GTA 6 On PS5: What The Extended Look Reveals About Graphics, Loading, And DualSense

While we know which platforms "Grand Theft Auto VI" has been announced for thus far — just PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series — Rockstar hadn't confirmed which one the first two trailers were running on. Or even if it was running on a console at all and wasn't just dev kit footage. But the extended look that hit the internet today, which contained the first actual gameplay footage, was confirmed to be captured entirely on PlayStation 5.

It was an interesting decision, especially since the PlayStation 5 Pro had the potential to showcase a better-looking, smoother-running version of the game. There is evidence to suggest that the Xbox Series X outperforms the PS5 on paper, but PS5 Pro is seen as the console to own for "GTA 6" to get the best experience possible. Perhaps Rockstar wanted to temper expectations, or maybe it is still working on PS5 Pro optimization and wasn't ready to showcase that yet. Either way, we learned quite a bit about how the game will look and play on the baseline PS5, which is good news for the nearly 100 million people who own one. 

The bad news first: "GTA 6" seems like its performance is going to be limited to 30fps, at least for now. A lot of people are holding out hope for an eventual 60fps update — or that the PS5 Pro version and/or eventual PC port will hit that mark — but as it stands, expect to play "GTA 6" in 30fps at launch. However, the apparent trade-off to the game "only" running at 30fps is a level of graphical fidelity and fine detail that is unlike anything we've ever seen before.

Crowds are large and dense, with seemingly no two NPCs looking remotely similar to one another. Everything that would be a light source is a light source, realistically illuminating nearby objects and casting shadows accordingly. Close-ups of faces reveal an array of subtle lines, wrinkles, freckles, and more, all of which shift and move as people speak. Animations are not only realistic, but incredibly varied — no two people move alike, nor does a single person move exactly the same way from one moment to the next.

We can go on, but you get the picture. It is all incredibly impressive, and it's clear that these many years in development were spent crafting literally every inch of every environment — and each individual object therein — to look, feel, and behave just like their real life counterparts.

One thing that was made clear from the extended look is that there is going to be a lot more button pressing than you might be used to in a typical "GTA" game. But it all feels to be in the name of deeper immersion and interactivity rather than complicating the gameplay for the sake of complicating it. For instance, not only does car jacking involve hitting a button at the right moment via on screen-meter, but you can choose between several different methods of car jacking by hitting the button that corresponds with said method. Early in the preview, you are given multiple dialogue options through the same method. And shortly after, you are again offered a similar options tree for how you interact with a dog you encounter.

At this point, it's not specifically clear how the features of the PS5 DualSense will play a role. That's not something we will know until we've either played the game ourselves, or until someone who has can detail that for us. But there is a moment in the trailer where a "hold hands" option is presented along with the R2 logo, which stays on the screen as Jason and Lucia walk hand-in-hand. This clearly means that the two will only hold hands as long as the button is being held — and we can't help but to speculate that some of the DualSense's haptic feedback will kick in during such moments. But at this point, that is entirely speculation on our part.

It goes without saying that the extended look we saw today was carefully crafted and meticulously edited to give us an impressive and constantly-moving look at "GTA 6." Still, we got a few looks at what seemed to be extended, unbroken gameplay footage — especially in the opening minutes — and it seemed to suggest that we won't be spending much time looking at loading screens. At multiple points, the action transitioned between cutscene and gameplay with total smoothness, with the typical brief stutters that usually accompany such moments being barely noticeable when they were present at all. 

The longest stretch of time we see any loading is when the action swaps from Lucia to Jason when they are in different points of the city, which is done exactly how it was in "GTA 5" — camera switches to above, a few quick cuts pull way out, the view shoots over to Jason's location, and it drops in on him, all within 5-6 seconds. Given all that is going on in this game at any given moment, it's amazing that the game is still able to do this is quickly as it does.

But what's more important to note is that we see a moment when there is a player control swap between the two leads when they are in the same care together, and the transition takes just a second or two before the player is right back in the action. All told, it seems like we can expect a nearly loading screen-free experience, just like in "GTA 5."