@Classic: Here is a comment on the loading times post from a while ago that I made.
I have done some timings for the Disc VS Digital. The way I timed the loading was the start of the race until the moment you skip the cutscene for the stage. The only time this is a big difference is upon starting the first race. Digital: 14-15 sec (consistent 14 sec) Disc: 16-22 (very inconsistent, mostly 18-19 sec)
After finishing a race and skipping the cutscene the loading is a bit smaller: Digital: 8-9 seconds (very rarely 10 sec) Disc: 12-16 sec (I have seen 10-11 sec only once in my run, fluctuates alot, 14 occurs the most)
I compared my run to Burk's run (Since I know he uses digital). Using my timing for loading, I timed Burk's run to have 4:59 of loading time, my run has 6:50 loading time. Nearly 2 min difference.
If we compare digital's average loading VS disc's average loading, digital still gains 120-140 seconds over disc, although loading times on disc can be rather random.
Just wanted to share my findings on the load differences I found so far. If anyone wants to add anything to what I have found so far then post it here.
This does not take in account the SSD loading times.
I feel like we need to do more testing on this, and perhaps try to develop some kind of digital - physical conversion chart like PAL vs NTSC. The only problem is potential inconsistencies.
Kind of forgot about this until recently: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bM7fzHdR5vafzPCWo6d7IL5MG0xG7D7XpdS58gIp03g/edit#gid=0
Quinn started that in early April, so it's not using some of the more recent runs. Should note that Mary uses PAL Disc while the rest of the runs are NTSC. Incomplete and a little messy, but it's a starting point. Might be best to compare some runs yourself if you want more accurate numbers.
As Funny guy mentioned, I started that doc a while back to make some comparisons. I was really the only person with interest so I just threw it together and I didn't really try to make all the number make sense to others, but I basically spent a few hours noting all the times from when the player pressed A to progress before and after each race.
The figures should be pretty accurate, I spent many hours pausing, rewinding, recording, etc. I didn't' complete them all because 1: trends 2: accuracy. IIRC I didn't know anyone with on screen times etc for digital to compare the PAL and NTSC besides Mary's. I'm not convinced that there's much of a difference between them. However, Toshiki's is noticeably faster at loading, despite being a disc copy as well. I was informed that the JPN WiiU has a faster disc reader, which makes sense to me and would explain it.
Here's a quick breakdown of the overall load times for each version, on a traditional 48 track run (original tracks then DLC, & watching the ceremony):
SSD: ~7:17 Digital: 9:16 Disc(JPN): 9:48 Disc(PAL): 10:27 Disc(NTSC): ?? (I'm assuming close the the PAL time, everything I've checked have been very similar)
¤Should note that the SSD times will have the most variance due to the many available SSD's that can be used. Also someone could swap their HDD for another which is faster as well.
If anyone has any questions or would like more info, contacting me through discord is probably your best bet.
