Forza Motorsport PC Users Can Now Add RTGI via New Mod

Forza Motorsport PC Players Can Add RTGI with a New Mod

If you remember the anticipation leading up to Forza Motorsport’s release, you might also recall that Turn 10 Studios promised the post-launch addition of ray-traced global illumination (RTGI). However, nine months after the game’s October 2023 debut, there has been no official update on this feature.

Fortunately, Forza Motorsport forum user Viper3dc found a way to enable RTGI on PC using a mod. To do this, you need to take the XML files from the Visual Target folder (located in the Forza Motorsport\Content\media\pcfamily\renderscenarios directory) and copy them into the Ultra folder, thus overwriting the Ultra settings.

Digital Foundry’s Alexander Battaglia analyzed the mod and discovered that it improves visuals in various ways beyond just adding ray-traced global illumination. For instance, the Visual Target preset enhances draw distance, level of detail, and object density, including grass.

Interestingly, this preset also extends ray-traced reflections to apply to rougher materials. This extension significantly improves visuals, especially when using the cockpit view.

The most substantial visual enhancement comes from enabling RTGI, which enhances ambient shadowing across various track details and adds bounce lighting, allowing local lights to reflect the color of the surfaces.

There are some caveats to modding Forza Motorsport. There may be visual bugs and crashes, and replays do not appear to use the correct ray-traced reflections, meaning gameplay will actually look better. Additionally, RTGI can occasionally introduce visible noise and flickering, and the rain seems to be incorrectly reflected on roads at night. There’s also a performance cost. With an RTX 3080 at 1440p, the Visual Preset mod runs 27% slower than the Ultra preset when using the default camera view. The performance drop is even higher with the cockpit camera view, going up to 40% slower when the mod is enabled.

These drawbacks are expected, given that Turn 10 Studios has not yet officially enabled these advanced graphics settings in the game. They can currently be considered a preview of a potential future update.