Tesla’s vacation replace solely provides Steam gaming in case your {hardware} can deal with it

Steam, the PC gaming platform, is making its means round city as a part of Tesla’s newest vacation replace. It fulfills a promise Tesla CEO Elon Musk made virtually two years in the past: that you simply’ll be capable of play The Witcher 3 utilizing the automobile’s built-in {hardware}. However sadly for me, I received’t get to play it, and it doesn’t appear to be there will likely be any straightforward path towards upgrading.

I’ve a 2018 Tesla Mannequin 3, and I feel I ought to point out it’s acquired loads of upgrades through the years, together with overhauled person interface, Autopilot visualizations, streaming apps, and arcade video games. However in my automobile, all of Tesla’s fancy new software program is operating on the Intel Atom — a processor designed for affordable netbooks from the earlier decade (Keep in mind the Eee PC?). So it’s no shock that my Mannequin 3 can’t play Steam video games, however I nonetheless want it might.

Help for PC video games from Steam, nevertheless, is reserved for the most recent Mannequin S and X automobiles, ones that value about twice, if no more, than what I paid for my 3 (even with the most recent reductions).

And we’re speaking about solely the most recent of the 2022 fashions, as redesigned S and X automobiles from 2021 and early 2022 embrace the “PS5-level” graphics chips based mostly on AMD RDNA2 however don’t have the wanted 16GB of RAM.

House owners of these fashions might not be completely screwed, although, as Musk confirmed on Twitter that there will likely be a retrofit provided.

The 2022 vacation replace from Tesla, like we see yearly, does add loads of cool new options that my Mannequin 3 can benefit from. The automaker uploaded a brand new video this week highlighting Easter eggs like always-on rainbow highway graphics for Autopilot, the power to remotely monitor your pet whereas in canine mode, and, lastly, play Apple Music instantly within the automobile (thanks, Tim Prepare dinner?).

In fact, the vacation replace comes with a brand-new vacation gentle present that may time up with different Teslas. Additionally, I recognize that Tesla introduced again the swipe-able playing cards that conveniently present journey data and tire strain — that was eliminated in final yr’s introduction of software program model 11, amongst different head-scratchers like eradicating seat heater buttons from the underside bar.

The video additionally contains some technical particulars on what it takes for video games like Cyberpunk 2077 to run at excessive graphics settings in a Tesla. It makes use of a Linux digital machine, Steam Deck verified video games, and naturally, GPU acceleration from {hardware} I might solely dream of getting in my automobile.

Apparently, Mannequin 3 and Y automobiles that began transport this time final yr got here with some upgrades, too, together with new infotainment computer systems operating on AMD Ryzen chips. The brand new {hardware}, recognized in Tesla group circles as MCU3, exhibits improved efficiency all through the OS — however sadly, they don’t include discrete graphics wanted to run many resource-heavy video games provided on Steam.

There’s additionally no official phrase whether or not older automobiles with the Intel-based MCU2 (like mine) can get a retrofit, which might be superior since apps I can run, like Netflix and the online browser, are feeling more and more sluggish these days.

Supporting the extra highly effective AMD chipset may even require the brand new Lithium-based 12V battery that comes within the newer Mannequin 3 and Y, in keeping with the founding father of Tesla House owners On-line, a Tesla discussion board. And to make issues worse, the power to make in-car Zoom calls may not even come to the Intel Atom-based Teslas.

So it’s time for me to simply settle for it: I’ll solely be capable of play video games like Stardew Valley, Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), and Cuphead in my Mannequin 3 throughout highway journeys (not whereas driving, simply to be clear), until I pack an precise Steam Deck or gaming laptop computer. One different choice might come by way of this unofficial Xbox cloud gaming workaround, however it isn’t excellent.

Whereas the replace didn’t carry me Steam, it did at the least get me Apple Music — so I now not must pay for Spotify to take heed to music instantly on my gradual Intel Atom-powered display.