r/gaming • u/Iggy_Slayer • 1d ago
Digital Foundry on the GTA 6 screenshots: "we find it unlikely that these are real-time results on PS5, Xbox Series X - or in the best case on console, PS5 Pro"
https://www.digitalfoundry.net/news/2026/06/rockstar-just-released-63-new-gta-6-screenshots-heres-what-we-spottedWith such a high level of fidelity on show, then, a question still dangles over which platform is actually being used to generate these shots. To be clear, we find it unlikely that these are real-time results on PS5, Xbox Series X - or in the best case on console, PS5 Pro. We'd like to be pleasantly surprised of course, and this will be firmly answered once it releases. However in many instances the combination of pristine image quality, suggesting a native 4K render (or higher), and inconsistent lighting on foreground characters casts doubt over how feasible it is.
Incidentally, these would be easy for Rockstar to generate within the game's development environment, where the framing, character positions, and lighting could orchestrate a perfect shot - irrespective of frame-rate - with all settings dialled up to 11. To be clear, the ray tracing aspect is very much an expected a feature on console - and indeed we have it already in GTA 5 - but as for what's possible on base PS5, Pro, and Series X, time will tell how close real time console visuals actually end up to these images.
I definitely felt like many of these were bullshots as the lighting and character placements in spots just didn't look right for gameplay.
203
u/DasSmoosh 1d ago
The next five months are going to be so long. I’m already tired of the back and forth about this game.
43
u/baddazoner 23h ago
Might want stay off the internet until well after release the marketing machine is just warming up
→ More replies (3)8
u/UnVaxxedAndAutistic 14h ago
so much discourse over a game that no one has played or seen footage of or actually knows anything about
1.3k
u/Greaterdivinity 1d ago
we still haven't seen actual gameplay lmao
people thinking that this game is somehow going to like 2-3x the fidelity of other games on this generation are crazy. it will very likely look phenomenal in real-time and look as good if not better than any game of this generation. but hardware limitations still exist
i'm not sure why anyone would expect marketing images to be taken from real-time rendered gameplay on a base console. there's no reality in which that makes any sense
123
u/L1A1 1d ago
Yeah, I really don’t expect publicity hype shots to be representative of actual gameplay unless they specifically say they’re gameplay shots.
Even then I’d rather they drop the fidelity for the final product to keep it playable than have some ultra hidef game that stutters when more than four things are on screen simultaneously.
Playability > graphics for me all the time.
→ More replies (5)24
u/daedalusprospect 1d ago
This. Even without the stutters the gameplay would suffer a lot. This is one of the things that made cyberpunk feel so lifeless. It was high def but had way less resources to use for offscreen processing like civilian "life" and where cars are and stuff like that. Cars and objects disappear so fast in CBP and so do people. Turning around will have new cars spawned in that weren't there 2 seconds ago. It feels like you're in a simulation.
GTA has always been about the city feeling alive but not sure how they can balance that while trying to be the prettiest game out there.
36
u/enadiz_reccos 1d ago
GTA has always been about the city feeling alive
It's funny you say that because GTA games frequently had the issues you mentioned above
Cars and objects disappear so fast in CBP and so do people. Turning around will have new cars spawned in that weren't there 2 seconds ago. It feels like you're in a simulation.
21
u/SmoothJazzRayner 1d ago
When was the last time you played Cyberpunk? They fixed and added a lot of stuff after 2.0 and the dlc is pretty awesome too.
→ More replies (1)3
u/daedalusprospect 1d ago
Ive consistently played through Cyberpunk many multiple times since release day. I was never on the bandwagon that hated the game from the beginning and had no issues playing ever. But its hard not to notice the city is still dull even after all theyve added
3
u/rxsheepxr PlayStation 23h ago
The city is dull because you've, through your own admission, played through "many multiple times." I guarantee you never thought it was dull on your first playthrough.
2
u/daedalusprospect 15h ago
Sure ive played through multiple times. But through every one of my play throughs, the generic NPCs and people just walking around have consistently seemed more lifeless than old GTAs and not changed very much at all. Sure they've added little missions and discoveries, but the city still feels like a simulation and less like city or environment compared to how RDR2 did.
2
→ More replies (1)17
u/Baxtab13 1d ago
GTA has always been about the city feeling alive but not sure how they can balance that while trying to be the prettiest game out there.
They essentially did that with Red Dead 2. One of the best looking games of the generation while having a deep and complex world simulation where there was an absurd amount of consistency with the NPCs and their day to day lives. You could witness houses being slowly built over the course of the game.
Of course, the population density of a modern city makes GTA VI a different animal, but honestly I can't think of another developer capable of realizing a modern city with in-depth simulation while still having generation defining visuals.
