The well-known technical analysis organization "Shu Maoshe" issued an article today, revealing a shocking technical achievement: Codemasters developers successfully ran the prototype version of "F1 25" Path Tracing on PS5 Pro.

Realizing this kind of rendering technology that is usually limited to top-level PC graphics cards on the current most powerful console has been evaluated as a "milestone achievement" by Shumaoshe.

According to GDC 2026 a game named “200 "Path Tracking at Miles Per Hour" speech, the development team showed the results of this research:

This prototype version uses 1080P internal rendering resolution, and is subsequently scaled to 4K through Sony's self-developed PSSR technology.

If you simply port the PC version code to the console, the frame rate is only about 24 frames (delay 42.32ms). However, by introducing an advanced path tracing prototype called "ORCA" developed by EA Seed Research Institute, the average frame generation time is shortened to 23.36ms, which is equivalent to about 43 frames, which leaves ample room for achieving stable 30-frame output on the host.

In contrast, the path tracking performance of the RX 9070 XT on the PC platform running the Abu Dhabi Night Race in 4K/FSR3 quality mode was only a stable 30 frames.

In order to run path tracing on hosts with limited hardware resources, the development team adopted a differentiated strategy:

The team abandoned the complex Radiance Caches used by most path tracing games and instead used Dynamic Diffuse Global Illumination (DDGI) to handle secondary light bounces. This solution can provide a more stable light and shadow structure during high-speed driving.

Sumaoshe pointed out that even the native 864P resolution on PS5 Pro can have an excellent look and feel after PSSR processing, which provides the possibility to further reduce rendering pressure and improve the quality of special effects in the future.

Although this is still in the internal research stage and is not a confirmed feature of the official version of the game, it is of great significance:

The success of this prototype is a testament to the PS5 The feasibility of running path tracing on Pro (and even future next-gen consoles) is far beyond imagination.

Sumaosha speculates that although the complex multi-light environment of the track at night or on rainy days is still a huge challenge, it is not impossible to launch a special PS5 Pro path tracking enhanced version in the future.

Path tracing has long been considered an “exclusive luxury” for PC gamers. If the "F1 25" plan can be commercialized, it will completely rewrite players' understanding of the upper limit of console performance.