Forza Horizon 5 has been officially confirmed by Playground games at this year's E3 convention. We can't wait to explore Mexico in Horizon 5 and the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Its amazing looks are down to this being the first Forza game available on Xbox Series X.
Does that mean we're going to get ray tracing in Horizon 5? And what is ray tracing? We've got everything you need to know right here!
What is ray tracing?
Ray tracing is a technique within computer image generation that works well for illuminating. The concept is not new, but what is new in the next-gen consoles is possessing the processing power to do so convincingly.
For example, imagine shooting a light ray at an object and tracing how it bounces off the surface, but like if you shined a torch at it in a dark room. Then imagine shooting many light rays, using the ones that do (and don’t) return to figure out how the scene should look. For example, rays that failed to return were likely blocked by another object, creating a shadow.
The long and short of it, is that ray tracing mirrors real-world lighting and is therefore more realistic. Video games have had to rely on a different technique, however, to render 3D worlds. This has been because of the lack of power within the consoles they were playing on.
However, with the introduction of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, that has now changed, and ray tracing is possible on these systems.
Will Horizon 5 have ray tracing?
Horizon 5 will have ray tracing, as has been confirmed by Playground games in their E3 reveal trailer. So, what does this mean for the game itself? How will ray tracing make it look better? Well, shadows and reflections will look more realistic, especially when the game is in motion.
That means that all water effects, no matter how big or small, will look far more authentic. This includes everything from a puddle on the road to the crashing waves on the sea will appear just as if it was real. All of this will be going on while the game runs at a smooth 60 fps and in 4K as well.
Put simply, Horizon 5 will be one of the best-looking video games of all-time and it's thanks in part to ray tracing.
Trailer
If you want to check out some Forza Horizon 5 gameplay for yourself, we've linked the gameplay overview from E3 below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6PKE6-Kuow