At the time of its release,Grand Theft Auto 5showcased one of the most immersive and visually stunning cityscapes seen in games. Among the slew of accolades it received while becoming the second best-selling video game of all time was particular praise for the technical engineering and design involved in creating Los Santos. WhileGrand Theft Auto 5is now over seven years old, it’s still being played by many gamers and even used for research and experimentation by scientists.
One research group making use ofGrand Theft Auto 5is Intel ISL. Intel ISL specializes in working on AI research and is currently working on the Photorealism Enhancement project, which experiments with a machine learning tool to make computer generated images look more photorealistic. The tool works by examining computer images, comparing them with real life photos, and then enhancing the computer images to achieve a photorealistic effect. While there areGTA 5mods that overhaul the game’s visuals, this process might just be a step up.
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The Intel ISL group has an informative video that explains the processes at work with its photorealism AI and why the group’s experiment is superior to other visual enhancement methods. While most of the information is pretty dense, it’s easy to recognize the visual differences betweenGrand Theft Auto 5graphicsand the AI enhanced visuals. The most notable differences seem to be darker AI images that smooth out textures and contrasts better than the rawGTA 5footage. The comparison images in the video run from the beginning to 1:40, and start again at around 6:12.
One of the biggest advantages this AI system has over other methods of visual enhancement is that it is “temporally stable.” Although the Intel ISL voiceover in the video uses this term a lot, its basic meaning in this example is that the AI enhanced images won’t experience quality fluctuations as a car drives throughGrand Theft Auto 5’s Los Santos. Other visual alteration methods in the video such as CUT, TSIT, and WCT 2 cause weird shadow flickering and texture changes, and while a few of these methods are state-of-the-art, Intel ISL’s method is by far the smoothest.
While this new machine learning tool is still experimental, it poses some exciting prospects for future video games. This technology is probably expensive, but it seems like the AI could be placed into a game engine to make video game environments more realistic. Whether or not game developers will want photorealistic environments or the freedom to make stylistic worlds is another discussion, but this technology looks quite promising. For now,Grand Theft Autofans can enjoy these photorealistic depictions of Los Santos as they wait for moreinformation onGrand Theft Auto 6.
Grand Theft Auto 5is out now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.
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