When NVIDIA unveiled its new RTX line of graphics cards last year, many were taken aback by some of the wild, futuristic features. Real-time ray-tracing. AI-powered rendering. Stuff, that to be honest we're still waiting to see crop up in a number of titles. But, with Battlefield V's real-time ray-traced reflections - the NVIDIA's GeForce RTX line is all set to impress in 2019.

Here's a snippet form our in-depth look at the technology, and its impact on games.

In terms of the computational power required to simulate these light rays in a digital scene, the cost is so great that it’s one of the main reasons highly detailed computer animation can take several hours to render a few frames. Getting the realistic effect to run in real-time, in the fast-moving ever-changing environment of a game? Well, until the launch of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX – something that was mostly thought of as future tech. A segment on a modern-day version of early 1990s television series, Beyond 2000. Even NVIDIA, who first demoed its research and development into the field of real-time racing, mere months before the RTX reveal - did so via its most advanced non-everyday consumer-based cards.

At this point it should be made clear that visual effects in games, specifically in relation to lighting effects, have grown leaps in bounds over the past few years. Screen-space reflections can accurately reflect objects, shadows can grow and bend and diffuse based on various light sources, and the luminance that comes from say a lighter in a darkened room or a fire can appear to flicker and act like the real thing. A torchlight cutting through thick fog, the glow of a red light changing the appearance and look of someone’s skin. The only real drawback however is that all the above is mostly kept well within the realm of trickery, presenting a real-world effect in the most cost-effective and realistic way possible – limited only by hardware and computational power. And often, the limitations of the, for lack of a better term, impersonation – can be broken.

Click Here For Our Full In-Depth Look at Ray-Tracing and DLSS