Tested the patch.
The pros:
-I'm enjoying the improvements on vehicle handling, tried with the most slippery cars and they really feel more stable now
-NPCs are more resistant to accidental... incidents with the car
-NPCs run away rather than crouching, panic ensues in a larger area than before with NPCs running left and right
-more NPC variety, I noticed models never seen before
-news on the radio/tv never seen before (restored audio?)
-more NPCs on the streets, and they bump into each other rather than clipping though when they're too close (playing from PC, NPC density on max)
-ads and environments look more high quality now even from afar
-no more floating objects
-no more issues picking up loot
-a lot of new small details (Takemura's eyes are different now, V's tyger Claw tattoo looks better, if you look at V through cams her face is blurred out which is consistent with what Vic said when he installed Kiroshi optics on her etc.)
Now for the cons:
-changes to the UI I'm not entirely convinced with
-changes with the crafting system I'm not entirely convinced with
-I noticed a slight drop in performance in crowded areas, fps dropped from 58 to 31 at some point
-unfortunately I started having that glitch where if you shoot around civilians and turn around, you turn back and suddenly they're all gone
-a lot of pop in, cars and NPCs spawning out of thin air 1m away from me, even some buildings seem to load/unload assets inconsistently - I'm under the impression they've reduced the asset loading distance to improve performance on console and I wonder if it'd be possible to introduce a slider so we can change the load-in distance according to our systems.
Overall I'm happy to see they're working hard on this game, and while things can still improve, I'm looking forward to its future, because as a fan of the genre I enjoyed it really much and I know that CDPR can turn things around and show everyone its great potential
They did it with The Witcher that became a beloved and successful franchise, they can do it again.