GTA 6 will struggle to reach 60FPS on the upcoming $700 PS5 Pro according to an expert in this field. Sony unveiled their mid-generation upgrade this week after many, many months of leaks. However, the gaming community’s response to it has been fairly negative.
The two main reasons why the PS5 Pro has had such a frosty reception are the $700 price point and how it does not really seem to do that much for the cost. That lack of improved performance in a certain area is the reason why this expert analyst believes 60FPS is off the table currently for GTA VI.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is being touted by some fans as the reason to upgrade to a PS5 Pro though. They are under the belief GTA VI will run at 30FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S whereas it will hit 60FPS on PS5 Pro. Is $700 worth 60FPS in GTA VI? That’s a question gamers are currently asking themselves and will continue to do so.
Voice of Reason
The expert in question is Richard Leadbetter of Digital Foundry. He is well-known for his fair, technical analysis and credible reporting. He did a fantastic deep-dive write up into the PS5 Pro’s reveal. Based on the public and private specs of the PS5 Pro, he said “I still expect GTA6 to be a 30fps game barring some kind of technological miracle and there’s no enabling technology in PS5 Pro to change that.”
As briefly mentioned earlier, the PS5 Pro has been long rumoured/leaked. One of the leaks about its specs and performance came from Leadbetter himself. He saw documents by Sony on the PS5 Pro and confirmed the specs of the new console back in March. Based on that info, he spoke on how “unless there’s some magical CPU stuff being done by Rockstar” GTA VI won’t achieve 60FPS on PS5.
Why GTA VI at 60FPS Probably Won’t Happen
Leadbetter has now spoken with IGN regarding the topic following the PS5 Pro’s reveal. The outlet asked him if 60FPS is a realistic target for GTA VI on PS5 and he responded with “No. Grand Theft Auto games have always run complex simulations that push the CPU hard, which is why every GTA game has initially launched on their target platforms at 30fps (or lower!).”
Adding to that, the head of Digital Foundry explained “The PS5 Pro uses the same CPU as the PS5 and it would be extremely challenging to hit 60fps if the base PS5 version is targeting 30fps. This isn’t a GPU problem, it’s a CPU problem. Of course, all bets are off if Rockstar is targeting 60fps on the standard PS5 – but we’ve seen no evidence so far to suggest it is.”
What PS5 Pro Will Do For GTA VI
If you’re looking for enhanced graphics, sure, it will look better on PS5 Pro. As Mr Leadbetter states, “the new PS5 Pro will be more than capable of delivering what we saw” in the GTA VI trailer. “I think there’s good evidence to suggest that the [GTA 6 trailer from last year] was running on either PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. As such, the impressive level of graphical detail seen in that trailer should be achievable using the power of the original 2020 model PlayStation 5.” Leadbetter told IGN.
He expert continued saying “What you will get will be higher quality visuals, but likely still running at similar frame-rates [to the standard PS5]. If GTA 6 can’t sustain a locked 30fps (GTA 4 and GTA 5 couldn’t on PS3 and Xbox 360), PS5 Pro can run the CPU with a 10 percent bump to clock speeds – so you may get more stable performance.”
The State of Play
Given it has been nearly a year since Rockstar Games last showed us anything GTA VI, some fans were hoping or even excepting the to be at PlayStation’s PS5 Pro presentation. It would have been the biggest title to show off its capabilities.
Instead, Sony only had their own (and even last gen) games running on PS5 Pro plus a few third party titles. Despite Rockstar’s relationship with PlayStation and marketing contracts, Grand Theft Auto VI was never going to be shown off at a Sony event but rather by Rockstar in their own time.
In other GTA 6 news, a rumour took social media by storm last week. It claimed the game had been delayed to 2026. However, that was cleared up here. Also Rockstar Games reportedly offered $7500 to the writers of a song. One of those writers took to Twitter to share his frustration with the offer. Rockstar rejected his counter-offer. You can learn more about the situation here.
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2 Comments
I’m quite happy sticking with my new PS5 slim & getting myself a 4k monitor, later this year, thanks.
What is your source?