The PlayStation 5 Pro was supposed to be where Grand Theft Auto VI looked its absolute best and to be honest, it probably still will be the best platform for GTA 6 until the next generation comes along. For months, Pro owners expected the extra power to buy a smoother frame rate or fuller ray tracing. Now that Rockstar Games has confirmed the game's Pro enhancements, the reality is more modest than the hype.
The expectations were reasonable. The PS5 Pro is Sony's premium console, built to push frame rates and visuals past the base machine, so fans hoped GTA VI might get a 60 fps mode, or at least a 40 fps option, along with richer ray tracing like reflections or global illumination. For a flagship game on flagship hardware, a real performance leap felt fair to expect. Unfortunately, GTA VI will only target 30 fps on every console at launch, including the PS5 Pro. There is no frame-rate gain at all. The main advantage of playing GTA 6 on the PS5 Pro is image quality, specifically PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution for a cleaner picture and ray-traced shadows the base PS5 does not get.
There is no 60 fps mode, no 40 fps option and no performance toggle, a ceiling we had already flagged when experts doubted a 60 fps Pro build.
Breaking Down GTA 6 on PS5 Pro
Feature | What fans expected | What the Pro got |
|---|---|---|
Frame rate | A 60 fps mode, or at least 40 fps | 30 fps, same as base PS5 |
Ray tracing | Reflections or global illumination | Ray-traced shadows only |
Upscaling | PSSR for a cleaner 4K image | PSSR for a cleaner image |
Performance mode | A fidelity-or-performance toggle | None |
THe PS5 Pro delivers on better image quality and clarity for GTA 6, not the frame-rate boost many had hoped for.
Before you get your pitchforks out, the gap is not Rockstar dropping the ball. The reason is the CPU, which the PS5 Pro barely improves over the base PS5. GTA VI is a CPU-hungry game with its dense traffic, crowds and simulation, and we covered those hardware limits long before launch. Spending the extra power on a sharper, better-lit 30 fps is the technically sensible call, even if it is not the dream many PS5 Pro owners had.
The mismatch matters most if you were or had bought a PS5 Pro for GTA VI. At around $900 following the latest price increase, the PS5 Pro is asking flagship money for clarity rather than performance. The base PS5 runs the same 30 fps game without the extras, an Xbox Series X plays it natively and even an Xbox One can stream it through Xbox Cloud Gaming. Not a single version of GTA 6 on any platform is missing the game, only the extra glitter and gloss that you get by playing on a PS5 Pro.
Is the PS5 Pro worth it to make Leonida look prettier on your TV or gaming monitor? That's completely up to you to judge. However, based on what's confirmed after Rockstar's latest announcement, the better-performing version of GTA 6 won't come until the PC version launches.
If you are buying any console for the launch this late, the usual prep applies. Our launch-day checklist covers storage and the pre-load. It's worth noting that Rockstar region-locks the PS5 code-in-box by account country while Xbox codes are not, so you might want to keep that in mind if you're shopping for the cheapest copy of GTA 6.
Ultimately, for anyone who had already wanted or budgeted for a PS5 Pro, the upgrades are a welcome bonus. For anyone who hoped it would transform how GTA VI plays, the straightforward answer is that it doesn't. The most ambitious title in years still runs at 30 fps on the PS5, Xbox Series S/X and even the Xbox One.