A large-scale dynamical simulation of the superfluid–Mott-insulator transition in a gas of ultracold atoms placed in an optical lattice is performed using the time-dependent Gutzwiller mean-field approach. This approximate treatment allows us to take into account most of the details of the recent experiment [Greiner et al., Nature (London) 415, 39 (2002)] where by changing the depth of the lattice potential an adiabatic transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator state has been reported. Our simulations reveal a significant excitation of the system with a transition to insulator in restricted regions of the trap only.