GTA 6 Next-Gen Visual Upgrades Have Gamers Seriously Hyped

On Reddit, fans who are looking forward to Grand Theft Auto 6 are reconciling with the fact that Grand Theft Auto 5 is nearly 13 years old, and was originally released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 console generation. This realization is only punctuated further by how spectacular Grand Theft Auto 6 apparently looks on current-generation console hardware.

It’s Been A While Since GTA 5

This Reddit thread is a reflection of another social media post that compared an image of Grand Theft Auto 5 with an image of Grand Theft Auto 6, with a caption that reads, “GTA 5 looks like an Xbox 360 game when compared to GTA 6,” with the Reddit post hilariously captioned, “well who’s gonna tell him.” Whether the original post was intending to be sarcastic or not, it is amusing and insightful all the same.

User PhireKappa, for example, has taken this opportunity to reminisce on how long it has been since Grand Theft Auto 5 was released: “I was 11 when it came out and my dad took me to get it for my Xbox 360 […] Now I’m 23 and will be 24 (or older…) when GTA VI releases, old enough to buy it for myself.”

GTA 6 Looks Like A Proper Next-Gen Game

Graphics have come a long way since the Xbox 360 era, and that has never been more obvious than when comparing Grand Theft Auto 5 with its upcoming sequel, particularly via Grand Theft Auto 6’s cinematic trailers. This is no different than comparing Red Dead Redemption 2 to the first Red Dead Redemption game, similar to how jarring it is to compare The Last of Us Part 2 to the first Last of Us game, or Uncharted: A Thief’s End to Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

There was an enormous leap in terms of graphical fidelity between the PS3 and PS4 eras, and Grand Theft Auto 6 will hopefully milk the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S for all they are worth, especially if it will not be available on PC at launch. Either way, Grand Theft Auto 6 is a testament to how well graphics have been improved in the last decade or so.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is scheduled to be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19, 2026.