Rockstar had to up its game for GTA 6 – GTA 5’s realism was already “showing its age” when it launched 13 years ago
(Image credit: Rockstar Games)
The head of Rockstar North, Rob Nelson, mentions that the advancements in technology between GTA 5 and GTA 6 indicated that there were aspects developers simply couldn’t “escape” as they previously did.
In a conversation with Edge, several prominent figures at Rockstar explore how the newest Grand Theft Auto installment was ultimately developed and why the successful elements from GTA 5 no longer persisted. Much of it is attributed to what appears on-screen, or more accurately, the visual quality of it. Nelson reveals to Edge that executing GTA 6 with GTA 5’s speed made everything seem “too quick” in a world depicted with the level of detail the game achieves, and that NPCs were also challenging for a similar rationale.
“As the clarity of the worlds increases, I believe there are aspects you can’t overlook in the same manner,” he clarifies. “If you want a civilian crowd to act convincingly, and you can stand before them and materialize an automatic shotgun out of thin air without causing a reaction, that is not plausible.
“That barely stood in GTA 5, where you could actually conjure one of those weapons in front of someone and they would not respond unless you aimed it at them. Only at that moment would they flee. To me, that was already indicating its obsolescence in GTA 5 at that resolution.”
Of course, GTA 6 is not solely about advancing to ensure that what you see in front of you makes sense from a visual standpoint. Rockstar’s newest installment includes numerous fresh elements that expand upon what has preceded it, creating a revitalizing experience. Much of that can be traced back to Red Dead Redemption 2, including an NPC interaction system that permitted you to greet or provoke NPCs, a system that GTA 6 itself enhances. You can look forward to that and much more when GTA 6 debuts on November 19.
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