We now know that the new iPad uses retina images when blowing up iPhone apps to fill its big screen, but what does that mean exactly? It’s one thing to know that Spotify doesn’t look horrible anymore, but it’s another thing entirely to see the differences side-by-side. That’s why the fine folks at Touch Arcade grabbed screenshots of various versions of Real Racing running on the new iPad and the iPad 2. The results are astonishing.
Touch Arcade’s Eli Hodapp snapped screen grabs of Real Racing and Real Racing HD running on both iPads. The iPad 2 running the iPhone game looks truly awful, all jagged lines and blocky textures. Real Racing (iPhone) looks a lot better on the new iPad, as it uses the double-resolution Retina pixels.
But the biggest surprise is when you put the iPad 2 and new iPad side-by-side when running the HD version of the game. This is when you see just what the Retina Display is capable of. The shots were taken at different in-game times of day, but you can see that the new iPad’s graphics are almost like photographs. And remember, you’re probably reading this on a regular old low-res screen, so you’re not getting the full experience.
The CultCast team all whined in last week’s podcast that the new display wasn’t all that. I’d suggest that they drink a little less before recording in future.
