already do double that, why not patch it in?
In any case, that is batshit insane. I wish i could see the hi res one.

Ty @ Nov 20th 2008 5:35AM

El oh el at the 240 fps super fluidity. I'm sure it would seem super fluidic if they had the projector refresh at a compatible rate. I'm pretty sure we stop noticing fluidity around 100 HZ. We can actually notice pure frames at 60 HZ and below. And we can actually pick out substantial frames and describe them in detail at about 30 FPS.

Still waiting for GT5 the full version...

Gervin @ Nov 20th 2008 8:29AM

Meh. Game stinks anyhow. Gorgeous graphics, lots of modding to be done with lots of awesome cars... but in the end, no fun to drive at all!

Ujn Hunter @ Nov 20th 2008 9:52AM

Wow! What a glorious waste of time! No wonder they can't figure out how to implement real time damage to their game. Oh that's right... they are too busy hooking together 4 PS3's which no one would or should ever have... great work! Keep it up!

proArchy @ Nov 20th 2008 1:56PM

awesome, this is something they should start putting into our games, maybe not just higher resolution since you can't even buy a tv with a res higher than 1080p, but using linked systems to create ridiculously overpowered game modes or features. maybe someone could make a psn game that takes advantage somehow.