Grand Theft Auto 6 is shaping up to be one of the most technically ambitious games ever made, but hardware experts believe even the PS5 Pro may not be powerful enough to run it at 60fps.
Despite months of speculation that Sony’s upgraded console could offer a Performance Mode, analysts at Digital Foundry say GTA 6’s CPU demands will likely prevent the game from reaching 60fps on any current-generation console.
PS5 Pro’s biggest upgrade may not help GTA 6
According to Digital Foundry, the issue isn’t graphics performance but processor limitations.
The outlet argues GTA 6’s enormous open world, dense cities, advanced AI, vehicle physics, ray tracing, and complex simulation systems will place an enormous strain on console CPUs. While the PS5 Pro significantly improves GPU performance, ray tracing, and PSSR upscaling, its CPU is only marginally faster than the standard PS5.
It added: “60fps feels like a bridge too far.”
Digital Foundry also pointed to Rockstar’s history, noting that “GTA 4, GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 all arrived as 30fps releases on console,” with 60fps only arriving later through upgraded hardware or remastered versions.
While many fans believe the PS5 Pro could change that, the outlet says its additional GPU power doesn’t solve the main bottleneck.
“It’s worth bearing in mind that the console only offers a fractional CPU performance bump over base PS5,” they explained. “None of these features really shift the needle in terms of alleviating the CPU burden, so it looks much more likely that GTA 6 will ship with a 30fps or 40fps mode on PS5 Pro than a 60fps option.”
A 40fps mode would still offer a noticeable improvement for players with 120Hz displays, sitting halfway between 30fps and 60fps in terms of frame timing.
Digital Foundry acknowledged that everything remains speculative until Rockstar officially reveals the game’s technical features, but said a 60fps mode would represent a major shift for the studio.
“If we are mistaken, this would be the first Rockstar open-world game to ever target 60 frames per second on a console,” they added. “It seems unlikely, but we would love to be proven wrong.”