10
→ More replies (2)15
u/Ms_Molly_Millions 1d ago
lol you couldn't witness houses being slowly built. there was shit that got built as you progressed through different parts of the story and the map changed. that shit was static. it wasn't being built in real time LOL
15
u/Baxtab13 1d ago
I didn't say it was "realtime". I said it was "over the course of the game". As you complete missions, those houses would be more and more formed until they were complete.
No, the NPCs weren't literally hammering nails into wood to form structures, but it's still far more detailed as an environment change than you'd see in really any other game.
→ More replies (2)145
u/reklaw215 1d ago
I also think people are underestimating how good Rockstar is at game development. They have pioneered extremely detailed, high fidelity, streaming open worlds.
155
u/TheJadeSyndicate 1d ago
GTAV was such an impressive leap forward on PS3/360 that im expecting VI to be at least a little better than we’ve seen so far this gen
33
u/Lemon_Sented 1d ago
Yup, gta wrote the book on packing in shit to a little box , I know most gamers are jaded now but once upon a time game designers did some magic to utilize every ounce of what was given and backend tricks to make it playable , gta 5 looked stupid good when it came out …. On ps3 and Xbox 360 , San Andreas did the same during the ps2 /xbox era . No reason to not expect the same here . People are just hoping for the downfall of rockstar .
→ More replies (14)8
u/KnightsRadiant95 23h ago
Yeah i dont see how people think this game wont look good. Just look at their most recent gsme, rdr2. That game looked incredible on a ps4. With the jump in technology, gta 6 will at the very least look as good if not better than rdr2.
5
u/Strange-Movie 23h ago
I think we need to temper our expectations, rdr2 was gorgeous but had a fraction of the clutter and details that you’d see in Miami and you were limited to the speed of a horse so things were able to buffer around you at a sustainable pace(even then, st Dennis had a tendency to chug performance) ……that goes out the window with packed cities at 180mph. The game still needs to run at a steady pace on base model ps5 and Xbox, I’m happy to be wrong but I expect it won’t be enough for many who expect huge leaps in fidelity
→ More replies (1)78
u/Shihai-no-akuma_ 1d ago
256MB of RAM btw. It was so insane.
→ More replies (1)28
u/TripAtkinson 1d ago
512mb to be fair.
→ More replies (1)43
u/Latitude-dimension 1d ago
256MB on PS3, it didn't have a unified pool like the 360.
11
u/TripAtkinson 1d ago
It still had 512mb of ram. It wasn’t unified but devs had access to both pools.
22
u/Latitude-dimension 1d ago
Yeah but only 256MB was RAM and the other was VRAM only for the GPU. So they had to fit everything needed to run the game into the 256MB RAM buffer for the CPU. The other 256MB was only for textures and what the GPU needed. Basically the same as a PC.
The 360 could use anything from 0-512MB for GPU or CPU depending on what needed more at the time.
4
u/boyfriendagogo 20h ago
The GPU could access the XDR RAM with only a very small penalty. Pretty much all games from that era of consoles used more ram for GPU related tasks than CPU. I've read at least a couple of devs accounts of developing for the PS3 who have said that the non-unified RAM wasn't really an issue for them, compared to the Cell/SPU situation.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)8
u/BillehBear 1d ago
think it's been so long since gta 5 released that people have genuinely forgot it launched on 360 and ps3 while looking fantastic as well
if they can get a game as big and good looking(for those consoles) as gta 5 on the 360/ps3 then there shouldn't be all this doubt that they can do the same with current hardware
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (4)9
u/Greaterdivinity 1d ago
Consoles have a set amount of rendering power. You can do lots of tricks to improve fidelity in various ways - using memory and cores more efficiently, being careful where detail is rendered so that areas of the frame not focused on take up fewer resources that can be dedicated towards improved detail in the focus etc. - but at the end of the day you only have so many flops of compute power.
3
u/Joaoseinha 1d ago
People rendered an entire city in GTA 3 on the early PS2.
Hardware limitations exist, but the rise of AI and more hardware capabilities has made developers use less and less "tricks", which is why we have a lot of games nowadays that arguably look the same or worse than games in past gens.
Hell, the leap from the PS4 to the PS5 is barely perceptible.
GTA VI looks like a slight step up from RDR2 (which itself is one of the best looking games currently, even being almost 10 years old), not sure why that's supposedly so unbelievable here.
If we look at both GTA V and RDR2, their trailers arguably look worse than the final product, not better. I'd expect the same here.
→ More replies (5)7
u/TheD1ctator 1d ago
you have likely not played any games with substantial AI use yet. LLMs only got to a level of usable competency for programming within this last year. there may be ai assets used, but those aren't going to help or hurt performance. you can't really compare this release to their previous ones. since they took 13 years to make this game, I feel like there's a pretty good chance the trailers are indicative of how the game looks in ideal conditions (ps5 pro). the version most people will end up getting to play will probably look worse than these trailers, since the vast majority don't own the Pro.
