The developers at Nadéo wanted to create a truly immersive gaming experience for Virtual Skipper fans and devoted both energy and talent to render the ocean and its behaviour! Capitalising on their experience of the first three titles, they have come even closer to perfection, achieving a result that is extremely close real ocean movements. Now, currents, calm seas, swells, lapping waves, wind swirls and flurries, are all integrated as interdependent elements.

Currents are managed according to the tides and have great impact on race strategies. Certain areas of the seascapes become real navigation nightmares!

Waves can now reach up to 6 or 10 metres as compared with 3 to 4 metres in Virtual Skipper 3. With the Nadéo game engine, ocean rendering is now close to perfection and features rough sea foam and boat trails as well as mirror-effects of the boats and light reflections. Using the state-of-the-art "Normal Bump Animation" technology, particle, mirror and Fresnel effects, reflection, refraction, new shaders and real-time "view dependant shadows", the game delivers a virtual sea experience unparalleled in videogames to this day!

What's more, water colour and transparency vary according to weather conditions and the time of day.

While most videogames use simple textures to render the sky, the latest version of the Nadéo game engine provides volumetric clouds, which give genuine depth and dynamics to the sky. Moonbeams or sunrays now filter through real-time 3D animated clouds that dramatically alter the ocean's lighting. Volumetric clouds also enhance the sailing simulation as they interact with the seascape in real-time and change according to wind direction.

The game engine also simulates the interaction between air, sea, wind and light to provide photorealistic graphics at all times, as the game now manages both day/night cycles and weather conditions.

In Virtual Skipper 4, you can set sail day and night. True-to-life real-time lighting effects illuminate the sea, the scenery and the sailboats. The fluorescent rays of a setting sun blazing through the sails and the sparkling waves might just distract you from your sailing!
While these features might not have a direct impact on the simulation or the gameplay, they create a truly immersive experience.

The game features 4 different weather conditions through which to navigate: sunshine, rain, storms and clouds. According to these weather conditions, the force of the wind, sea swells and waves undergo important variations both physically and graphically. Changes in wind direction happen more frequently in stormy weather and waves become choppier.
Of course, the graphics of the sea and sky change as well. And when the rain starts to fall, rain drops splash and run down your screen!