Check out ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ running with “overdrive” ray tracing enabled

CD Projekt Red and Nvidia have shared a preview of Cyberpunk 2077 running with an “Overdrive Mode” of ray tracing, though only high-end gaming PCs will be able to run it.

Cyberpunk 2077‘s Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode will be released next Tuesday (April 11), and ahead of the launch, Nvidia has shared a brief clip highlighting how the upgraded ray tracing feature will affect Night City’s visuals.

“This demo showcases path tracing, also known as full ray tracing, an advanced, GPU-intensive form of ray tracing that accurately simulates light throughout the entire scene,” reads a message in the video.

You can watch Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode in action below.

Nvidia has explained that while standard ray tracing methods enhance “shadows, reflections, and global illumination” from a smaller number of light sources, full ray tracing enhances “all properties of light from an unlimited number of emissive sources”.

The demo includes shots of Night City with and without ray tracing enabled, showcasing a much more intricate lighting system for a number of the game’s scenes.

Additionally, this blog post from Nvidia includes more examples of Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode in effect.

However, the blog has also pointed out that this update is intended for Nvidia’s latest 40-series graphics cards, and is “extremely GPU intensive”.

As a result, only fans with the best-performing gaming PCs should expect to make use of this update. The 40-series GPUs are still particularly pricey, with the 4090 card used to film the above demo going for £1600.

However, Nvidia’s GeForce Now subscription service will allow players to access the upgraded visuals without owning the correct hardware, as the company has confirmed full ray tracing will be enabled for Geforce Now’s cloud-streamed version of Cyberpunk 2077.

In other gaming news, last week CD Projekt Red explained why its multiplayer Witcher game was sent back to the drawing board.