Fans Are Marvelling At How Much Better GTA 6 Looks Compared To GTA 5 - Kotaku

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Is Rockstar Games' much-anticipated GTA 6 the best thing since sliced bread, or just GTA 5 with a new coat of paint?

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Grand Theft Auto VI GTA 5 Rockstar Games

By Lewis Parker Published August 30, 2026 | Comments (7) | 𝕏

Gta CompariOSns — NikTek / Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 6 is almost, finally–for real this time–actually close to releasing, and the extended Netflix showcase on August 27 (paired with the leaks) has reduced the already excited fanbase into hysteria.

However, the extended reveal has expectedly resulted in fans comparing GTA 6 to its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto 5. For the most part, fans seem to be thrilled with all the side-by-side comparisons that are floating around on X, such as the one below comparing GTA 6’s Jason and GTA 5’s Michael diving into the ocean.

Diving in water

Grand Theft Auto 6 VS Grand Theft Auto 5 side by side comparison pic.twitter.com/olE0GQjiae

— NikTek (@NikTek) August 28, 2026

Of course, as is to be expected with X posts these days, there are some naysayers, as a few fans seem to think that the diving animation looks better in GTA 5. I kind of see what they’re getting at, as the physics of Jason’s backflip animation do potentially look a little unrealistic, but that’s the trade-off for going for a more bombastic animation.

This is old news at this point, considering this was confirmed in the August 25 leak, but the improvements to both crowd density and draw distance in GTA 6 seem to be impressing GTA 5 fans the most. For instance, this parachuting clip comparing the quality of the skylines in both games feels like the best example of how far we’ve come since GTA 5 released in 2013. Sure, the draw distance quality in GTA 6 might have come at the cost of the game being locked to 30 FPS at launch, but it’s still impressive.

GTA 5 vs. GTA 6 – Parachuting Animation 🪂

Upgrade or Downgrade? pic.twitter.com/b4vIWr59JJ

— ENXGMA (@EnxgmaGTA) August 27, 2026

That being said, the character models are where the graphical improvements seem to really shine through. A user named Noru122 on Reddit has been attempting to recreate promo images of GTA 6 in GTA 5 every time Rockstar Games has dropped a new trailer, and while it’s not an entirely fair comparison, considering the GTA 6 images have been carefully produced as part of a very expensive advertising campaign, it’s still wild seeing some of these side-by-side.

GTA VI Screenshots recreated in GTA V (Part 3)
byu/Noru122 inGTA6

But if you wanted a fairer comparison, look no further than the two images below.

La primera comparación directa entre GTA 5 (Online) y GTA 6

Son el mismo personaje. https://t.co/58HAeS2uc0

— Skynex (@skynexito) August 27, 2026

“GTA 6 luce como GTA 5 pero con mejor iluminación”

GTA 5 🆚 GTA 6 pic.twitter.com/QVlyeyH5M8

— elchinyto 🍥 (@elchinyto_tech) August 28, 2026

It’s night and day when you compare Grand Theft Auto Online’s NPC Valentina to GTA 6’s version of the same character. And for those of you who haven’t played GTA Online, Valentina wasn’t present in the original release of the game in 2013–she was introduced in the Money Fronts update in June 2025.

Lighting also seems to be a big focus for GTA 6, and I think no other comparison better displays that than the one below.

GTA 6 vs GTA 5:

The difference at night is crazy. pic.twitter.com/kPUfxSr7tz

— GTA 6 Updates (@gtasix_) August 28, 2026

Even taking into account the “high resolution ray traced reflections” enhancements that were added to GTA 5 following the PC release of Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced in 2025, the game’s lighting effects do not look anywhere as good as GTA 6 does at night.

Nobody needs to be glazed less than Rockstar Games, but I’ll be the first to admit that the developers are literal wizards if that’s a genuine representation of what the game ends up looking like on a standard, launch-edition PS5.