GDC 2025 Session Viewer

Iconic vehicles are one of the signature elements of Cyberpunk 2077. They come in all shapes and sizes with cars, motorbikes, flying vehicles, and even a tank! They require systems that respond to player actions that need to make driving fun and engaging and the traffic versions make Night City alive and immersive. During the development of Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 Update and Phantom Liberty expansion, CDPR devs completely overhauled the vehicle sound system. This talk explores various approaches, technical challenges and workflows that made it possible to shift the soundscape of 100+ vehicles.
The talk will show off various vehicle systems, as well as how sounds were designed, implemented, and joined together to create the driving experience. It will discuss the complexities of flying vehicles, focusing on the impact of vehicle sounds in scenes and the complex gameplay system design.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn how to design and prioritize systems focusing on player immersion and gameplay experience, how to design vehicle sounds that support key systems in the game, and how to approach vehicle audio in narrative scenes. They will also learn how CD PROJEKT RED approaches open world sound design through examples.

Intended Audience

This talk is aimed at game audio professionals and is especially beneficial for people working with open world systems and vehicle sounds. They can "look under the hood" of all the systems designed for Cyberpunk 2077. Specific knowledge is not strictly necessary, as the talk will also show examples from the game, which makes it accessible to a larger audience and the takeaways can be applied to any system for gameplay or any scene, encouraging the use of sound for emotional impact.