Forget ray tracing - Nvidia calls path tracing one of the "largest breakthroughs for real-time graphics in many years"

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That's quite the claim

Nvidia
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia has debuted a look at path tracing technology, and the results look stunning.

Just below, you can see the beginnings of a tweet thread taking Twitter user inside Nvidia's brand new path tracing technology for real-time results. There's nearly ten examples of path tracing in action throughout the Twitter thread, which sure manage to make Nvidia's new technology look absolutely spellbinding.

If you're unfamiliar with what path tracing actually is, don't worry, you're far from alone. On Nvidia's official website, the new technology is called "the most accurate way of rendering," and one of the "largest breakthroughs for real-time graphics in many years," by using billions of triangle and millions of light emitters to render a scene in real time.

In short, path tracing is a big step up from ray tracing technology now used with PC and console games. We still think of ray tracing as being the pinnacle of graphical output right now across games, but what Nvidia is basically seeking to do with path tracing is turn everything up to 11.

As for when we could actually expect to see real-time path tracing out in the wild, it's anyone's guess. Nvidia is only just introducing the technology to the world for the very first time, so it's not as if developers are realistically going to have this functioning in games within the next few years. If you're really eager to learn more about path tracing in greater detail, head over to Nvidia's website for a complete explainer.

Check out our upcoming PC games guide for a full look over all the more powerful games coming to your rig later this year.

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Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.