PlayStation 5 Pro Could Trade GTA 6 Performance For 4K Resolution, As Leaked Enhanced Guidelines Point To 30 FPS Gameplay

• 0-20%: Unlikely – Lacks credible sources
• 21-40%: Questionable – Some concerns remain
• 41-60%: Plausible – Reasonable evidence
• 61-80%: Probable – Strong evidence
• 81-100%: Highly Likely – Multiple reliable sources

Grand Theft Auto VIis setting out to be one of the best-looking open-world games ever released, and last week‘s successful extended look highlighted even more how Rockstar Games is about to release a technical marvel on base consoles.

However, the developer is keeping the PlayStation 5 Pro version of the game under wraps, promising that it will talk more about it in the future. This secrecy is making more than a few fear that the game will be stuck at 30 FPS until a PC version comes out, but the tradeoff would be a proper 4K experience, judging from the recently leaked strict PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced tag guidelines.

PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced Tag Leaked Guidelines

During the latest episode of the Broken Silicon podcast, Moore’s Law is Dead leaked the precise requirements for games to get a PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced tag. These include:

• Utilization of PSSR to upscale output resolution to 2160p
• Targeting a stable frame rate of 60 FPS
• Implementing new or significantly more intense ray tracing effects

The PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced tag can also be achieved if any of the following criteria can be demonstrated:

• Increased target resolution (for games with a static resolution on base PlayStation 5)
• Increased maximum resolution target (for games with dynamic scaling on base PlayStation 5)
• Higher target frame rate (for games with a fixed frame rate cap on base PlayStation 5)
• Addition of new or higher-quality ray tracing effects

As this PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced tag is only granted to games that meet the criteria above, games that don’t increase a maximum resolution ceiling, use VRR to achieve higher frame rates without a higher base target, or that improve stability without a higher peak or mode don’t receive one.

What Does This Mean For GTA 6 On PlayStation 5 Pro?

As Grand Theft Auto VI will have a PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced tag, these guidelines leaked by Moore’s Law is Dead highlight how Rockstar Games had to perform a delicate technical balancing act to achieve it for their anticipated game. As the system’s AMD Zen 2CPU only sees a modest 10% clock speed bump over the base model, achieving a 60 FPS performance mode in a game with NPC AI, traffic systems, and complex physics running simultaneously in a massive open world is essentially impossible, as previously speculated.

“The CPU in the PS5 Pro is barely faster than the base console… if a game is completely CPU-bottlenecked at 30 FPS on base hardware, no amount of GPU power or PSSR is going to magically turn that into a stable 60 FPS,”Moore’s Law is Dead’s Tom said. Still, a 40 FPS mode could be achievable, and would warrant the game the Enhanced tag.

However, considering how Rockstar Games usually tends to push visuals further more than performance in the first iteration of most of its games, there’s a bigger chance that the developer will leverage the other criteria to obtain the PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced tag, using the system’s improved GPU over the base model to deliver a 4K experience, over the 1440p experience that seems locked for the base model, judging from the extended look footage. “What you’re paying for on the Pro with a game like this isn’t double the frame rate—it’s getting rid of that blurry dynamic resolution scaling and getting actual, high-quality ray-traced reflections and global illumination running cleanly at 4K.”

While a 60 FPS experience would always be preferable, what Rockstar Games is achieving on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S with Grand Theft Auto VI is nothing short of impressive, so much so that even 30 FPS will be fine for most players, even on PlayStation 5 Pro. As we have only seen a small slice of what the game will feature, there’s little doubt that when the PlayStation 5 Pro version will finally get detailed, it will be just as impressive as its showcase on the base system.

About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack.

After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi “Suda51” Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA’s president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3.

When he’s not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.

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