Forza Motorsport has a yellowish tint to it during daytime – this can be seen in every scene and every shot. While real life sunlight is white, in Forza Motorsport it seems to be yellow which skews the colour palette, and combined with the saturated colours and extremely high contrast, creates a style that sometimes even looks cartoony. The extreme reflections on cars don’t help as they further reinforce this unnatural, toy-like look.
I wish FM went more for photorealism, and not this shiny plastic look. Even with real-time global illumination it’s never really natural, or at least not from what we’ve seen so far. I don’t like to bring up comparisons, however the reason Gran Turismo 7 looks so dazzling most of the time, even with its reduced trackside detail, is that its pinpoint accurate colour palette and sharp white lighting, making everything pop and still remain realistic.
I took the liberty to modify a few Forza Motorsport screenshots to look more natural. It may not look like much at first but look at the colours, the green of the grass, the grey of the asphalt and the overall whiter lighting. I wish FM looked like that during midday scenes.
Top are the original, bottom are the modified versions.
(Enlarge / download the pictures for the best results.)
I realize it’s not the biggest deal ever, nor the biggest problem with the game but I hoped for more realism in this regard. PC users will probably be able to reshade it with Nvidia tools or by other means, though.
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Wow, the bottom one provides the most stark contrast and definitely looks better.
Perhaps a stupid question, and an administratively burdensome one - is it possible to adjust your TV/monitor settings for the same effect?
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Reshade FTW but i completely agree, i guess one kinda problem is all these Racing sim games will end up looking extremely similar if they are all going for ultra realistic graphics and colour
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It’s quite striking how good the white light picture at Suzuka is.
I’m guessing they like the yellow light as it gives the image a more cinematic feel, which is particularly evident in the replay camera angles Forza typically chooses.
Sure, but my TV is already set for a warm white that somewhat matches my room’s lightning. The additional yellow from a game would just punish the suckers like me who care about white balance by screwing with the tv calibration in order to force a warmer white balance on those that don’t care about it. I’d rather have neutral white balance output by the game. Or at least have it as an option (make white balance settings more accessible 
)
That said, I’m not sure the whole game is always as yellow as those pictures. I rewatched the Builders Cup reveal and colors did seem quite warm but in the Xbox Game showcase video from a few days before, there are some parts that aren’t. We’ll see!
You are confusing output from the game with output from the TV. By “output by the game”, I mean the output from the Xbox going to the TV, not what I’m seeing on TV. I’m set for a warm white already via my TV but it looks natural because it matches the white walls in the room. I don’t want the game to change that. I want the game to output neutral so my TV outputs what I want. I don’t want “Breaking Bad Mexico Filter warm” because the game is forcing additional yellow (I’m exaggerating here, the original images in the first post aren’t that bad, but same principle)
The game is still touted as a “simulation”', this isn’t Tomb Raider or Need for Speed. I’m not looking for a cinematic or stylized experience. With the limited images and videos we have, it is not clear how it will be. A lot of the more recent stuff, but not all of it, seems to veer toward having an warm white balance. If that’s the direction they might be going for, I don’t see how it’s moot to ask for the option just in case, instead of waiting post-launch. Lens flare, dirty lens effects, film grain. etc. as all these kind of visual filters can usually be turned off in games. Let’s make sure the devs know a white balance adjustments in a racing game is on the same level.
Some new examples from recent footage. Top: actual game. Bottom: how I think it should look.
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you just like overexposed pictures and it’s not natural at all
The lighting in FM is not natural. It’s too dark, it’s color graded, there’s neither enough light nor color nor contrast. Reality isn’t as faded and dark as Turn 10 tries to depict it. Also, just look at something like Gran Turismo 7 or ACC that use natural colors and neutral lighting. That’s what sunshine looks like.
And just for reference, here’s a real photo of racing midday.
The problem with FM is that it’s dark, faded and color graded like a movie, stripping it of realism. For some reason the artists at Turn 10 try to convey some kind of movie-like atmosphere to the player, and it always results in a dark lighting model. Spectacular on occasion, but not truly realistic.
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Yeah I’ve always perceived Forza’s presentation to be more about the theatre of racing than the true sim. The replay angles, lighting and sound combine to give a more cinematic presentation, like watching a movie as you say, versus like watching a race live on tv.
On the one hand it isn’t as realistic but on the other, more exciting or engaging (especially when watching a replay of your race for example)
I think the brighter looks better when actually driving though.
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