In addition to the switch to the latest generation of its high-end offer from GeForce Now to the RTX4080, Nvidia announces the arrival of its cloud gaming offer in cars from manufacturers who are members of the Nvidia Drive ecosystem – Hyundai, BYD Polestar.
Nvidia is pushing cloud gaming a step further at the start of the year. The first announcement that will please gamers is obviously the arrival of the new generation of high-end Lovelace generation GPUs in its high-end GeForce Now offer. Either an RTX4080 equivalent. Why equivalent? Simply because it will be the professional version of these cards – cards with the same kind of GPU, but designed to work 24 hours a day in data centers.
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The benefit of switching from the RTX3080 to the RTX4080 is an obvious power gain. Which brings a guarantee to play in 4K at 60 fps in all games. Even better, Nvidia has improved its network score significantly: the minimum latency drops from 56ms to 36ms, allowing the company to double the maximum frequency from 120Hz to 240Hz. Thus improving the interest of GeForce Now for competitive games.
The final piece of good news around the high-end GeForce Now offering is that the price remains at €19.99 per month (€99.99 for six months). More power for the same price, we will not hide our good surprise. And note that all current subscribers will benefit from the switch to the RT4080 as soon as it becomes available in the service, that is to say during the first quarter.
GeForce Now in the car
The other novelty around this game service in the cloud is its arrival… in cars. Specifically in vehicles from Hyundai Motor Group (South Korea: Hyundai, Kia, Genesis and Ioniq), Polestar (China) and BYD (China). All models compatible with Nvidia Drive will therefore soon be able to take advantage of GeForce Now in their cabin. But the functionality is framed for (obvious!) safety reasons: the driver and front passenger will only be able to take advantage of this function when the car is stationary, parked or in the charging position. The passengers in the back will not have to suffer such a limit – which avoids unexpected screams from your kids in the event of a restart!
Read also: Playing at 120 fps on Android with GeForce Now: the (new) list of compatible smartphones (July 2022)
If Nvidia announces the arrival of this functionality with its hardware partners who integrate its chips, the press release specifies that “the GeForce NOW auto client can work on vehicle infotainment systems, whether they are based on Android or on a Navigator “. Opening the door to any compatible system, even without an Nvidia chip.
The technique is there, but the networks not necessarily
As attractive as the idea of playing in the cloud in the car is, it still comes up against networks. And to uses. And the two go hand in hand: a good play session for your two children in the back of the car makes more sense for long journeys – weekends, holidays. However, it is precisely in these scenarios that the network will be the Achilles heel of the solution. If Nvidia’s score is exemplary on a fiber connection at home, it’s different when you go through a tunnel or when the network switches to 4G on the highway… even cuts on country roads.
Nvidia’s service here therefore depends on the network infrastructure that surrounds roads and charging stations. An unknown which is not in the hands of the American. And we can also find it paradoxical that the company pushes such a subject in mobility… whereas it is the first – in particular due to its lack of offer around 4G / 5G – to praise a power of local calculation. But we can still salute the technical prowess.
Nvidia
