War Thunder Ups Their Graphics Game With Mass Ray Tracing Upgrades As Part Of The "Firebirds" Update

Light and shadows are a big deal in gaming sometimes, and Gaijin Entertainment agrees. That's why the team at War Thunder has upped their graphics games in the strategy warfare title's "Firebirds" patch. While most players will see improvements in areas that have high interactions with light and shadows, like the Alaska and Sun City Maps, those with more high-end rigs and graphics cards are going to notice improvements anywhere light shows up. Even muzzle flashes.

In addition to ray tracing improvements and "pixel-perfect" shadows, War Thunder also now supports ray traced ambient occlusion and ray traced reflections (including those on water and translucent glass surfaces), which makes the game visuals even closer to reality. All of these effects are available on NVIDIA video cards and can be enabled or disabled individually at the player's discretion.

The update isn't limited to light and shadows, though. Mud now flies off of treads and tires more realistically, afterburners now look more physically like their real-life inspirations, missile explosions have been reworked, and the game has added motion blur. That last one is optional if you hate it. The Abandoned Factory map has received a rework, too.

Somehow, the team still has one more major update planned for 2024, but if you need some new vehicles to test, Firebirds drops stealth into the game with the F-117A, and some new tank and helicopter options. Check out the stats for all the new tech on the official site.