Even if the PS5 Pro GTA 6 rumors are true, I'm not buying one

Digital Trends

2 days ago

If I had a nickel for every GTA 6 leak and rumor, I could afford a PS5 Pro. But I don't, so I can't. We're finally in the home stretch before release and all this madness can end, but now that we've started to see real footage of the game, the focus has started to shift to performance. The trailers were running on base PS5 models, and from a graphical standpoint look about as impressive as a game with this much time and money dumped into it should. While the visuals, scale, and promise of a bigger and better GTA Online is enough to ensure GTA 6 breaks every sales record imaginable on release — in fact, RockStar could probably sell an empty box with GTA 6 on the cover and outsell every other game this generation — but there's a lot of concern around the net about how the game will run.
The most widespread rumor right now is that GTA 6 will only run at 60 FPS on the $700 PS5 Pro, with the implication being that the base PS5 and Xbox Series X will only hit 30. I have my doubts about this claim as a whole, but even if I took it as truth, it isn't enough to convince me to plunk down all that cash on a Pro.
GTA 60FPS
To make sure we're all on the same page, this rumor stems from DetectiveSeeds on X. They posted, in part, 'GTA6 has been, and continues to hit 60fps while being optimized for the PS5 Pro on multiple graphical settings. PS engineers are assisting with the optimization due to the new tech being implemented and rolled out with a current target date of May 2026.' They claim their source is 'a PlayStation engineer who has provided highly accurate and verified info several times in the past.'
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This leaker has had some legitimate insider info prior to it becoming public knowledge in the past, but I never assume a leak is 100% credible, regardless of the leaker's track record. Leaks should always be taken with a grain of salt because, even if they are accurate at the time they are said, things can easily change behind the scenes. They should certainly never be trusted enough to influence anyone's purchasing decisions.
Before I even go into why I doubt this to be true, let's run the thought experiment as though it were. Okay, cool, GTA 6 will run at 60 FPS on the PS5 Pro vs. PS5 at 30. There's no PC version of the game at launch, so this is the only way to play the game at that framerate. That's not worth $700 to me, and I doubt it is to almost everyone else who doesn't already own a Pro.
If the PS5 Pro ran more games at 60 FPS, then that would be a much stronger incentive to get one. The thing is — and this will be the main thrust of my skepticism of this leak as a whole — is that there are no PS5 games that can't run at 60 that can on the Pro. You will have to choose the performance mode and sacrifice some visual fidelity that you wouldn't on the Pro, but that's it. I like pristine graphics as much as the next gamer, but not enough to drop $700 for a mid-generation upgrade when I could just wait for the PS6.
And trust me, GTA 6 will be on the PS6. If GTA 5 stretched itself over three console generations, I don't think suggesting GTA 6 will get a next-gen upgrade is out of pocket. The fact that the Pro, so far, has only shown visual improvements in games is the crux of why I look at this leak with a healthy dose of skepticism. I'm not saying it's impossible, and there's even evidence that things could change by the time GTA 6 comes out, but here's what I know as of now. First is that, as I mentioned, the Pro just isn't made to run games better. When you compare the specs, the CPUs are almost identical, and in most cases, that's what bottlenecks a game's performance. If the FPS is CPU dependant, that minor difference isn't going to make the Pro able to hit 60 if the base unit can't.
The reason the Pro exists at all is for its much stronger GPU, which determines graphics. This is why Pro versions of games don't make you choose between fidelity and performance. And GTA 6's huge open world, detailed and complex simulations and interactions, will already be pushing the PS5 CPU to the limit. A stronger GPU can't help that. This is also why games that aren't 60 FPS on PS5 didn't suddenly get a frame rate bump with the Pro — it simply doesn't do that.
At least, it doesn't right now.
The one caveat to all this is the planned update to the PS5 Pro that will improve the Pro's dedicated super sampling and upscaling technologies. This technology, called PSSR, uses AI upscaling like you would see in DLSS to improve image quality and frame rates in games. According to an interview Mark Cerny did with Tom's Guide, this will be comparable to AMD's FSR 4 on PC, which has already been quite impressive.
Could this upgraded PSSR theoretically upscale GTA 6 to run at 60 by lowering the CPU load by using AI? Yes. Would Sony do everything in its power, including lending engineers to help RockStar achieve this so the PS5 Pro was the unquestioned best place to play this generational game? Of course. But that's a lot of ifs to spend $700 on. But unless that all does come to pass and this new PSSR works to make past and future PS5 games run better, I can't stomach spending that much money to make a single game run better. Not even GTA 6.