I've spent the best part of two decades writing about graphic design, 3D animation and VFX. So when I say GTA 6's graphics have stopped me in my tracks, that's not hyperbole; that's a genuine, near-emotional response.
The in-game screenshots Rockstar has released so far – which they say are equal parts gameplay and cutscenes – have the kind of lighting and texture work I'd expect from a Hollywood movie. It all looks like a fantastic achievement.
So it probably says more about me than it does about the talented people at Rockstar Games to admit… I'm a little worried. Not because more realistic graphics are bad. But because chasing them has consequences for gameplay, for access, and more generally, for the whole vibe of the experience.
The vibe problem
For the uninitiated, Grand Theft Auto is Rockstar's long-running open-world crime series, where you're dropped into a sprawling city to work through story missions, while causing as much or as little mayhem as you fancy along the way. Crucially, it's always traded on a heady mix of satire and chaos.
You can survive a rocket blast, steal a police car, cause absolute carnage, then walk into a diner for a burger. That tonal whiplash works in earlier versions because the world looks like a game. In other words, it's stylised enough that your brain accepts the cartoon logic underneath it.
Push the visuals towards realism, though, and I fear that contract will start to wobble. A realistic character getting mown down by a car evokes a different emotional reaction to a stylised one; a step away from "comic book chaos" towards something more disturbing. Will that kill the fun vibe of GTA? I guess we'll have to wait and see, but it gives me an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
The frame-rate problem
Vibes aside, there's also a more practical question of how smoothly the game will run. Rockstar has confirmed the game will play best on the PS5, but has stayed quiet so far on the issue of performance. And reporting from various sources suggests a 60fps performance mode is looking unlikely.
My biggest fear? The bottleneck won't be the graphics card but the CPU. Dense NPC crowds, live traffic and environmental simulation are notoriously hard to speed up, however much horsepower you throw at the rendering side. With that in mind, 30fps or possibly 40fps mode looks the more realistic outcome, even on the advanced PS5 Pro.
In case I'm losing you here, let me put things in simple terms. At 30fps, the picture updates half as often as it does at 60fps, so fast movement, quick turns and busy action can look and feel less smooth. Driving at speed or getting into a shootout is where you'll notice this most: the game will still play fine, but it may not feel as sharp or responsive as something running at 60fps.
On a related point, the more demanding the visuals, the narrower the number of people who can enjoy them properly. Xbox Series S owners are already braced for compromises, and when GTA 6 eventually reaches PC, running it at anything like its best settings will probably need a very expensive graphics card.
The cost problem
Finally, I'm worried about what this will all mean for the cost of gaming as a whole. Rockstar has already confirmed pricing alongside pre-orders, with the standalone Ultimate Edition set at $100 / £90.
That's a figure well above what most of us are used to paying for a new release. But when the biggest publisher in the industry sets a new price ceiling, others tend to follow, and this starts to look like the new normal.
I hope I'm wrong
Ultimately, I hope I'm wrong. GTA 6 will, almost certainly, be an incredible game. And I should add that no one knows for certain that its graphics will be very realistic: that's merely speculation based on a couple of trailers and some screenshots. It's speculation being made by a lot of commentators right now, but that doesn't, of course, make it fact.
Either way, I'll be first in the queue to find out.
