The 2.7.x series now uses the new subpixel hinting mode (V40 port's option) as
the default, emulating a modern version of ClearType. This change inevitably
leads to different rendering results, and you might change port's options to
adapt it to your taste (or use the new "FREETYPE_PROPERTIES" environment
variable).

The environment variable "FREETYPE_PROPERTIES" can be used to control the
driver properties. Example:

FREETYPE_PROPERTIES=truetype:interpreter-version=35 \
	cff:no-stem-darkening=1 \
	autofitter:warping=1

This allows to select, say, the subpixel hinting mode at runtime for a given
application.

The controllable properties are listed in the section "Controlling FreeType
Modules" in the reference's table of contents
(%%DOCSDIR%%/reference/ft2-toc.html, if documentation was installed).