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Simulating the actual physics of light to create reflections, shadows, and illumination that look startlingly real.
Ray tracing works by casting virtual rays of light from the camera into the scene and calculating what happens when they hit surfaces: do they bounce, scatter, get absorbed, or pass through? Traditional rasterization fakes lighting with approximations, but ray tracing simulates it. The result is reflections that actually show the environment, shadows with realistic soft edges, and global illumination where light bounces naturally between surfaces. The tradeoff has always been performance, but modern GPU hardware is finally making real-time ray tracing viable.
Example
Cyberpunk 2077 with full path tracing enabled (Overdrive Mode) is one of the most visually stunning implementations, with neon signs reflecting off wet streets and light bouncing through glass buildings. Control by Remedy Entertainment was an early showcase for RTX ray tracing, where its glass offices and polished floors looked jaw-droppingly real.
Why it matters
Ray tracing represents a fundamental shift in how games handle light. Instead of artists manually placing fake light sources and baked shadows, the simulation handles it naturally. This means more believable worlds with less manual work, and it is quickly becoming the standard rather than the exception.
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