Yesterday, Rockstar released 63 brand new screenshots for GTA 6, each of which surprised fans with their impressive level of detail. Of course, the images in place from Trailer 3 provide our best look at the game as it stands today. But how representative are they of the actual games fans will play this November?
technical expert digital foundry The screenshots have been analyzed to find out what they are telling us about GTA 6. It’s worth checking out their analysis thoroughly, as there’s a lot of talk about “unprecedented levels of polish” and ray traced reflections. They have also seen the car’s engine running through reflective glare on the underside of its hood. There’s no doubt that GTA 6 looks really impressive.
But DF’s analysis also comes with a word of caution. Writer Tom Morgan believes it is “impossible” that the screenshots represent real-time results on any platform GTA 6 is set to launch this November. It’s safe to rule out the Xbox Series S, but DF also questions whether the screenshots come from a PS5, Xbox Series DF can’t be sure at this stage – like everyone else, they’re waiting for GTA 6 to actually arrive before issuing a verdict – but there is evidence to suggest that what we’re seeing in the screenshots isn’t actually possible on console.
Morgan wrote, “With such a high level of fidelity in the show, a question still remains as to what platform is actually being used to generate these shots.” “To be clear, we find it unlikely that these PS5, Xbox Series
So, if not taken from a console, where did these screenshots come from? Maybe a PC version (everyone hopes GTA 6 will eventually come to PC). DF suggests that they may have been carefully created in GTA 6’s development environment to represent the “perfect shot”, where frame-rate is not a consideration. The suggestion is that these screenshots are not actually taken from GTA 6 running. At a push, they would have been created using the photo mode (Rockstar has not yet announced such a mode in GTA 6).
“Incidentally, it would be easier for Rockstar to produce these in a game development environment, where framing, character positioning and lighting can orchestrate a perfect shot – regardless of framerate – with all settings dialed up to 11,” Morgan continued. “To be clear, the ray tracing aspect is an expected feature on consoles – and indeed we already have it in GTA 5 – but as for what’s possible on the base PS5, Pro and Series X, time will tell how close the real-time console views actually come to these images.”
Of course, GTA 6 looks amazing from what we’ve seen so far, and fans are really looking forward to pushing the console to their limits. But Rockstar hasn’t confirmed performance targets for GTA 6 yet, so we don’t know what’s coming to the console in terms of resolution and framerate. What we do know is that GTA 6 features a massive open world, or, as Rockstar described it just yesterday: “the largest and most in-depth evolution of the series to date.”
We’ve got a lot more on GTA 6 for you, including confirmation of GTA 6’s price, analyst’s take on what the price means for other video games, exclusive content coming with the Ultimate Edition, and confirmation of GTA 6’s “single-player experience.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.