Fans of “Grand Theft Auto VI” are chomping at the bit as they eagerly wait for the game‘s November 19 release date, but some recent news may have PlayStation 5 Pro fans a little more excited than others. As fans across the globe get ready to prep their systems for the “Grand Theft Auto 6” installation, Rockstar has announced that PS5 Pro users will be getting access to shadow ray tracing, something other systems will be lacking. Notably, PS5 users also get some additional extras.
Spotted in a Rockstar press release, “GTA 6” will target 30 frames per second across all available systems, whereas only the PlayStation 5 Pro will be getting ray-traced shadows. Rockstar also noted the PlayStation 5 Pro will have “improved clarity through PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR)” — essentially Sony’s AI-upscaling tool, which uses machine learning to improve the resolution of images.
For Xbox fans, Xbox One owners will be able to play GTA 6 on launch day, by streaming it through Xbox Cloud Gaming, though the game will be running on Xbox Series S graphic settings. “GTA VI” will also be available on Xbox Cloud Gaming through the Xbox Series X, S, and Xbox One. Additionally, those who have pre-ordered the game digitally on any system can now begin pre-loading it. With some arguing that the Xbox Series S will be one of the worst ways to play the game due to its inferior specs to other consoles, PlayStation fans may be getting a slight edge.
Will GTA 6 have ray tracing on PS5?
According to Rockstar, only the PlayStation 5 Pro version of “Grand Theft Auto VI” will support shadow ray tracing. For those unfamiliar, ray tracing essentially provides better details in shadows, as it creates a simulation of how light typically behaves in a real-world environment. Rockstar didn’t mention why other consoles weren’t getting the feature, but the company did state that it was “pushing both platforms to their absolute limits” in reference to Xbox and PlayStation.
Though ray-traced shadows will only be available on the PlayStation 5 Pro, Sony fans are getting access to some additional extras for “GTA VI.” This includes “high-fidelity” haptic feedback that can be adjusted through the game’s accessibility settings. Rockstar is also tapping into Tempest 3D Audio to provide more refined spatial audio rendering. We don’t want to say for certain which system will offer the best experience, but Rockstar certainly seems excited for PS5 owners, saying the game will “play best on PlayStation 5 consoles.”
With “Grand Theft Auto VI” being over a decade in the making, it will be interesting to see the impact the actual release has. At the start of November, Sony was offering to purchase used PS5 consoles off users through Back Market to gear up for the release of the game, and there were reports that the game’s launch was going to cost the U.S. economy $1 billion in lost productivity due to the sheer number of people skipping work to play it on release day. Fortune, however, has since given this rumor a fresh dose of reality. Nonetheless, November 19 likely can’t come soon enough for many.
