Grand Theft Auto 6 isn’t due out until May 2026, but Rockstar has sweetened the wait with a second trailer – a fast-paced mix of cutscenes and gameplay, all recorded on a PS5, according to the developer. Despite its short length (less than three minutes), the video is packed with a wealth of technical detail, including information on the resolution, frame rate, and graphics technology that will shape the game’s visual style.
Basic technical characteristics
As noted by Digital Foundry , the trailer was released in 4K at 30 frames per second with black bars creating a 20:9 aspect ratio. The video ends by confirming that the footage was recorded on a base PS5, not the more powerful PS5 Pro.
Analysis shows that the native resolution is less than 1440p, more precisely 2560×1152 (80% of 1440p vertically). The trailer uses a spatial upscaler reminiscent of AMD’s first-gen FSR, with a distinctive “bow” in fine details like text in the distance. This makes the image a bit soft, but makes it more believable that it’s running on a base PS5, given the relatively realistic details and graphical effects.
Cutscenes and Lighting
While the trailer ostensibly includes “gameplay” segments, it’s clear that most of the video is cutscenes, with only a few shots reminiscent of typical gameplay from earlier games in the series. This allows Rockstar to add additional lighting sources, much like on a movie set, to help characters, objects, and environments look their best. For example, characters’ faces are lit from the front even when the sun is behind them, as if a reflector or backlight were being used.
Ray tracing
Experts particularly note that ray tracing for global illumination (RTGI) is responsible for the realistic look of the game, which applies to both sunny scenes and more spectacular low-light scenes.
For example, when Jason drives past the police cars at the 45-second mark of the trailer, the walls next to the patrol cars reflect a realistic evening glow, and the lights from each car “bounce” into the scene, coloring the surroundings. It’s a great example of the precision of the indirect ambient lighting that gives GTA 6 such a realistic look.
The level of lighting stability is also impressive – even high-end Unreal Engine 5 games using software Lumens show visual tearing, flickering or creeping artifacts, especially on consoles. There is none of that here, which is impressive if it were to happen in a real game.
Reflections
The game also features real-time ray tracing for reflections, which is noticeable on both rough and smooth opaque surfaces. Like many other console games with reflection tracing, GTA 6 appears to use a hybrid approach, combining ray tracing with screen-space reflections, which adds extra detail to the scene but can create potential artifacts.
Where the game looks truly innovative is in its handling of reflections on partially transparent surfaces like glass, plastic, and water – something we didn’t see in the first GTA 6 trailer.
An example is 28 seconds into the trailer, where Jason is driving with his window almost completely down.
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The rest of the window reflects the beach weather outside with clouds and sky visible
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Other windows in the car have their own reflections,
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Both visible mirrors show street details
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The instrument panel is reflected on the windshield
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The view ahead appears through Jason’s sunglasses.
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Jason’s watch includes a reflection
This scene is only possible with real-time ray tracing.
Hair and skin
Another area where Rockstar has made significant strides is in character and hair rendering. Digital Foundry notes a huge jump in quality in GTA 6, with more detailed characters and especially more dynamic hair rendering.
There’s a great example at 1 minute 11 seconds into the trailer where Lucia rolls over on the bed and her hair flutters realistically.
This suggests that a strand-based system is used rather than the more traditional card-based system, allowing for a much wider variety of hair types to look natural in movement, especially curlier styles.
Skin rendering is also impressive, with excellent specular response. Sweat is particularly noticeable on certain characters, from the sweat that appears on a hostage’s forehead to Jason’s wet back and hands as he enters the house. Also notable is the secondary animation of looser clothing, giving it a more realistic look when characters walk or move their arms.
Performance and Platform Prospects
Digital Foundry experts believe that 60 fps on consoles is not worth expecting – and the second trailer only confirms this point of view.
It’s possible to imagine Rockstar adding a 60 fps mode that would still run at 30 fps during cutscenes to maintain high fidelity, but it’s hard to imagine a 60 fps mode that also includes RTGI and reflection tracing to give the game world a realistic look.
Analysts also believe that the game is likely “too big” for the Nintendo Switch 2, at least based on what is known about the T239 chip that powers Nintendo’s handheld. Even running at 30 fps and a lower internal resolution, the level of detail and processor requirements make it impossible to port to the Switch 2.
Conclusion
DF concludes that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be one of the most visually impressive (and most expensive) video games of all time, so it’s no surprise that the game’s release has been delayed until next year.
While we need to see actual gameplay and not just staged scenes, what we’ve seen so far is impressive in quality. At this point, GTA 6 looks like a remarkable technical achievement for the current console generation.
