Free GTA V PC update brings next-gen console content, but with new minimum specs
The update brings new vehicles and animals to GTA Online, but make sure you meet the new requirements. #gtav #rockstargames
Includes support for ray tracing features and console-only content. Photo: Rockstar Games
Just last week, Rockstar announced that a fresh free upgrade is coming to GTA V on PC. The update primarily adds GTA Online features that are currently only available on the Expanded and Enhanced PS5 and Xbox Series X|S editions of the game, as well as performance improvements.
The new content additions to GTA Online on PC include Hao's Special Works, a new vehicle workshop. This entails five new vehicles from the Sports, Muscle, Super and SUV car types, as well as new upgrades for 20 existing vehicles. Animals will also be added to GTA Online on PC, and this comes along with daily Wildlife Photography Challenges.
Some of the new vehicles (with their upgrades) that you can find at Hao's Special Works, located at the LS Car Meet. Photo: Rockstar Games.
Meanwhile, technical improvements are also being made to GTA V on PC as part of this update. Importantly, it will feature official support for AMD FSR1 and FSR3, as well as NVIDIA DLSS 3, long overdue additions as the game currently relies on mods to support both of them. However, this also comes at an awkward moment, as AMD and NVIDIA have recently unveiled FSR4 and DLSS 4 respectively as part of their new generation of GPUs. It remains to be seen whether these new upscaling technologies will be supported in the future, especially with GTA VI soon supplanting GTA V.
Ray tracing improvements to GTA V on PC includes support for features such as ambient occlusion and global illumination (as well as ray traced shadows and reflections, which have already been implemented on next-gen consoles). Other improvements include faster loading times with SSD and DirectStorage, DualSense controller support with adaptive triggers, Dolby Atmos support along with "enhanced audio", and support for a host of higher resolutions, aspect ratios and framerates (Rockstar didn't elaborate on this specifically).
PC players will also now be able to purchase a GTA+ membership, which includes benefits in free GTA$, member-only Shark Cards and free-to-claim vehicles.
New minimum requirements
For all this talk about newly-supported features, however, there's a big catch, as you need to meet these minimum specifications to actually update:
Those rocking Nvidia GTX 10-series or AMD RX 5000 cards won't meet the minimum requirements. Photo: Rockstar Games.
CPUs from before 2013 are effectively out, along with GPUs from about five generations ago. Rockstar says that it will still support a version of GTA V without the implemented update as a "separate instance". Practically, this means that players who can't update can still play GTA V and GTA Online on the pre-updated version, but won't be able to join a GTA Online session with those on the updated version.
Rockstar noted that both versions will be accessible to everyone who upgrades (a compromise that lets those who can afford the update play with those who can't), as well as for first-time purchasers.
The update is set to come to PC on March 4, and again, is free, provided you meet the minimum specifications.
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