DiRT 2: DirectX 11 Game Performance Compared And Analyzed

By Don Woligroski
published

Image Quality: DirectX 11 Enhancements, Cont'd.

Enough technical explanations: How much better does DirectX 11 look in DiRT 2?

Just so that you can see for yourself, we've taken a video of a benchmark run using both DirectX 9 and DirectX 11 and put them side-by-side for your viewing pleasure:

There you have it folks. And while this video is compressed and admittedly does not demonstrate the clarity and quality that you would see on screen, I can say with 100% confidence that in DiRT 2, the DirectX 11 code path offers no reasonable improvement in quality that would affect your enjoyment of the title while playing it.

While DirectX 11 has massive potential to enhance visual fidelity in future games, DiRT 2 is just not the killer app that makes the feature a must-have. This isn't because Codemasters did a bad job implementing it. Quite the contrary. There are two reasons why DirectX 11 enhancements aren't noticeable in DiRT 2: the DirectX 9 code path is just so damn good, and the star of the game is the cars, not organics.

Codemasters has done such a superlative job with the DirectX 9 engine improved from the game's gorgeous GRiD predecessor that enhancements to lighting and post-processing quality are academic at best. The DirectX 9 mode is just that good.

As for hardware tessellation, it is best used adding detail to organics, but this game is all about vehicles. A car doesn't need extra tessellated detail because a car is a static shell. With the cars being the focal point, tessellated flags, water, and fans are difficult to see, even when looking for the difference.

In fact, the only notable difference we saw between the DirectX 9 and 11 code paths isn't something we were looking for: there is a general blurriness in DirectX 9 mode that didn't manifest itself in DirectX 11. It almost appears as though there is a full-screen anti-aliasing (AA) filter as it blurs not only edges, but also textures. We hypothesize that this might be caused by DirectX 9 quarter-resolution post-processing, but we've asked Codemasters to clarify what is causing the phenomenon. Having said that, it's a subtle effect and in no way marred our gaming experience.

Don Woligroski
94 Comments Comment from the forums
  • eklipz330
    im sure when true dx11 games come out, the difference won't be so subtle anymore.. game looks great either way
    Reply
  • rbarone69
    I have to say, Dirt 2 is a great game if you like the rally/baja type car racing. Regardless of the graphics differences the game play is simply fun. It's not "real to life" like Forza, but it is a blast playing if you like sliding around corners on track that's not necessarily pavement.

    Reply
  • Onyx2291
    Looks good, gotta be honest though I probably wouldn't see much of a difference if I just played the game without taking a good look at stuff. Maybe except for the water.
    Reply
  • Sihastru
    One down, one or two to go ;)

    Until DX11 does not become mainstream (eg. 90% of the users will have DX11 capable cards) you can't expect to see differences between DX11 and DX9/10 modes. Why? Because they won't make games where one player sees something and the other does not, to the point that will actually mean something and affect the gameplay.

    So anyone that bought the cards for DX11 will not get anything extra from the DX11 code path. No developer that wants to sell a game would code it so that you'd need a new card to play the game. They would not shoot themselves in the foot.

    DX11 is now in the position PhysX was, and I'm not necessarily speaking about the CUDA PhysX version, but the original PhysX by Ageia, when you needed a PCI card for it. It had and still has great potential, but you can't use it to it's full extent until people embrace it and make it mainstream. Until then, all the developers can do is to use certain features here and there, so that it gives you a glimpse of what it could be, but not so much that it makes a difference and modifies the experience too much. They just don't want to give up customers, it's not just that they don't want to use the technology.

    And when DX11 finally becomes mainstream, in 6-12-18 months, the current DX11 cards will be nearly obsolete performance wise... truly tragic. But that's the way the cookie crumbles...

    It's a bit of a troll-ish post (it may seem that way, if you have an ATI DX11 card), and I will get "-1" all round but it's the truth if you think about it from a safe distance. Too bad you... yes... you... the one clicking the "Useless message" icon, won't even get to this last paragraph.
    Reply
  • coolronz
    DirectCompute 11..? Doesnt my GTX260 support that? So will I beable to enable that, but not hardware tesselation etc..?
    Reply
  • cryogenic
    Dirt 2 uses a DX 9 engine, so I guess this is not such a big surprise, although I've expected more from DX 11 integration, actually **allot** more, considering that the game was marketed as the first DX 11 title out there.

    It's rather disappointing to see such small visual differences between DX9 and DX11 versions, even though I've never expected rather major ones from this title.

    My hope is that DX 11 will become mainstream very fast, and developers will focus on getting the most out of it soon. Congrats to all that got DX 11 cards this christmas(me included). The DX9 performace is great and the fact that DX11 gains market share is even greater.






    Reply
  • cryogenic
    Dirt 2 uses a DX 9 engine, so I guess this is not such a big surprise, although I've expected more from DX 11 integration, actually **allot** more, considering that the game was marketed as the first DX 11 title out there.

    It's rather disappointing to see such small visual differences between DX9 and DX11 versions, even though I've never expected rather major ones from this title.

    My hope is that DX 11 will become mainstream very fast, and developers will focus on getting the most out of it soon. Congrats to all that got DX 11 cards this christmas(me included). The DX9 performace is great and the fact that DX11 gains market share is even greater.
    Reply
  • frederico
    "And when DX11 finally becomes mainstream, in 6-12-18 months, the current DX11 cards will be nearly obsolete performance wise... truly tragic. But that's the way the cookie crumbles..."

    I think, I'm not sure though, but I think he is somehow trying to say that in the 'future' your DX11 graphics card may need to be upgraded to a more powerful DX11 graphics card. Something that has been happening with every graphics card for the last 20 years. I am not sure I can deal with all the tragedy.
    Reply
  • h83
    I could be wrong, but i think that the only game that will probably show the full potential of DX11 it´s going to be Crysis 2, so prepare your wallets for the PC upgrade...
    Reply
  • LATTEH
    dirt 2 looks awesome in DX 9 or DX11 anyone who buys it will be able to enjoy its beauty
    Reply