During the Xbox Bethesda GameFest we saw how Microsoft presented more than 30 games that will appear for both its Xbox consoles and PC. One of them was the eighth installment of the Turn 10 driving simcade, which has lost its tagline number in the process. The latest controversy? Forza Motor Sport will have Ray Tracing on PC, but not on Xbox. Have next-gen consoles fallen short for ray tracing?
The Xbox Series X is the most powerful video game console right now, using the same architecture as its rival PS5, Zen 2 + RDNA 2, but with more raw power. On the other hand, Ray Tracing was one of the spearheads of the new generation, but little by little it is being seen that it is a half promise. Something that should not surprise us since precisely AMD’s solution for PC is not the best and rather it is a patch in order to get out of the quagmire. That’s why it should come as no surprise that the PC version of the upcoming Forza Motor Sport has Ray Tracing, while its console namesake doesn’t.
Forza Motor Sport with Ray Tracing on PC
Those of us who have a PC to play with and that is well equipped can enjoy the beauty of Microsoft’s car racing game in all its splendor thanks to the inclusion of Ray Tracing on the track. Which visually translates into an improvement in the quality of lighting in the scene by making use of algorithms that allow the indirect lighting of objects to be represented. That is, the one that reflects the different objects according to their properties on the screen, achieving things like soft shadows, precise reflections on highly reflective surfaces, greater precision in the behavior of materials according to light, etc.
Well, no one is unaware that the technical superiority of the PC It translates into not only a higher visual quality in the games, but also that they can apply improvements at the graphic level that would be impossible on consoles. On the other hand, the simultaneity in the launch of the version for Xbox Series and PC has made the public wonder if the version shown in the GameFest trailer is the Xbox or PC version. What does pure logic tell us? Well, from the moment that it is interesting to show the game as beautiful as possible that Microsoft has shown it being executed on a high-caliber PC and with a power well above its Xbox Series X.
Things get even more complicated when you consider that the trailer shown runs at 4K resolution with Ray Tracing enabled and at 60 FPS. Something for which no current video game console has enough power and where even the most powerful PCs have problems achieving it.
Turn 10 holds its stance
Here we have to clarify, before putting you, the words of the representative of the franchise developer, who at no time refers to Xbox, but to the use of Ray Tracing in the middle of the game. Well, the words of Chris Ensaki, the Turn 10 Community Manager are as follows:
“We have ray tracing. It’s on the tracks and in real time I want to clarify that when we say ‘on the tracks’ it doesn’t mean that it’s just on replays or in Photo Mode and that we’re choosing our words. We are not trying to trick you. When they are in the middle of the race, playing, there is ray-tracing. We are very clear with this“.
With the current drop in price of graphics cards and especially the RTX from NVIDIA and the RX 6000 from AMD, it is possibly a good time to recondition our gaming PC for the future and what better than when the time comes to play Forza Motor Sport with Ray Tracing. Of course, this will be possible on the only platform that has proven to have enough power to support it in games and where it will evolve over time thanks to the continuous improvement of PC hardware.
