update · July 8, 2025
War Thunder Leviathans Update Overhauls Ray Tracing
The Leviathans update introduces Path Traced Global Illumination, multi-vendor Frame Generation support, and CPU/GPU optimizations.
The Leviathans update brings performance optimizations and visual upgrades centered on ray tracing and frame rate scaling. Developer Gaijin Entertainment targeted heavy GPU workloads in forests and complex interior spaces while adding support for modern hardware features.
Ray Tracing Performance
Rendering foliage during ray tracing previously caused severe frame rate drops. The development team changed how rays check against leaves and branches, reducing GPU load when driving or flying near forests. On the CPU side, bottlenecks limiting ray tracing synchronization across up to eight CPU cores have been addressed to yield performance gains across various systems.
Path Traced Global Illumination
A new option called Path Traced Global Illumination replaces ambient occlusion. Unlike older global illumination systems that suffered from limited range and light leaking, PTGI simulates light bouncing across surfaces on a larger scale. This eliminates blue tints on indirectly lit surfaces and ensures consistent lighting in interior areas, valleys, and shadows.
Frame Generation and Latency
Players with supported hardware can enable Frame Generation to boost perceived frame rates. The update includes NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation for RTX 40 series and above, AMD FSR Frame Generation for Radeon RX 5000 series, RTX 20 series and above, and Intel Arc. To combat input lag, the update pairs NVIDIA Reflex, Intel XeLL, and AMD Radeon Anti Lag 2 depending on the selected hardware.
Why this patch matters
The Leviathans update delivers visual improvements through PTGI while offering performance headroom via frame generation for players with modern GPUs.