{"id":659780,"date":"2026-06-26T18:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/659780\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T18:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T18:23:13","slug":"gta-6-screenshots-unlikely-to-be-running-real-time-on-ps5-tech-experts-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/659780\/","title":{"rendered":"GTA 6 Screenshots Unlikely to Be Running Real-Time on PS5, Tech Experts Warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GTA<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been in the gaming enthusiast arena for a long time, you\u2019ll be familiar with the phrase \u2018bullshots\u2019.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t hear it very often anymore \u2013 I did a quick search through the Push Square<\/a> archives, and I haven\u2019t used it in a headline<\/a> since 2016 \u2013 but for those who don\u2019t know it basically refers to screenshots that have been \u201ctouched up\u201d after the fact.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d see this a lot during the PS3 era, when devs would render out images of their games at much higher resolutions, obscuring the aliasing and inconsistencies of the real-world product.<\/p>\n

And tech experts Digital Foundry<\/a> hypothesise that Rockstar may be doing a little of that with its latest round of GTA 6 screenshots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what it says exactly:<\/p>\n

\u201cWith such a high level of fidelity on show, then, a question still dangles over which platform is actually being used to generate these shots. To be clear, we find it unlikely that these are real-time results on PS5, Xbox Series X \u2013 or in the best case on console, PS5 Pro. We\u2019d like to be pleasantly surprised of course, and this will be firmly answered once it releases. However in many instances the combination of pristine image quality, suggesting a native 4K render (or higher), and inconsistent lighting on foreground characters casts doubt over how feasible it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big takeaway from its analysis is the cutting-edge ray tracing that\u2019s being used in each image, which gives the scenes a level of depth seldom seen in most console games.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s something I spotted poring over the pictures as well: there\u2019s a density to puddles, windows, and reflective surfaces that goes far beyond the standard screen-space reflections (SSR) you see in most other games.<\/p>\n

While I won\u2019t get too giddy with explaining the technology here, SSR works by \u201creflecting\u201d details already seen on the screen. This can lead to some strange pop-in and inaccuracies, as in the real-world surfaces often reflect things you can\u2019t see, right?<\/p>\n

\"GTA<\/a>\"GTA<\/a><\/p>\n

Obviously ray tracing resolves this issue by simulating the way light bounces off materials, meaning there are details you can see in GTA 6\u2019s reflections which are obscured by other objects.<\/p>\n

In terms of consoles, there\u2019s simply no doubt that the PS5 Pro will be best positioned to deal with this complicated technology, but I\u2019d share Digital Foundry\u2019s scepticism that there\u2019ll likely be cutbacks in the final product across all systems.<\/p>\n

Either way, until Rockstar shows more, this is something worth keeping in mind.<\/p>\n

[source digitalfoundry.net<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\tRelated Games<\/p>\n

\tSee Also<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve been in the gaming enthusiast arena for a long time, you\u2019ll be familiar with the phrase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,1176,1175,112,762,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-659780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-grand-theft-auto","tag-gta","tag-ps5","tag-rockstar-games","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}