diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index b9dcf20de..2531b4bd7 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 Changelog
 =========
 
+Unreleased
+----------
+
+Features
+^^^^^^^^
+* Added a new option `--django-debug` to set the DEBUG setting to True prior to
+  running tests.
+
 3.1.2
 -----
 
diff --git a/docs/configuring_django.rst b/docs/configuring_django.rst
index e43dd8688..ef3d696d7 100644
--- a/docs/configuring_django.rst
+++ b/docs/configuring_django.rst
@@ -83,3 +83,15 @@ This can be done from your project's ``conftest.py`` file::
     def pytest_configure():
         settings.configure(DATABASES=...)
 
+``DEBUG`` setting during the test run
+-------------------------------------
+
+By default, django test runner forces `DEBUG` setting to `False`, and so does
+the ``pytest-django``. But sometimes, especially for functional tests, there is
+a need to set `DEBUG` to `True` to investigate why certain page does not work.
+To do so, set --django-debug flag in command line.
+
+Command Line Option::
+
+    $ pytest --django-debug
+
diff --git a/pytest_django/plugin.py b/pytest_django/plugin.py
index 1585c6983..52876e7b3 100644
--- a/pytest_django/plugin.py
+++ b/pytest_django/plugin.py
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser):
     group._addoption('--migrations',
                      action='store_false', dest='nomigrations', default=False,
                      help='Enable Django migrations on test setup')
+    group._addoption('--django-debug',
+                     action='store_true', dest='debug_mode', default=False,
+                     help='Set DEBUG to True prior to run tests')
     parser.addini(CONFIGURATION_ENV,
                   'django-configurations class to use by pytest-django.')
     group._addoption('--liveserver', default=None,
@@ -343,11 +346,17 @@ def django_test_environment(request):
     """
     if django_settings_is_configured():
         _setup_django()
+        from distutils.version import StrictVersion
+        import django
         from django.conf import settings as dj_settings
         from django.test.utils import (setup_test_environment,
                                        teardown_test_environment)
-        dj_settings.DEBUG = False
-        setup_test_environment()
+        debug_mode = request.config.getvalue('debug_mode')
+        if StrictVersion(django.get_version()) >= StrictVersion('1.11'):
+            setup_test_environment(debug=debug_mode)
+        else:
+            dj_settings.DEBUG = debug_mode
+            setup_test_environment()
         request.addfinalizer(teardown_test_environment)
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_django_settings_module.py b/tests/test_django_settings_module.py
index 5934bf285..b9ff45ea0 100644
--- a/tests/test_django_settings_module.py
+++ b/tests/test_django_settings_module.py
@@ -275,6 +275,30 @@ def test_debug_is_false():
     assert r.ret == 0
 
 
+def test_override_debug_to_true(testdir, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.delenv('DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE')
+    testdir.makeconftest("""
+        from django.conf import settings
+        def pytest_configure():
+            settings.configure(SECRET_KEY='set from pytest_configure',
+                               DEBUG=True,
+                               DATABASES={'default': {
+                                   'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
+                                   'NAME': ':memory:'}},
+                               INSTALLED_APPS=['django.contrib.auth',
+                                               'django.contrib.contenttypes',])
+    """)
+
+    testdir.makepyfile("""
+        from django.conf import settings
+        def test_debug_is_true():
+            assert settings.DEBUG is True
+    """)
+
+    r = testdir.runpytest_subprocess('--django-debug')
+    assert r.ret == 0
+
+
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not hasattr(django, 'setup'),
                     reason="This Django version does not support app loading")
 @pytest.mark.django_project(extra_settings="""