For over 25 years, Visual Concepts has delivered NBA 2K as the most authentic sports experience in gaming. Their focus is to make the in-game experience feel as close as possible to watching a real NBA or WNBA broadcast.
Through a close partnership with NVIDIA, Visual Concepts, and 2K, we’ve brought DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering to NBA 2K27, bringing a new level of authenticity to the player experience.
Visual Concepts uses DLSS 5 to enhance and tune NBA 2K27 to make it even more realistic. With DLSS 5, you can see how light naturally passes through players’ ears, illuminates skin, and catches hair, all while preserving the facial geometry scanned from real-world athletes.
“DLSS 3D-guided neural rendering helped boost the visual quality of our materials and lighting, bringing a real jump to photorealism across the game.” - Peter Kavic, Senior Producer - Visual Concepts
Enabling DLSS 5 delivers a noticeable upgrade for All-Star guard Cade Cunningham with improved skin subsurface scattering—providing lifelike warmth under the arena lighting and tighter contact shadows that bring out finer detail along his neck and jersey collar. Additionally, natural light transmission elevates his hair definition, enhancing overall realism.
4K comparison of Cade Cunningham with DLSS 3D-Guided Neural Rendering
DLSS 5 also elevates the visual fidelity of All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Subsurface scattering gives his face realistic warmth under the arena lights, casting precise contact shadows beneath his nose and chin. Furthermore, refined ambient occlusion adds crisp shadow definition across the folds of his compression arm sleeve.
4K comparison of Tyrese Haliburton with DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering
Courtside spectators and staff also gain richer lighting and material responses, with natural subsurface skin scattering and defined contact shadows that elevate the image quality of their models.
Combined, DLSS 5 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, Super Resolution, and Multi Frame Generation deliver higher frame rates and dramatically improved image quality. DLSS 5 enhances Jayson Tatum with natural skin subsurface scattering, refined facial hair lighting, and deeper contact shadows across his jersey and the basketball. With DLSS ON, frame rates are boosted to 370 FPS at 4K at Ultra Settings on a GeForce RTX 5090.
To enable DLSS 5 in NBA 2K27, players will need to download the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver, revealing the option for DLSS Neural Rendering in-game:
Download and install the latest driver from NVIDIA’s website or the NVIDIA app
In-game, select “Video Settings,” and turn on “DLSS Neural Rendering”
Configure other DLSS Super Resolution, Frame Generation, and NVIDIA Reflex options to your liking
Toggle DLSS Neural Rendering during gameplay and replays via F9 on your keyboard
NBA 2K27 with DLSS 5 is available now for GeForce RTX 50 Series PCs and laptops, and GeForce NOW Ultimate members streaming from NVIDIA operated GeForce RTX 5080-powered gaming rigs in the cloud.
To learn more about DLSS 5, please check out the DLSS 5 article on geforce.com.