NTSC vs PAL
4 years ago
Finland

Thebpg13's new PB (and by extent, WR), proved NTSC is just as fast as PAL. Props to SCE(A) for optimizing the game in that regard.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
marshallracer
He/Him, They/Them
4 years ago

To be fair I've been surprised that both versions match that well but I'm glad there's no big version difference or advantage in that regard

Greater Manchester, England

Some things worth mentioning:

  • Due to the extra 5 frames per second that NTSC gets, it makes it only slightly faster than PAL but not by much.
  • Japanese version is about the same as NTSC but no idea if it is faster than NTSC (My guess it's the same because it's NTSC-J but who knows)

I've noticed some interesting things in the interactive races between PAL and NTSC which can save or lose time depending on which region you are using:

  • Stuttgart (Uses slightly different routes for each lap but nothing out of the ordinary here)
  • USA (Bridge opens on Lap 3/4 on PAL but on NTSC it is open on Lap 2/3 instead)
  • Alpine (Gate on long route opens on Lap 3/4 for both versions and the big shortcut which is the gate near the chicane opens on Lap 4 only)
  • Japan (Opens on Lap 1/2 for NTSC but only opens on Lap 1/3 for PAL and the big shortcut near the start opens on Lap 3 on PAL whereas on NTSC it opens on Lap 4)

Stuttgart and Alpine are around the same time on both regions but you lose time on PAL for USA and gain it on Japan whereas NTSC is the other way around.

marshallracer and Moorea like this
North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
marshallracer
He/Him, They/Them
2 years ago

I haven't played the game in a while but I did wonder about patterns in the interactive layouts. Fantastic findings!

ViperUK likes this
Greater Manchester, England

Seems like some of that information isn't as accurate as I thought it was a few days ago, upon further testing in practice on both PAL and NTSC regions I found that the shortcuts opened on different laps when you restart the race each time. So it really is randomised for the Interactive races and basically best reaction times will win here.

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