Unreal Engine 5 Elevates Photorealism to New Heights
As Unreal Engine 5 makes its mark, the line between real-world visuals and computer graphics grows increasingly blurred. Italian artist Lorenzo Drago demonstrated this vividly by reconstructing the Toyama train station in Japan using the new Epic Games engine. The resulting demo scene is so convincing that it is easy to mistake it for footage captured in the real world.
For maximum realism, Drago carefully simulated hand-held smartphone footage, including camera motion, signature shake, and subtle jitter that players would expect from a consumer capture. Every aspect of the scene was created by the artist, from the models to the textures, with vegetation drawn from Quixel Megascans. The lighting was driven by Lumen, which brings dynamic, global illumination to life in real time. Notably, the project did not rely on Nanite for every texture, which means some surfaces appear less than perfectly crisp when viewed up close.
The video quickly gained traction online, amassing tens of thousands of likes on social platforms and hundreds of thousands of views on video sites, eventually landing in discussions within major gaming communities. Viewers were often surprised to learn that what they saw was a digital scene rather than a live-action recording. A number of enthusiasts even traveled to similar locations to compare real footage with the virtual recreation, underscoring how immersive modern game tech can be.
Yet there is a caveat. While the visuals achieve remarkable realism, the underlying performance shows the tradeoffs involved. Drago notes that processing a single frame required about seven seconds on his computer, a rate that would be impractical for real-time gameplay if strict visual fidelity were to be maintained. A stable frame rate remains achievable, but at the cost of noticeable reductions in texture detail and some subtle compromises in motion quality.
In related news, owners of the standard edition of the game Dying Light can access a free upgrade to the Enhanced Edition that includes five additional features and improvements.
Source: VG Times