NVIDIA has released three comparison shots (1, 2, 3) as part of a technology preview for Cyberpunk 2077’s Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, and they suggest that the new mode, which is described by green team as being “extremely GPU intensive,” will make CD PROJEKT RED’s open-world RPG more beautiful than ever for those who have the proper hardware to handle it. Available beginning April 11, Cyberpunk 2077’s Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode brings full ray tracing, otherwise known as path tracing, to the game, a more impressive form of ray tracing that accurately simulates light throughout an entire scene. NVIDIA has recommended a GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU and NVIDIA DLSS 3 for powering Cyberpunk 2077’s Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode.
“Here at CD PROJEKT RED we are very proud to be technology innovators, and DLSS 3 gives us meaningful performance gains to tackle the addition of even higher levels of ray tracing to deliver a visually rich experience for our gamers.” – Jakub Knapik, VP, Global Art Director, CD PROJEKT RED
From an NVIDIA GeForce post:
Full ray tracing accurately simulates light throughout an entire scene. It is used by visual effects artists to create film and TV graphics that are indistinguishable from reality, but until the arrival of GeForce RTX GPUs with RT Cores, and the AI-powered acceleration of NVIDIA DLSS, real-time video game full ray tracing was impossible because it’s extremely GPU intensive.
Full ray tracing is extremely GPU intensive. For the technology preview of Cyberpunk 2077’s Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode we recommend using a GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU and NVIDIA DLSS 3. The technology preview of Cyberpunk 2077’s Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode will be coming on April 11th to all PC store fronts, giving GeForce RTX 40 Series gamers the ultimate Cyberpunk 2077 experience.