No shaders compile again after this update: your shader cache from the last build is kept.
What's new
A new optimization profile. The Windows build is laid out by how recorded races used the code (profile-guided optimization). The old profile was recorded before the busiest code changed in the last few days, so that code got no benefit from it. With the new one, the emulator's graphics thread spends about 3 to 4% less time per draw in a race. In a test race at Tokyo against AI cars (RTX 5090), the dip at the starting grid went from about 19 to about 22 fps.
More compute jobs are prepared ahead of time. A helper thread reads the game's resource tables for the compute jobs before the graphics thread runs them. In a race it used to reach only about 30% of them: it read them behind the big graphics lists, and gave up on a queue once it fell behind. The compute jobs now have a helper of their own that doesn't give up, and it prepares about 75 to 80% of them.
⚠️ Pop-in on new tracks is expected
The first time you drive a track, or a part of one, its shaders compile while you drive. Scenery, car details and reflections appear a moment late instead of the game freezing. They're cached afterwards, so the second time on that track everything is there from the start.
Known problems
- Racing wheels: hitting a wall gives little or no force on the wheel yet.
- Scapes: the controls stop working after Olivier offers the drift photography tutorial (#19). The tutorial waits for the game's online servers, which the emulator has no stand-in for, so the Menu Book "Take a Photo of Your Car in Scapes" can't be finished yet. Closing the emulator is the only way out of it.
- AMD RX 9070 XT: races crash while they load, inside the AMD driver's shader compiler (#12). Workaround: start the emulator with
KYTY_SKIP_SHADER_HASHES=daced64c72398e80(the steps are in #12). That shader does some of the game's calculations, so something in races may be a little off. - Intel Arc, GTX 10xx and RX 5000 cards: the emulator gets past start-up, but the game itself is untested on them (#20).
- NVIDIA: the driver's shader compiler can crash while compiling new pipelines (#18). Being looked into; the crash report names the pipeline.
- Some distant trees (about 150 m away and further) look brighter and flatter than up close, because they get no shadow from far away. Being looked into.
- Livery editor: leaving it shows error CE-210717 (the game uploads the livery to its online service, which the emulator has no stand-in for). Some parts of a saved livery's picture can have the wrong colour.
- Tokyo: at twilight and night, the picture can turn green at some tunnel exits and under some overpasses. It depends on the camera angle, so the same replay can be green one time and not the next.
- Tokyo at night: some shadows on tunnel ceilings and walls move with the camera.
- Ray tracing mode: the frame rate is low, about 10 to 20 fps in the garage. Reflections can still flicker a little and look a bit jagged, most of all right after switching between the cockpit and outside views.
- In-game videos can play out of sync with their sound (#4). Being looked into.
- A graphics driver crash, seen after many license test retries (#3), is not fixed yet.
Frame rate
On an RTX 5090 in performance mode: the world map runs at the 60 fps frame cap. A race at Tokyo against 11 AI cars averages about 27 to 28 fps, from about 22 in the heaviest spots to peaks around 40. With 32 GB of RAM, close other programs before playing: in a race the emulator uses about 20 to 25 GB.
Settings and help
Recommended launcher and in-game settings are in [docs/GT7.md](https://github.com/usa-ratt/KytyPS5-GT7/blob/gt7-eqaa/docs/GT7.md). In-game, use performance mode to play. The launcher starts with the recommended settings.
Found a bug? Open an issue with the [Bug report form](https://github.com/usa-ratt/KytyPS5-GT7/issues/new/choose) and attach your zipped _kyty.txt log.
Full Changelog: KytyPS5-2026-10-27-762b692...KytyPS5-2026-10-27-d0f7159