Summary
- A new video showing the reveal trailers for GTA 5 and GTA 6 playing side-by-side highlights the massive graphical improvements between the two entries.
- The clip also serves as a reminder that the first GTA 5 trailer was at least as graphically impressive as the final game, if not more so, suggesting the GTA 6 reveal doesn't look too good to be true, like some fans have feared.
A newly surfaced video featuring the reveal trailers for Grand Theft Auto 6 and GTA 5 playing side-by-side highlights some of the massive graphical improvements that Rockstar managed to achieve over the past 12 years. The fan-made clip also serves as circumstantial evidence suggesting that the first GTA 6 trailer does not look too good to be true, as some fans have feared.
To say that the long-awaited reveal of the next mainline installment in the Grand Theft Auto series has taken the internet by storm would be an understatement. Since its premature premiere on December 4, the video has been viewed over 141 million times on YouTube alone, with countless fans scrutinizing its every frame. It also invited numerous analyses, some of which compared the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer to real-life Miami locations, while others drew parallels between the video and Rockstar's past promos.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Could Be Skipping PC at Launch
Rockstar hints that GTA 6 will be skipping PC at launch shortly after being forced to reveal the much-anticipated game earlier than planned.
The latest example of the latter comes from Reddit user Sebastian4002, who recently put together a video showing the reveal trailers for the upcoming GTA game and its predecessor playing side-by-side. Although many fans would agree that GTA 5 still looks fairly good for a ten-year-old game, the 89-second clip does a great job at illustrating the massive graphical improvements boasted by its successor, including much more detailed textures, significantly raised crowd density, and visibly better rendering distance. More realistic lighting effects and greatly improved animations are also easy to see when watching the Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal simultaneously with its GTA 5 counterpart.
GTA 6 Trailer Likely Isn’t Overpromising on What the Game Will Look Like
The video also serves as a reminder of a beloved Rockstar Games tradition that the GTA 6 trailer will hopefully uphold; although the GTA 5 reveal was nothing short of breathtaking at the time, it didn't end up overpromising on what the game would look like. On the contrary, it eventually turned out that Rockstar put together all GTA 5 promo clips using in-game footage, and if anything, the final product actually looked marginally better than what its teasers suggested.
Since GTA 5 was hardly the first game in the series to receive such honest marketing treatment, its sequel will ostensibly continue that tradition. Fans fearing that the GTA 6 trailer looks too good to be true should hence give Rockstar the benefit of the doubt, given its track record.
Overall, the first GTA 6 trailer compares rather favorably to Rockstar's past reveals, both in terms of quality and quantity of content. But since the game itself isn't slated to hit the market before 2025, it might be a while until Rockstar is ready to share another look at it.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- November 19, 2026
- ESRB
- Rating Pending - Likely Mature 17+
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.
Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
- Franchise
- Grand Theft Auto
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
