GTA V, GTA Online PS5, Xbox Review: Next-Gen Gameplay Impressions and Videos

It's a testament to Grand Theft Auto V as one of the best games of all time that the next-generation upgrade from Rockstar Games is a chance for players to triple-dip while also being perhaps the best edition of the game ever for new players.

Originally released in 2013 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the tale of Michael, Franklin and Trevor—and arguably the best city-as-a-character—returns again harnessing the power of next-generation consoles on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

While it might be easy to wave this release off as a formality and potentially not even worth the investment, that's simply not the case, especially on PlayStation 5 thanks to some creative work with features unique to the system.

GTA V and GTA Online have never looked or played better, exceeding expectations.

Graphics and Gameplay

It was easy to wait with bated breath and hope GTA V didn't look too dated or unimpressive with a second console remaster as it enters its third generation of systems.

Yet it somehow blows expectations out of the water.

This version of the game is simply a stunner. Some of it has to do with the reworked lighting system (Raytracing or otherwise) that will have even PC players who already enjoyed it at max settings on a solid-state drive with zippy load times impressed.

But as a whole, GTA V feels brighter and more detailed than ever. The NPCs out in the open world are maybe the only thing that feels overly dated when looking at their mannerisms or getting close to them. Otherwise, the game, on an immersive level, manages to match pretty much any release out there.

Maybe this shouldn't be so shocking. Even non-next-generation versions of this game rank among the most immersive open worlds ever. Los Santos and its distinct districts and overall character don't have an equal. Even recent big open-world offerings like Cyberpunk 2077 don't match its character, diversity or depth.

The same glowing praise doesn't necessarily apply to the actual gameplay. Combat, specifically, still feels clunky and outdated, which only gets worse by the year as the rest of the industry moves forward in these areas. But at this point, that's almost part of the Rockstar charm (many players weren't thrilled with Red Dead 2's control schemes or gameplay pacing, remember?) and bringing proper expectations into this release makes it almost a moot point—the game came out in 2013, after all.

While it's a little disappointing to see more headway wasn't made in this area, we on the outside also can't know how big of an undertaking it would have been to completely revamp the lock-on system and controls, if possible at all.

It's also blatantly clear much of the energy went into the DualSense haptic feedback on the PlayStation 5.

The work on this front is phenomenal and perhaps the best application of it we've seen to date. Seemingly everything has some impact on the controller's feel. Raindrops and wind rattle the controller. Directional feedback emulates what's happening on the screens—the left side of the controller vibrates when a car zips past the player character's left side, for example. Inching toward a speaker in a club intensifies the vibrations realistically, too.

One more thing about the controller on PS5: It lights up red and blue when a player earns a wanted level and shifts between blue, green and orange depending on which protagonist it controls. Smooth.

GTA Online, Next-Gen Features and more

Michael, Franklin and Trevor's story don't change here, for what it's worth. The memorable, shocking or otherwise moments that have become viral sensations remain intact—it just looks better and has been brought up to impressive modern performance standards. For those getting to experience it for the first time, a tip of the cap.

The story, its ability to weave multiple protagonists into meaningful gameplay moments, set pieces, length and risks were all ahead of their time, and not only do they feel great today, but they continue to set the bar that other games attempt to reach.

GTA Online is the more interesting talking point given how it has evolved with continued support over the years, effectively paving the way for the live-service gaming trend.

GTAO gets a revamped menu system that lets the player quickly dive into certain activities. This is a very, very good thing—GTAO vets know all too well how clunky it was to click through menus or attempt to find certain activities reliably in the past.

The new menus are just a preview of the game's efforts to make the new-player experience friendlier. Upon initial boot, new players now get to partake in a career builder, which walks players through segments of what GTAO has to offer. That, plus $4 million to funnel into a business and getting to choose from executive, nightclub owner, gunrunner or biker career paths.

In past versions of GTAO, the game merely dropped a new player on the street with a handful of dollars, a pistol and a barrage of messages but no real direction on what to do. Depending on the server, they were probably promptly mowed down violently by other players, to boot.

Most important in the quality of life update for GTAO, though, besides the obvious bump in framerates and resolution, is the quickened load times. In the past, players spent an unhealthy amount of their lives looking at the clouds in a loading screen—we're talking go-do-some-household-chores-loading-times, folks—and that's thankfully no longer the case.

There's still a huge barrier of entry here, perhaps more so than any other similar offering in, say, the MMO realm. But there is also a litany of reasons as to why the mode has thrived for as long as it has, spawning inadequate imitators left and right: It's just plain fun.

Getting multiple businesses up and running, laundering money and buying properties all over Los Santos while gradually progressing is just pure enjoyment and a gargantuan timesink, mostly of the positive variety.

On the technical side, this offering leans into the power of new consoles well. Performance bumps to 60 frames per second and the resolution to a native 4K. Players have to pick between the two, but both look and run great, which isn't too shocking considering even backward-compatible versions of the last-generation games were running at 30 FPS and 1080p.

Luckily for returning players, story and GTAO progress migration is a pretty seamless experience and even comes with some exclusive bonuses—a nice capper on what is a pretty technically-sound upgrade to an already-classic package.

Conclusion

It's staggering to think that Los Santos first stood out as an open world at a time when open worlds were pretty rare. Now they feel like one of the most common checklist items in every big release—yet Los Santos still stands above them all so many years later.

So it's nice to see that this beloved locale got treated with the care and attention it deserves and the overall offering isn't some half-hearted effort to funnel more players into GTAO on new consoles.

Granted, it does that very, very well because of the revamped onboarding process. And more than a few players—either those who swore to never touch it or complete newcomers—will surely dive into GTAO and quickly fall in love after these changes.

But as a whole, this is easily the best way to experience GTA V, it's worth a look even for players with hundreds of hours in past editions, and it's a great example of how to bring a classic forward to next-generation systems where old and new players await.