GTA 6 won’t hit 60fps on PS5 and Xbox Series X, according to tech experts – but what about PS5 Pro?
It looks like GTA 6 will target 30fps on current-gen consoles
🤔 Digital Foundry suggests that GTA 6 will likely target 30fps on current-gen consoles rather than 60fps, due to the game’s heavy simulation and ray tracing
😢 The high level of detail seen in trailers and footage makes scaling down to a 60fps mode extremely difficult for current hardware
📈 While rumors persist about potential PS5 Pro enhancements, experts believe the console will offer higher resolution and smoother frame rates, not necessarily a 60fps jump
📅 Despite uncertainty regarding technical performance, GTA 6 is highly anticipated and is set to release on November 19, 2026
GTA 6 is almost here, and while many have secured their pre-order for one of the most-anticipated games of all time, we still don’t know how the game will run on PS5 and Xbox Series X (though Sony’s marketing campaign says GTA 6 ‘plays best’ on PS5).
There has been speculation that GTA 6 will feature the usual Quality and Performance modes we expect this generation, allowing players to choose from a higher resolution and more graphical settings at 30fps, or smoother performance at 60fps at the expense of visuals.
However, according to Digital Foundry, the dreams of GTA 6 running at 60fps are just that: dreams. In their opinion, because GTA 6 is a heavily simulation-focused title, pushing significant ray tracing effects set in a huge open world, it’s highly unlikely that Grand Theft Auto 6 will hit that coveted 60fps mark.
Digital Foundry also highlights that the level of detail we’ve seen in the trailers, pre-order screenshots, and more recent footage would be extremely challenging to scale down in a way that would enable a 60fps mode.
GTA 6 PS5 Pro enhancements were shared by a Brazilian Amazon listing, which fueled a debate that Sony’s more powerful console could hit 60fps. However, Digital Foundry believes that the listing only suggests that the PlayStation Pro 5 will run at a higher resolution and smoother frame rates – not necessarily higher ones.
Historically, Grand Theft Auto titles, and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption series, have always launched at 30fps on consoles. We’ve seen those frame rates bump up when a new generation of consoles arrives or if the game is ported to PC. GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 all benefited from being re-released on more powerful hardware.
As it stands, we still haven’t seen any actual gameplay footage, despite the game releasing in only a few months’ time. That hasn’t stopped millions from pre-ordering GTA 6, and it’s likely to break many records when it does finally release on November 19, 2026.
Up next: GTA 6 could come to Nintendo Switch 2 next year
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.