CD Projekt Red has released a new update for Cyberpunk 2077 that adds the much-talked-about Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode feature...for a select number of graphics cards. As you might imagine, if you're still running an Nvidia GeForce RTX 20 series card, then you're out of luck, and only one 30 series card is supported.
Over on Steam, CD Projekt Red shares more info about its new path tracing update, which was revealed earlier this month and detailed further in a Behind the Settings video last week. The update "pushes the boundaries of what's possible in technology", according to the developer, which is probably why you can only take full advantage of it if you have an ultra-modern graphics card.
Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode is only available for the RTX 40 Series, which means the RTX 4070 Ti and above. You can also check it out if you have an RTX 3090, but only at 1080p and with a 30fps cap. Ouch. CDPR's rationale is that path tracing is a "cutting-edge feature", and so it requires the best hardware around to run. It's off by default, so you won't have to worry about cooking your rig by accident.
All is not completely lost if you do have a lower-spec graphics card, though. If you're running a ray tracing-compatible card with at least 8GB VRAM, then there's a new path tracing screenshot feature that lets you render a single frame (yes, a single frame) with path tracing for the purposes of taking a screenshot. When people talk about high specs turning their games into slideshows, it seems they're not kidding.
Other changes in patch 1.62 include the addition of the DLAA anti-aliasing mode, which is powered by AI. You'll need an RTX card to try that out as well. Intel XeSS 1.1 support has been added, and a number of benchmark information improvements have also been implemented. It's a pretty techy update all round; not much in the way of new content, but if you've got a high-spec machine and you like to tinker, then this is one for you.