Epic is pushing UE5 HWRT (Hardware Ray Tracing) as a viable 60 FPS feature on Gen 9 consoles (PS5 & Xbox Series X), but is this truly a game-changing breakthrough or just a carefully crafted marketing message? perhaps, both?
I acknowledge that Epic Games has made significant advancements in UE5 HWRT, optimizing ray tracing in ways that make it far more efficient than before. However, I also recognize that true ray tracing at 60 FPS on current-gen consoles is still a fantasy without heavy compromises.
Let’s break down what’s real, what’s exaggerated, and what you should actually expect from UE5 HWRT on Gen 9 consoles.
UE5 HWRT: The Reality Behind 60 FPS Ray Tracing
1. What UE5 HWRT at 60 FPS Really Means
The claim that UE5 HWRT can run at 60 FPS on Gen 9 consoles isn’t outright false, but it requires context:
- UE5 HWRT at 60 FPS is possible, but only with reduced RT features.
- Dynamic resolution scaling, aggressive denoising, and hybrid techniques are required.
- This is not full-scene, path-traced ray tracing like on high-end PCs.
What Epic doesn’t say upfront is that ray tracing in UE5.5 on consoles still relies on tricks to maintain performance. You’re not getting Cyberpunk 2077-level RT at 60 FPS—you’re getting a carefully optimized mix of rasterization and limited RT effects.
This isn’t necessarily bad—it’s smart engineering, sure. But let’s not pretend UE5 HWRT on consoles is equivalent to HWRT on a high-end RTX GPU.
2. The Technical Limitations of Gen 9 Consoles
To understand the real limitations of UE5 HWRT at 60 FPS, you need to look at the hardware itself
- PS5 & Xbox Series X GPUs are based on RDNA 2, not RDNA 3 or Ada Lovelace GPU.
- Memory bandwidth (448 GB/s on PS5) isn’t enough for full RT GI & reflections at 4K.
- Only a few RT cores exist, limiting ray-traced bounces and reflection accuracy.
Epic’s engineers know these limitations, so they optimize by:
- Using Virtual Shadow Maps (VSMs) instead of fully ray-traced shadows.
- Reducing the number of ray-traced effects and using screen-space techniques.
- Lowering resolution dynamically (checkerboarding, upscaling, TAA).
So yes, UE5 HWRT at 60 FPS is “possible”, but only by cutting back on what most people imagine as true ray tracing.
3. How UE5 HWRT Actually Works at 60 FPS
I was super intrigued to know exactly how Epic is able to push UE5 HWRT at 60 FPS on Gen 9 consoles, From my research, I found that they were able to achieve this using a couple of techniques.
1. Hybrid Lumen Ray Tracing
Lumen in UE5 HWRT on consoles does not perform full path tracing. Instead, it blends ray-traced lighting with screen-space approximations to optimize performance, which can result in some reflections and indirect lighting appearing inaccurate at certain angles.
2. Virtual Shadow Maps (VSMs) vs. Ray-Traced Shadows
UE5 HWRT on consoles does not fully ray-trace shadows; instead, it combines Virtual Shadow Maps (VSMs) with limited ray-traced shadows, creating the appearance of ray-traced shadows without the full computational cost.
3. Ray Reconstruction & Denoising Tricks
UE5 HWRT on consoles does not render full ray-traced details; instead, it relies on AI-based reconstruction, casting fewer rays per pixel and using algorithms to estimate the missing data, which can lead to visual artifacts in motion-heavy scenes.
These aren’t bad optimizations—they’re necessary compromises for UE5 HWRT at 60 FPS to work on Gen 9 consoles.
But let’s be honest, this is not the same as RTX 4090 path tracing at 60 FPS, rather, It’s a mix of hardware ray tracing and rasterized workarounds.
So, What’s the Difference?
| Feature | Full Path Tracing (PC) | UE5 HWRT on Consoles |
|---|---|---|
| Global Illumination (GI) | Fully ray-traced | Lumen uses ray tracing + approximations |
| Reflections | True ray-traced reflections | Screen-space + limited RT reflections |
| Shadows | Fully ray-traced shadows | Mostly Virtual Shadow Maps (VSMs) |
| Performance | Requires an RTX 4090+ | Optimized for 60 FPS with compromises |