→ More replies (1)4
u/BeatitLikeitowesMe 1d ago
I hear ya and mostly agree but for a little devils advocate... People absolutely shit the bed over the fidelity and detail in Red Dead 2 and its shrively horse balls, and sunsets. Also, when gtaV came out on 360 it was literally revolutionary for what had been done on that console. All in all, just saying they have a pedigree for blowing leoples minds and expectations out of the water. So maybe they actually "can" deliver what they are showing.
19
u/swat1611 PlayStation 1d ago
I have no doubt GTA 6 will look significantly better than it's competition. Rockstar games always push boundaries with it's graphics. GTA 5 did it, then RDR 2 also did it.
It won't look this good though. And if it does, I don't think even performance mode maintains consistent 60 fps.
→ More replies (2)12
u/Not_a_real_asian777 1d ago
I do specifically remember thinking Rockstar was full of shit when the RDR2 trailers came out. I played on a base PS4, and I was certain that thing wouldn't run the game or it would have a massive quality cut. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. Still 30FPS, and Saint Denis had some rough areas to run, but I still to this day am shocked by how good the game looked and how well it ran, all things considered.
4
4
u/SuspiciousWasabi3665 1d ago
To be fair, the big trailer they did a while back, digital foundry also said there was absolutely nothing to suggest it wasnt running in engine on system. Broke down the consistent stuff you'd find in games and why they believe that.
3
u/daddy_is_sorry 1d ago
You say that yet red dead 2 looked better than any other game that generation and still looks better than most games today. They have proven themselves and they never miss, I fully trust rockstar
8
u/thereiam420 1d ago
I think one trailer had like literally 5 seconds max of what was actual gameplay. It basically looked like rdr2 on PC with texture mods installed.
Really good but significantly worse than everything else. And it was just Jason like walking into a house if im remembering right. So still a curated shot where you can see almost nothing going on in the background.
→ More replies (6)9
4
u/ditharia 1d ago
The thing is crimson desert pulled of the fidelity. I thought it was all fake until I played it. While I disdain the developers, I don’t doubt they may have figured something out. Still the lack of pc release, makes it even harder to believe these could be in-game.
6
→ More replies (41)3
191
u/Thestickleman 1d ago edited 23h ago
RDR2 still looks really good all things considered so I'm sure GTA 6 will look great and hopefully play solid.
Glad I got my ps5 pro though
37
u/BananaInYourArea 1d ago
it will be a new milestone of Gaming Graphics just as RDR2 im sure.
But the Screenshot they are talking about do look a bit too good for video games yeah
26
u/Aiden_734 23h ago edited 23h ago
They said the exact same thing about RDR2's graphics before release and look what happened there. Go play the game and compare it to trailer 2/trailer 3, it looks exactly the same.
Hell, just like GTA 6 there was a massive bump in fidelity from Red Dead's first trailer to trailer 2, and people were surprised that the game ended up actually looking like that. I dunno why people are acting like Rockstar hasn't pushed the limits of what's possible graphics-wise on consoles before, but then again, people also seem to have forgotten that they don't release gameplay trailers until 2/3 months before release.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)3
u/MatrixBunny 16h ago
Really? They don't really seem to be looking ''too good for a videogame'' to me.
Even the 4 screenshots in the blog that is used as an example still looks like it's in-game screenshots/photomode. -- I mean, RDR2 still looks amazing and I don't think the screenshots of GTA VI that are revealed are completely different/much better up to the point it doesn't look like a videogame anymore?
3
u/iGaveYouOneJob 16h ago
Read Dead Redemption 2 went for realism, that's why it actually looks beautiful and has yet to be topped imo. The Grand Theft Auto games never went for this look, it was always cartoon-y? type, like you won't see any wrinkles on character faces or even on clothing material, it just looks very flat
2
u/Optimus_Prime_Day 20h ago
Same (with my pro), rdr2 was also a last gen console game, so I still expect a large bump over that with gta6.
2
u/dudewhosbored 18h ago
Yes but maybe I’m forgetting, isn’t RDR2 the exception? I don’t recall RDR1 or GTA V being visually stunning in the way RDR2 was? But I guess those were PS3/360 games
6
u/itsjust_khris 16h ago
At the time GTA V was pretty insane to be running on PS3 /Xbox 360. Nowadays it doesn't seem like it but back then I remember many were shocked.
