After the Rockstar Games Launcher update showed “GTA V (Gen9)” and “Americas” (GTA VI) listed several months ago with save folders, it became a reasonable assumption that Grand Theft Auto V would be getting the next-gen features available to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S at some point. Rockstar of course confirmed these features for early 2025 in a December 2024 newsletter. As PS5 and Xbox players had to purchase the entire game again to attain these features, however, it seemed all but certain that PC players would have to do the same.
But fortunately, Rockstar announced Tuesday that the update will be FREE and will be dropping on March 4!
Here is a rundown of the new features available for the first time on PC:
- The GTA+ program is available for Grand Theft Auto Online players.
- Hao’s Special Works with new vehicles and upgrades as well as premium test rides, new races, and time trials in Grand Theft Auto Online.
- Animals will appear on the map in Grand Theft Auto Online.
- Career Progress checklist in Grand Theft Auto Online.
- New landing page and Career Builder feature, setting up new players with a criminal route and GTA$4 million in Grand Theft Auto Online.
- Technical enhancements including ray tracing (PC exclusive ambient occlusion and global illumination) including the ray traced shadows and reflections. Support for AMD FSR1 and FSR3 and NVIDIA DLSS 3. Faster loading times on SSD and DirectStorage. Enhanced support for higher resolutions, higher aspect ratios, and higher framerates. DualSense controller support with adaptive triggers. Enhanced audio support with Dolby Atmos and improved fidelity of speech, cinematics, and music.
Despite the update being free, players without the hardware capabilities to upgrade will continue on a supported (but not updated) version of the game and will NOT be able to enter lobbies with upgraded players. Both versions will be available to all existing or new players (hence the forked branch and save).
The newsletter further notes a new update will be dropping in March for Grand Theft Auto Online featuring aerial crime and Oscar Guzman.
