NTSC vs. PAL
6 years ago
Georgia, USA

I will be collecting information I'm gathering while testing the differences between the formats here. As some of you may know, the in-game times will differ greatly between the versions.

  • NTSC timer runs at ~98.87% speed vs. real-time
  • PAL timer runs at ~83.42% speed vs. real-time

PAL not only has a timer that runs significantly slower than real time (giving a lower IGT than the run's real-time length), it actually also has higher top un-boosted and boosted speeds. This causes a major difference in times between the versions, with PAL both running faster and giving lower IGT readings than real-time.

As far as I can tell, it simply isn't possible to fairly compare times from the two versions - even if you were to do some kind of conversion.

Edited by the author 10 months ago
GoonMiester likes this
Georgia, USA

JimB likes this
Georgia, USA

This isn't useful for direct comparison, but timer conversion process from NTSC to PAL is to multiply by ~0.8437 or ~84.73%. PAL to NTSC should multiply by ~1.1852 or ~118.52%.

Edited by the author 6 years ago