Researchers Made Grand Theft Auto Look Frighteningly Photorealistic

As powerful as video game consoles have become, even the most graphically stunning video games don't look like realistic, real-world footage, which is arguably the ultimate goal. But researchers at Intel Labs may have found a shortcut by applying machine learning techniques to rendered footage from a console that takes it from beautiful to photorealistic. Over the past few decades, the graphics capabilities of home consoles have advanced by leaps and bounds. More processing power in the machines allows them to not only render more detail in the 3D models that make up a scene, but to also more accurately recreate the behavior of light so that reflections, highlights, and shadows behave and look more and more like they do in the real world. But the hardware isn't quite to the point where video games look as photo-realistic as the computer-generated visual effects that Hollywood blockbusters employ to wow audiences.