AT first sight, the photo of the classic Toyota 2000GT looks pretty normal, as if it was photographed right at the road side in Melaka.
But on second thought, the Toyota is so rare that it is next to impossible to find one in Malaysia.
While it may look photorealistic, it was actually generated by a gamer in Gran Turismo Sport (GT Sport), one of the most popular racing simulators on PlayStation 4 (PS4).
GT Sport players are blessed with an immense selection of cars — from the 980kg Toyota S-FR to the Vision Gran Turismo concepts and exotics — which can be raced on iconic race tracks around the world.
But what’s even more immense is the depth of options and functions in its photo mode, or what Polyphony Digital is calling Scapes.
Unlike other photo modes that are based on in-game screens, GT Sport’s Scapes gives players a vast choice of landscapes from across the globe that they can choose as the basis for their shot.
Each landscape is real and in high-definition 4K photo taken by a professional photographer.
Take for instance the photo named “Street Corner Scene in Melaka”. The 2000GT gracefully blends in with the landscape because the game dynamically lights the car in correspondence to the selected lighting conditions within the landscape reflective of the real world.
It captures all the light energy information from that location, including brightness and the sun’s position.
So if we place this exact Toyota 2000GT in the hectic streets of Tokyo or in the vast desserts of Nevada, the car would certainly project different shades and reflections than what appeared in Melaka.
On top of that, the amount of customisation for the photos is simply staggering. From lens distortion, brightness and colour temperature, to even aperture and shutter speed settings, everything can be fine-tuned to generate a photo that looks, well, photorealistic.
The Scapes is akin to PS4’s interpretation of Adobe Lightroom.
Tiny details like the ability to custom-write registration number on the cars further aid in making the photos realistic.
In most cases, you’d be hard-pressed to tell whether or not your photos were taken in real life or generated by the game.
Though the photo mode in the Gran Turismo franchise has appeared as early as GT4, this would be the first to include multiple locations in Malaysia.
Yes, there is more than one location featured in GT Sport. Four of them being the locations around KLCC and its then-famed roof top parking lot in Jalan Binjai (which has since been demolished), with Petronas Twin Towers in the background.
Another location is the National Textile Museum (which looks like the Sultan Abdul Samad building), with three more in Melaka.
Sadly, players cannot actually drive in Malaysia within the game as there’s still no Sepang International Circuit on GT Sport’s track list.