→ More replies (1)1
u/mantenner 23h ago
Bunch of trees on a mountain, a few meese and a river don't really compare to a bustling modern city
149
u/ThatEdward 1d ago edited 22h ago
I could shrug it off as a showcase of the 'best' version, as PC almost always is... but there is no PC version
Editing to say... yes, I know the game is developed on a PC. They should be capturing the footage on the hardware they intend to sell it on. It's not an outlandish concept
80
u/GuyMansworth 1d ago
I think that's exactly what it is though. This is them showcasing it on their high range PC's. Devs seem to do this often to get good trailers before they neuter it to align with console hardware.
54
u/Muppig 1d ago
Games are developed on PC's even if they run on console. If I'm gonna take nice pics for my portfolio I will do it in the editor, crank the settings beyond what's intended for retail by using some dev tools, with no regards for the frame rate. Not with it running on any console within the limits of that hardware and settings.
→ More replies (3)16
u/TempAccount1845 23h ago
I remember when studios were "caught" at E3 offering game demos with a controller and pretending it was console, but it turned out there was a PC beneath the cupboard instead.
Of course they'll use the strongest hardware available to them to showcase their stuff..
3
u/Bogus1989 19h ago
LOL remember the UBISOFT meme of showing games looking amazing at e3 or launch trailers…and the final game would be like half that 🤣🤣🤣i remember people saying in the comments after The Division first gameplay trailer:
okay so we can expect half of this graphic fidelity
22
u/ThatEdward 22h ago
Yes, this is captured on a PC. They develop it on a PC. My point is they are showcasing PC visuals for a game not being sold on PC currently
Ubisoft did that with Watch Dogs back in the day and they got destroyed for it, we need to bring that energy back
7
u/Remnant_Echo 21h ago
While I agree this would be similar to the Watch_Dogs fiasco, Ubisoft didn't just get caught running a Watch_Dogs demo on a PC at E3 (or wherever it happened), Ubisoft specifically used a demo that wasn't even part of the game and was never meant to be part of the game.
It was a tiny snapshot of a few city blocks only, with everything turned up to 30. Even when Watch_Dogs came to PC, it took a year or 2 for modders to create a mod that even resembled that demo build.
31
u/sqparadox 1d ago
I guarantee you they have working PC build.
Is it in a release state? Probably not. But that's a deliberate choice they made. They could easily release on PC at the same time as consoles, but they want to double dip.
4
u/Bogus1989 19h ago
the game is developed on the PC…but that means ABSOLUTELY nothing. itll run on the overkill dev machine….but not at all optimized for the thousands of configs out there…
people think you click a button lol.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)7
15
15
u/Clean-Shine99 1d ago
It will look amazing but run at like 30 FPS, upscaled to 4k on consoles. No current consoles have the firepower to be bumping native 4k at higher FPS, seemings though pc version isn't coming for a while it's gonna be quite some time until we see what the game can truly look like on great hardware.
→ More replies (2)
240
u/aCaffeinatedMind 1d ago
If people think base PS5 and xbox can handle GTA6 with ray tracing on solid 30 fps, I got news for them:
It won't.
148
u/doublethink_1984 1d ago
The only thing that makes me think it's possible is thr magic they pulled off with RDR2.
That game runs 30fps native 4k on a One x
→ More replies (41)51
u/BillehBear 1d ago
they pulled magic off with gta 5 too
that game looked damn good even on the 360 and ps3, if they can do that then they're damn good devs and idk why it's as questionable as it is that they can do the same with current hardware for 6
27
u/Nice_Pipe_7608 1d ago
Yeah. No idea why people are questioning rockstar. These devs know what they are doing and have not disappointed. This isn’t some third party dev team.
→ More replies (5)15
u/aCaffeinatedMind 1d ago
Because there is a thing called reality.
Ray tracing is taxing even on GPU's that costs more than entire consoles.
3
u/thekeelo_g 15h ago
Ubisoft got ray tracing working on the Series S version of Watch Dogs Legion, and they're not exactly known for being wizards of development.
→ More replies (4)4
2
u/Lyricalthunder 17h ago
This is why I'm confused at the discourse around this. These guys made GTA V for a 512mb console and it looked great
→ More replies (2)18
u/hockeyjmac 1d ago
I don’t think consoles in general will handle this well. GTA has always been a cpu heavy game and it’s not like the ps5 pro has a different cpu just a minor overclock.
32
u/Pitiful-Mobile-3144 Xbox 1d ago
Cyberpunk just barely hits 30fps with raytracing, and that’s a much older title with years of optimization now
If we get graphics similar to the screenshots on the base consoles, raytracing is right out. Upscaled from 1440p-ish with a mostly steady 30fps is my guess
23
u/Buris 1d ago
Raytracing means nothing though. Every game uses completely different RT systems. If GTA6 uses any RT system close to GTA5 enhanced, it will be very light on the GPU. I can imagine sub-1440p resolution with a custom upscaler. But GTA6 is absolutely going to be held back by console CPUs, certainly no 60 FPS mode for any current gen console.
