Speaking as a journalist, it feels somewhat odd to see things you say become news stories, but it sometimes happens owing to Digital Foundry’s profile. So it was last week, when the big takeaway – for many – from our PS5 Pro specs reaction was our contention that Grand Theft Auto 6 on the new machine would likely run at 60 frames per second. Of course, there are caveats to that particular statement, and we spend some time in DF Direct Weekly #155 discussing it.
The whole PS5 Pro/GTA 6 discussion began when the mooted release date for the new Sony machine seemed to position it as the most performant hardware on the market for running Rockstar’s next generation blockbuster. Assuming PS5 Pro arrives later on this year, it’s an entirely logical supposition, bearing in mind that Rockstar’s current release date sees the game arriving in 2025. Rockstar may elect not support PS5 Pro, but the balance of probabilities suggests it will.
From there, the question moves onto how the enhanced console is improved over the standard one: what it was designed for, what specifications it has, and how the extra resources may be used in an open-world game like GTA 6. And here’s where we can make some fairly confident predictions, because even more so than PS4 Pro and Xbox One X before it, PS5 Pro has what you might describe as a somewhat lop-sided balance between CPU and GPU enhancements.
However, before we go any further, there’s one gigantic caveat: the first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer launched as a 30 frames per second video. All prior GTA console titles going back to the first 3D offering, Grand Theft Auto 3, have targeted 30fps (and often fall short, depending on load). The Red Dead Redemption titles have also run at 30fps on their original host platforms. However, until Rockstar says so, the chance of a 60fps mode in GTA 6 cannot be ruled out.
0:00:00 Introduction0:00:44 News 01: Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra stuns in debut trailer0:18:56 News 02: AMD announces FSR 3.10:30:52 News 03: Latest PS VR2 update enables PC access0:40:37 News 04: Could GTA 6 hit 60 FPS on PS5 Pro?0:57:46 News 05: Covert Protocol demo shows off AI characters1:10:17 News 06: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gets new graphics options1:16:05 Supporter Q1: What should Microsoft and Sony do to differentiate their next-gen hardware?1:36:44 Supporter Q2: Why isn’t Microsoft making more out of their consoles’ machine learning capabilities?1:43:09 Supporter Q3: Should Sony invest in frame generation? Does PSSR suggest a lack of faith in AMD’s upscaling tech?1:49:24 Supporter Q4: Could backwards compatibility actually hold back Switch 2?
Therefore, it stands to reason that the new game does have a 60fps mode on existing consoles, it follows that GTA 6 will also have it on PS5 Pro – and it may deliver a more stable 60fps, by virtue of both its faster CPU and GPU. However, and this is the point we are making, if the consoles are running at 30fps, as seen in the trailer, the chances of the game having a 60fps mode on PS5 Pro are remote.