CD Projekt Red’s upcoming “RT Overdrive” mode for Cyberpunk 2077 is set to take PC gaming to the next level, introducing a fully path traced renderer to the mix. This new renderer will be more accurate and true to life than ever before, and is a major step forward for the gaming industry.
Path tracing is a new approach to ray tracing, with the goal of creating a complete solution that does everything and shares data between features. This allows for all lights in-game to cast shadows and impact global illumination, creating a more realistic gaming experience.
The “RT Overdrive” mode is hugely demanding, and is best used in combination with super resolution technologies like DLSS 2 and FSR 2, and with Nvidia’s new DLSS 3 (Frame Generation) feature. While it is unlikely that most gamers will play Cyberpunk 2077 with RT Overdrive mode enabled, it is still an important step forward for the gaming industry, and a sign of what is to come in the future.
Path tracing is becoming increasingly popular in the gaming industry, and will likely become a standard feature for all PC and console games in the coming years. CD Projekt Red’s path traced renderer for Cyberpunk 2077 is a major step in the right direction for the gaming industry, and one that should not be overlooked.