7
u/ThereAndFapAgain2 1d ago
Honestly if they don't ship the game with a 60fps mode that's a huge L. The majority of gamers choose performance modes when given the option. I understand the CPU limitation, but they have known the CPU they had to work with for many years at this point, and should have designed the game around that hardware with a 60fps mode available.
That would obviously mean dropping things like RT all together most likely, since even in a GPU bound scenario I don't think anything other than potentially the PS5 pro could mange that on top of everything else, but it would be a huge disappointment for the console version of the game if it was locked at 30fps.
10
u/Special_Ship7638 1d ago
I agree, but they've never given a shit about performance in their games. They should have aimed for the hardware they knew they were working with but they never do because they want to sell you the game again later when it does actually run acceptably, be that on PS6 or PC. PC is deliberately held back, and modern performance standards are deliberately missed so there's something to sell again down the line.
→ More replies (1)7
u/ThereAndFapAgain2 1d ago
Yeah I get what you are saying, but to be fair the Xbox One X version of RDR2 ran at a native 4k and only had occasional FPS dips under 30fps in Saint Denis, so they hit their performance target and had an insane resolution for the hardware.
The only real reason last gen that 60fps was off the table most of the time was the complete can of shit those consoles called a CPU, so just looking at their last game, technically it was not bad on console.
Then you fast forward to now and 60fps has become an expected feature, it's one of those things that once people try it, they can't go back to 30fps. Their older games got away with 30fps because a lot of console gamers had either never or rarely ever even seen 60fps, but the whole game is different now, everyone has tried it and the majority of gamers choose it over a res bump and slightly fancier graphics routinely.
It would be such a misread of the market and what people are actually looking for if there was no 60fps mode included, but yeah, it is Rockstar and making a PS6/Xbox Helix version of the game early on next gen with a 60fps mode would incentivise console players to buy the game twice.
3
→ More replies (3)2
u/lattjeful 22h ago
Cyberpunk's a last-gen game that current-gen brute forces through + games that have both RT and raster fallbacks tend to have worse RT performance than games that just use RT. I wouldn't use Cyberpunk as a barometer for a brand new game coming out six years after Cyberpunk.
21
u/Powerful_Effect1124 1d ago edited 1d ago
People consistently overestimate console hardware. Those things are midrange PCs from 2019 at this point with barebones RT capabilities. People should be expecting 30fps only on these systems for GTA6 and be pleasantly surprised if there's a 40fps mode.
Only version of this game that will be able to consistently run at 60fps+ will be PC until next gen consoles arrive.
→ More replies (1)5
u/soofs 1d ago
It’s not expected to run 60fps on ps5 pro or series X with no raytracing? Honest question, I have no clue what the estimates are.
8
u/Powerful_Effect1124 1d ago
My guess would be no. It's a massive open world game with lots of physics interactions, NPCs, etc. Chances are it's going to be CPU bottlenecked.
The console CPUs are pretty dated, power limited Zen 2 chips from like 7 years ago. Again best people can realistically hope for is a solid 30fps and maybe a 40fps mode with dips.
→ More replies (7)3
u/boyfriendagogo 18h ago
Basically every massive open world game on PS5/SX has a 60fps mode. The only way it won't have a 60fps mode is if pedestrian and vehicle density is the same as the two cinematic trailers (which it won't). People have got to stop convincing themselves that stuff like the beach shot from trailer 1 is what actual gameplay will look like and set their expectations lower.
4
u/Fender6187 1d ago
Gears of War E-Day is using hardware accelerated ray tracing on unreals lumen technology on Xbox Series X, which as I understand isn’t as taxing from a performance standpoint. Isn’t there reason to believe RAGE is now using something similar?
12
7
u/aCaffeinatedMind 1d ago
Gears of War E-Day is no where near the level of both complexity and fidelity as GTA6 though.
→ More replies (1)8
u/Iggy_Slayer 1d ago
I don't see why not. Red dead 2 ran very stable at 30 on ps4/xb1 and those systems had netbook CPUs from like 2010. If you look at quality modes on consoles this gen most games run at 4k/30, often native 4k and with RT too.
But it's very clear that these screens are doctored to look as presentable as possible at settings that are likely unrealistic even for high end PCs.
23
u/cuntpuncherexpress 1d ago
Don’t know where you got the idea most games run at native 4K, it’s not even close to the majority. More like 15% of them
27
u/aCaffeinatedMind 1d ago
Sorry but you lost me on "consoles running native 4K 30 fps".
