While Rockstar Games has confirmed that we may be waiting until May 2026 for the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, they’ve stoked our excitement with the drop of Trailer 2. Clocking in at under three minutes, this new teaser is a stunning showcase of thrilling cutscenes and snippets of gameplay, filled with tantalizing hints about the game’s technical capabilities. With details about resolution, frame rates, and graphical innovations, it offers a captivating glimpse into what players can expect.
Let’s dive into the specifics: the trailer was presented in a striking 4K at 30fps with black bars, resulting in an unconventional 20:9 aspect ratio. A note at the end confirms the footage was captured on a standard PS5 rather than the more powerful PS5 Pro. The internal resolution stands at 1440p, or 2560×1152 to be precise – that’s 80% of 1440p on the vertical axis. The usage of a spatial upscaler, reminiscent of AMD’s first-gen FSR, is evident in the soft details like distant text. This choice hints at a clever balancing act between maintaining a realistic visual quality while ensuring the game can run smoothly on the base PS5, although the immersion from the cutscenes suggests we may not see the same level of detail during actual gameplay.
Interestingly, although the trailer claims to showcase “gameplay,” most of it features cinematic moments rather than typical gameplay sequences seen in earlier GTA titles. This allows Rockstar to enhance lighting effects as one would on a movie set, ensuring every character and environment gleams at its best. Just observe how character faces are brightly illuminated even when the sun is behind them — it’s fantastic attention to detail! However, the challenge remains: can we expect the same stunning visuals during regular gameplay moments, or is the disparity between scripted scenes and freeform exploration wider than we’d like?
One cannot overlook the stellar visuals brought by ray-traced global illumination (RTGI), lending a lifelike quality to both bold Floridian landscapes and more atmospheric, low-light environments. A scene that illustrates this occurs around 45 seconds into the trailer, where the protagonists zoom past police cars. You can see a realistic evening glow reflecting on nearby walls, adding to the scene’s authenticity. This technique exemplifies the potential of how indirect diffuse lighting can breathe life into virtual worlds, yet again, the question arises: will this richness translate into genuine gameplay?
Another fascinating aspect is the temporal stability of the lighting effects; many high-end games using Unreal Engine 5 often grapple with flickering and visual inconsistencies, especially on consoles. However, Trailer 2 resoundingly avoids these pitfalls—if such stability carries over to the full game, it speaks volumes about Rockstar’s technical prowess.
GTA 6 also boasts real-time ray-traced reflections that grace both rough and smooth surfaces. Similar to other console games, it appears the game employs a hybrid method combining RT with screen-space reflections to enrich scenes, albeit at the risk of some visual artifacts. Yet where this title shines is in the handling of reflections on partially transparent surfaces like glass and water. Unlike the initial teaser from over 500 days ago, Trailer 2 showcases this feature prominently.
Consider the scene at 28 seconds, where protagonist Jason drives with his window down. The glass reflects the sunny beach outside, complete with clouds and blue skies, alongside reflections from other vehicle windows and even the dashboard in his windshield. This level of detail, made possible by real-time ray tracing, sets a new benchmark for realistic graphics in gaming, eschewing the simplified approaches often employed in console games.
While real-time RTGI and reflections dazzle, shadows appear to be managed using a more conventional shadow mapping technique. This is evident at 1:42, where shadows cast by drawer handles seem unaligned, a common occurrence in many games. Although the shadows might exhibit some aliasing, they’re often well-filtered, making this choice sensible given the extensive use of ray tracing.
Moreover, Rockstar’s commitment to pushing boundaries is clear in the character and hair rendering. The leap in quality between GTA 6 and its predecessors is staggering. At one minute eleven seconds, Lucia’s dynamic hair movement as she rolls on the bed is notably lifelike. This implies a strand-based hair system is in play, which enhances the realism of various hair types, particularly curly styles in motion.
Throughout the trailer, intelligent optimizations become apparent, particularly in hair rendering. For example, Jason’s hair appears rendered at lower resolution compared to his facial features; this makes sense to manage performance demands while still achieving a high-quality look. It will be fascinating to see if Rockstar continues to implement such strategies to ensure smooth gameplay when numerous characters populate the scene.
The skin rendering is equally impressive, showcasing details such as beads of sweat on characters that amplify the realism. From a hostage’s tense brow to Jason’s wet back and arms, these features bring the world to life. Even minor details like the arm hair add to the overall richness of character design, especially for those dreaming of an optional first-person perspective.
With such extraordinary fidelity showcased in the new trailer, speculation about a potential 60fps mode on console arises but remains a contentious topic. Initial thoughts suggested this might be unlikely, as Trailer 2 reinforces that viewpoint.
We can envision a scenario where Rockstar introduces a 60fps mode while allowing cutscenes to run at 30fps for better fidelity, but to integrate RTGI and RT reflections at 60fps would require an incredible transformation of the visual framework, almost akin to an entirely different game. This would likely necessitate a compromise on internal resolution, which is something that the current graphics technology does not appear ready to sacrifice. Considering the open-world dynamics and their CPU demands, maintaining 60fps might be an unrealistic goal for today’s consoles.
This limitation might also spell trouble for a potential Switch 2 port, especially given the specifications of the T239 chip it is based on. Even at reduced settings, the game’s fidelity seems too demanding for the handheld. Current-generation handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally X would also struggle to run it satisfactorily, although with advancements in technology, more powerful handhelds could emerge by the time an unannounced PC version becomes available.
Ultimately, Grand Theft Auto 6 appears poised to take its place as one of the most visually stunning and costly video games ever created. As we await further updates, it will be intriguing to see what additional gameplay footage is released—will it focus more on exploratory gameplay than scripted scenes? For now, the glimpses we’ve been granted highlight an extraordinary level of detail, positioning GTA 6 as a potentially groundbreaking achievement in the gaming industry.
