SIE has filed a new patent, suggesting the company is looking to improve ray tracing performance for PS5 games. Earlier this week, PS4 and PS4 architecture engineer Mark Cerny filed a new patent that mentions an “accelerated ray tracing system and method with asynchronous operations and ray transformations,” using a shader processor to shorten rays so that the Improves overall performance when tracing is on.
Real-time ray tracing—allowing for realistic simulations of light and reflections, similar to scenes in CGI movies—is the flagship visual feature of the new generation of consoles PS5 and Xbox Series X, as well as modern PC GPUs.
Currently, many PS5 games, such as Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles and Ratchet and Clank: Separation, offer a ray tracing mode. However, these modes require sacrificing reduced frame rates and lower resolutions for the enormous power required for the effect.
Games like the upcoming high-definition game Gran Turismo 7 will not be able to use ray tracing during gameplay at all, opting instead to limit lighting to replay and garage modes.