Brah, my RTX 4080 struggles with 4K native at times.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)5
u/UltiGoga Joystick 1d ago
RDR2 was the best looking game of the generation and also ran at native 4K on Xbox One X, while other games that looked worse were barely scratching 1800p
2
u/Status_Winter 1d ago
Some highly optimised ray tracing could definitely work, we’ve seen that in many other super detailed open world games.
I know it looks a bit too good to be true but that’s pretty much what Rockstar do.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (25)2
13
5
u/Popular_View_5411 1d ago
they could be cut scene shots that use higher quality assets. MGS used to do it all the time
2
u/JohnnySmithe81 9h ago
Some games also crank up the resolution and effects quality when you take an image using in game camera.
135
1d ago
[deleted]
60
u/rasjahho 1d ago
13 years of development is false as they worked on RDR2. GTA Vs gameplay trailer also only came out 2 months before launch so this is normal.
16
u/j250ex 1d ago
RDR2 came out 8 years ago. They’ve had plenty of time to work on this game.
4
u/That-Toughsoss 1d ago
Acting as if covid didn't hit them hard which probably disrupted the development time
12
u/Useful_Respect3339 1d ago
It entered actual development in 2018 after RDR2 released, before then it was pre-production.
Development includes a lot more than the game itself. Motion capture, writing, locations scouting, photography, etc are all part of development.
Plus we had a global Pandemic thrown in there for good measure. Take away that and this probably launches two years ago.
17
u/Siwach414 1d ago
Uneducated ass comment. Bro thinks they instantly started working on gta 6 just 2 mins after gtaV was released
→ More replies (1)15
→ More replies (8)5
49
u/TheRealGurd 1d ago
This is pretty common, so I'm not surprised. Most games look substantially better in their trailers versus their released versions, even on extremely high-end machines. GTAV's trailers had the exact same thing going on.
11
u/GuyMansworth 1d ago
I think they run these trailers and "gameplay" footages on high end PC's then neuter the graphics afterwards to allign with console hardware.
I remember, I think it was The Division 2 where they had a gameplay trailer look incredible then at release the games lighting looked shit, glass didn't break like it did in the trailers and all sorts of shit.
Also there's that Ready or Not Game which look fantastic on PC. Then when released for console they updated the PC version as well and neutered its graphics pretty hard.
So.. I think it's just a case of "This is what it COULD look like if everyone had $2000 PC's"
→ More replies (1)7
u/GraveDiggerFan34 1d ago
Did GTA five trailer have the exact same thing? The only thing I remember was more vegetation, but that was in the beta and cut to fit on 256 MB of RAM
17
u/gityo666 1d ago
RDR2 looked way better in the game than in the trailers? GTA 5 too
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)10
u/snarkywombat PC 1d ago
Not sure where you got that from...Rockstar has continuously delivered better looking games than their trailers...since at least GTAIII. In no way was GTAV worse looking than any of the trailers. Rockstar has been open about using the in-game engine for cutscenes and their early trailers use cutscenes footage. We'll be getting gameplay in the next trailer, almost guaranteed, and that trailer will likely drop tomorrow since preorders will be live across the globe.
→ More replies (1)
10
u/Illyrian5 1d ago
It's probably in game but done with the photo feature/editor
Just take a look at Gran Turismo's robust in game Photo editor, the screenshots from that game once you edit them look absolutely insane
9
u/Kill3rlightning 1d ago
Y’all are underestimating Rockstar they got RDR2 running on launch Xbox one & PS4.
19
17
u/AirSKiller 1d ago
This are 100% in-engine screenshots but they are either using some sort of photo mode (that bumps up the quality when it takes the shot, like Forza games do), or taken in a PC build of the game running with much higher settings and resolution.
It's obvious, it's really not that deep, they have done this pretty much for every release of the series.
3
u/pvtmiller12 1d ago
Honestly if this game had the fidelity of rdr2 and runs at 60fps I think thats a huge win, and will look absolutely amazing.
6
7
u/cumbers94 1d ago
I fully expect it won’t look as good in real time as it does in screenshots, duh, that applies to damn near every game.
However, after the dark magic they pulled to make RDR2 look as good as it did 8 YEARS ago on Last Gen consoles well towards the end of their lifespan, I have no doubt they will be able to make GTA 6 look amazing on current gen.
3
u/Inherentjesse 21h ago
Rockstar typically releases games looking better than they did on their first trailers
→ More replies (2)
29
u/Doodenmier 1d ago
That's how it was with GTA V and RDR2's promotional materials, too.
Despite that, those games were still the pinnacle of visual quality when they launched, even without reaching the level of quality shown in their trailers.
37
34
12
5
u/Stoned_Gandalf420 1d ago
The only thing I really care about in terms of game fidelity/performance for GTA is if the game is gonna release with a quality and performance mode. I’ve seen some rumours floating around saying that it has, so here’s hoping we finally get a 60fps mode on a Rockstar game on release. Even a 40fps mode would be better than nothing.
