A few months ago, Nvidia and CD Projekt Red announced the Cyberpunk 2077 Ray-Tracing: Overdrive Mode project for the launch of the GeForce RTX 4000 Series GPUs. Today, the update (Patch 1.62) has finally been released.

As a technology preview, the update incorporates path-tracing designed for high-end PCs. Digital Foundry had exclusive access to test it out prior to its release today, and their review was extremely positive.

In summary, NVIDIA has provided an explanation of how Cyberpunk 2077's Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode works:

• NVIDIA's RTX Direct Illumination (RTXDI) now ray-traces every light source such as neon signs, street lamps, LED billboards, and car headlights, bathing objects, walls, passing cars and pedestrians in accurate lighting.
• Full ray tracing and RTXDI have made it possible for almost all light sources to cast physically accurate soft shadows, providing more realistic and detailed shadow effects with greater depth.
• Ray-traced lighting now bounces multiple times, in contrast to the prior solution's single bounce, producing a more realistic representation of global illumination, reflections, and self-reflections throughout the game world.
• Ray-traced reflections are now rendered at full resolution, improving their quality and immersion for players.
• There is no longer any need for additional occlusion techniques as a result of the enhanced and more physically realistic lighting.

As for the difference between path tracing and previous solutions, Nvidia wrote:

"Rasterization is equivalent to casting one set of rays from a single point that stops at the first thing they hit. Ray tracing takes this further, casting rays from many points in any direction. Path tracing simulates the true physics of light, which uses ray tracing as one component of a larger light simulation system."

Image credit: Nvidia