While some might write it off as a marketing buzz word, ray tracing is an incredible technology. The effect it has on lighting in games has to be seen to be believed, as it can take a cartoonish, older game and turn it into something gorgeous. And while Grand Theft Auto 5 strives for realism, a new ray tracing mod for the game — along with a modded map of Liberty City— makes it look like an incredible remaster of Grand Theft Auto 4.
YouTuber Digital Dreams uploaded a video of the mods working together, and the result is gorgeous. One could be forgiven for thinking that the game is actually a revamped version of GTA 4, as the map is recreated almost perfectly.
The opening shots of the video really sell the experience, as the combination of rain, night time, and city lights shows just how much is possible thanks to ray tracing. Lights bounce off the puddles on the ground, which is the most realistic the game is able to look. Day time isn't quite as convincing, though it does look sharper than what many would expect from Grand Theft Auto 5, which is now almost seven years old.
Besides Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft with ray tracing is the best example of what the feature can do to a game. Videos of it with RTX, another name for ray tracing, enabled show an incredible difference between the regular game and the change in lighting. The feature is growing increasingly common in games, which may be enough to usher in a new era of graphic fidelity.
PS5 and Xbox Series X will support ray tracing, bringing the feature to console games and making it a fairly standard feature on the systems. It may take some time before it's implemented into games, but as the generation presses forward, it should become more standard.
Those with Grand Theft Auto 5 and a PC powerful enough to support ray tracing may want to give the feature a try, though it will likely remove access to Grand Theft Auto Online, as Rockstar recognizes it as a modified version of the game.
Grand Theft Auto 5 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.