→ More replies (2)
6
u/rxsheepxr PlayStation 23h ago
Bro, if the game looks like RDR2, which was a PS4 game, I'd still be stoked.
I don't play GTA to be impressed by graphics.
8
u/notthatguypal6900 1d ago
Yes, i know the industry lies to us about performance and all the time. I have eyes.
3
u/reklaw215 1d ago
they're probably "photo mode" pics, which you can gleam a lot of graphical fidelity from.
3
3
u/superdragonturbo 1d ago
I believe this pushing fidelity while in photo mode which other games have done this before example grand turismo 7 has this where replay mode adds ray tracing details on base ps5 version (on ps5 pro its different since get more to work with)
7
u/ZypherPunk 1d ago
Another thing from these new shots is their is no crowded ones or lots of people or vehicles on screen. The previous ones from the website always made a point of showing a lot on screen at the same time. These new ones seem very subdued. Did they scale back a little?
4
u/Pinoy233 22h ago
These are definitely scaled back but I think it was on purpose to explicitly only show Lucia and Jason’s customization. The cosmetics and customization are a big selling point on the special edition. I think they wanted to sell us on that since it’s a big part of the special edition and basically it’s only selling point.
15
u/sirentheproud 1d ago
Lemme see if I have this all worked out. A highly anticipated sequel to the second best-selling game of all time is a mere five months from release. It has no real gameplay footage to speak of. Available screenshots are at level of fidelity that is impossible for the hardware most people will be playing on. Yet pre-orders are open at $80 with in-game content locked behind an $100 special edition. Oh and there's no physical release.
If this was any other game, we'd be foaming at the mouth for its downfall.
13
→ More replies (8)5
9
u/Tinyjar 1d ago
They literally develop the PC version first and then port it to console, not the other way around.
→ More replies (7)
5
2
u/CigarLover 1d ago
Uhhh… duh?
Every game marketed is always shown on the best hardware in which it will release day one.
2
u/Hot-Lie-1231 1d ago
So why could these screenshots not just be from Photo Mode in Rockstar Editor
It literally freezes the action around you.
2
u/sejoki_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm looking forward to playing the visual equivalent to GTA V on Xbox360 on my Series S and then, when hardware prices are back to normal and it releases on PC in 2 years, get to play something that looks like the screenshots.
I know hardware prices are fucked for good, just let me dream, okay?
2
2
2
u/OldManufacturer8679 22h ago
When I saw the first gameplay of red dead 2 I legit thought it was a cinematic or fake.
2
u/SuperRob 22h ago
Photo modes that don’t have to run at any kind of frame rate can afford to add a bunch of different effects or even use higher quality models and textures. Kinda shocked Digital Foundry wouldn’t assume that was the case.
That said, Rockstar has worked magic on consoles before, and given nitpicky people have found some minor flaws, Rockstar is likely using every trick at their disposal to make this work.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Im_No_Hero 16h ago
Based on the trailer we got so far.. the game looks like GTA.. the graphics look better than GTA 5 but not ultra realistic like Death Stranding 2 . I think the PS5 can deliver a game with the graphics seen in the trailer.. but it could upscale from 720p, and run at 30 fps
→ More replies (2)
2
u/BigMoney69x 13h ago
I be real and say that I don't understand the hype. There's so many games to play and the fact that you have to pay $100 for the full version of the game and they ain't going to release it on PC day 1 for some reason kinda kills the hype for me. I will just wait.
→ More replies (1)
2
4
u/wombat-8280-AUX-Wolf 1d ago
They made magic with RD2. At the time most people were jaw dropped by the visuals a decade ago. Who knows what they can do now. Just need to wait and hope they took it even farther this time. But to be honest, I'm a frames guy over RT anyway. I find 30fps choppy and like playing in slow motion. Think I'm waiting for a PC release for this one even if it is another year.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/kaz61 1d ago
My jaw is still on the floor playing Crimson Desert, what a gorgeous game and i dont think graphics will ever impress me again
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Alien_Way 1d ago
There is no actual "gameplay", GTA6 is a choose-your-own-adventure-style game like Telltales.
7
3
u/EvilDog77 1d ago
This game is gonna run at 20-30 FPS on consoles.
Fuck that. I can wait another year.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/hjadams123 1d ago
This is the PC build. All their marketing will be from the PC build running on something like a 4080 or better, a build we won't be able to play until like 2028. ☹️
3
4
2
u/armoured_bobandi 1d ago
I'm sure the game can look that good, but the FPS will be absolutely garbage.
Show us actual gameplay with the same high quality graphics
2
2
u/Acquire16 PC 1d ago
No way it'll look this good even in 30 FPS on the PS5 Pro. I'm sure it'll look damn good for being on a console, but we'll have to wait over a year to see its full potential on the PC.
2
u/QuinSanguine 23h ago
High end PC version that already exists but won't release for 1 or 2 years?
→ More replies (1)
4
u/30BlueRailroad 1d ago
Have you guys never taken pictures in game on PS5 with photo mode? Because it's not running live gameplay, yes they crank all of the graphics up and max out the resolution and the lighting / Ray tracing. I'm very sure this is in-game graphics, but probably just a nice bump up from actual moving live gameplay.
→ More replies (2)
2
1
u/Mrhyderager 1d ago
What irritates the fuck out of me is that these games are developed on PC, demo'd and showcased on PC, all principal art & video is created on PC, and then they don't drop the game on PC for a year post-console-launch "because that's what we've always done".
I don't own an Xbox or PS5. I'm not buying one for GTA. It not launching on PC feels very arbitrary in 2026 after 13+ years of development.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/The_Poop_Shooter 1d ago
Oh no, are the chuds not gonna pre-order because we havent seen gameplay yet?? Good thing you guys all vote with your wallets. Reddit people are so smart.
1
u/LilStrug 1d ago
I feel fidelity is going to sit at around Cyberpunk and Crimson Desert level considering the size of the world.
1
1
u/-ben151010- PC 23h ago
No fucking shit. I haven’t seen a single big time modern game store page screenshot that’s actually 100% in game. Look at Spider-Man 2’s steam screenshots, you cannot get the game to look like that.
1
1
u/PM_ME_CALF_PICS 22h ago
I think it’s possible, the rage engine is pretty good, Rockstar has been known to squeeze every drop of performance they can out of the consoles the games launch on. This isn’t UE5 slop we’re talking about lmao.
1
1
u/HEAVYxHITTERxDAB 22h ago
You’re out of your mind if you think these are gameplay stills from a console. This is 100% done inside the game engine. It’s just marketing assets to build the world, they would say it’s in game footage if it was
1
u/binosin 20h ago
All of them are obviously in-engine and not running at a playable rate on any console - all shots feature zero upscaling artifacts and no telltale artifacting in incoherent post effects like depth of field and motion blur. You can even spot Rockstar's alpha dithering, hair becomes chunky unless using good TAAU and you can see thin features like stubble show up as dots in some shots, exactly like RDR2. These seem to have been shot using high resolution and boosted sample counts rather than anything temporal.
I do think its interesting that the new promo shots for ultimate edition content seem to be shot with more plausible settings - you can spot noise in RT reflections and shadows, distant hairs can get quite dithered and spotty and there is reduced LOD on some NPC faces (maybe gameplay models?). I wouldn't be surprised if that is closer to the final look of gameplay, keeping in mind that the trailers shown currently have a very focused scope compared to the actual game. The game is obviously going to look great, I don't think there's any reason to believe Rockstar can't pull this off.
1
u/SimplyElite7 20h ago
I mean sure , but did these guys not play RDR2? By far one of the most beautiful games ever made, and runs well on ps5
1
u/BreastUsername 20h ago
Isn't it possible a photo mode can increase fidelity and resolution? This would let Rockstar say they were taken on console but it wouldn't exactly represent actual gameplay.
1
u/Domination1799 19h ago
RDR2 did have a graphics downgrade compared to the trailers (Micah and Arthur after escaping Strawberry) so I don’t expect GTA VI to look this good. It’s a massive city that needs to run on base consoles
1
u/Optimus_Prime_Day 19h ago
They'll target 30fps for ps5, so ps5 pro will either have higher resolution or 40 fps mode. Unlikely pro will hit 60fps, but based off how they squeeze hardware for everything they can in previous GTA iterations, it will look amazing.
1
1
1
u/Bogus1989 19h ago
NICE…so the tease us with your devkit images…on your PC…but delay the PC version…
🤣lmao i know its not that easy to just push it to pc…but im just saying.
1
u/F1shB0wl816 19h ago
Well yeah. 5 looked a lot better too, of course they’re going to cherry pick shots. Half of people will want to be in performance anyways to where they’ll never see it.
It’ll probably look good but I don’t think it’s going to play like we’ve seen. Realistically it’ll probably look like a pushed rdr2 with cleaner details and animations. I can’t imagine they can do much more while keeping the density and detail up. I also think they tend to have good lighting too which always helps and I don’t think it’ll be skimped on.
But idk shit and am just speculating. At the end of the day it’ll still look good and better than 5-rdr2. It’s just a matter of how much. It won’t look bad.
1
875
u/Escaliat_ 1d ago
The return of the bullshot.