GTA VI: which console and screen to choose for the best experience
Do you really need the most expensive console?
GTA VI launches on November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, digital-only. The 27-minute Extended Look broadcast on Netflix on August 27 triggered a rush on the PS5 Pro, now sold out at many retailers (Les Numériques). Before paying a premium, the question is worth asking: is the most powerful console really necessary? According to the French tech outlet, the short answer is probably not.
What the performance reality looks like
The gameplay shown to creators in July ran in 4K at 30 fps on a standard PS5. Digital Foundry considers a 60 fps mode unlikely even on PS5 Pro, with the Zen 2 CPU as the real bottleneck. Rockstar has also never shipped an open-world game at 60 fps: GTA V had to wait nearly nine years and a remastered edition to get there.
PS5, PS5 Pro or Xbox?
- PS5 Pro (€899.99) is the most powerful machine and carries the "PS5 Pro Enhanced" label on the PlayStation Store: Rockstar will use the extra GPU and PSSR 2.0 upscaling for a sharper image and deeper ray tracing. 60 fps, on the other hand, remains a fantasy for now (Les Numériques).
- Standard PS5 (€649.99 with disc drive, €549.99 Digital Edition) — the entire Extended Look was captured on this machine, and the result was already spectacular. For players who don't hunt ray-tracing subtleties, the €250-350 gap with the Pro is hard to justify on GTA VI alone.
- Xbox Series X (€799.99 since the August 1 price increase) sits €100 below the PS5 Pro, with raw performance very close to the standard PS5 — but without the PSSR advantage.
- Xbox Series S (€499.99, 512 GB) will run the game, but at significantly reduced resolution and settings, with critical storage.
No PC version is planned at launch.
The two blind spots: storage and TV
The official install size has not been announced, but the most credible estimates converge on 150-200 GB before the day-one patch. On a standard PS5 (825 GB SSD, about 667 GB usable), the margin is tight; the Series S drops to 364 GB usable — half of it swallowed by a single game. Preload opens November 12: plan to clean up.
On the screen side, GTA VI targets 4K HDR across all platforms, and three criteria matter: HDMI 2.1 (essential for VRR, which smooths frame-rate variations in a dense open world), HDR10 minimum (Dolby Vision as a bonus on PS5), and a 120 Hz panel for better motion handling. Recent OLEDs (the LG C5 range, for example) tick every box; budget buyers can watch Mini-LED HDMI 2.1 TVs from Hisense or TCL on promotion (Les Numériques).
Bottom line
Don't panic-buy a PS5 Pro: the standard PS5 — the machine Rockstar used to capture the Extended Look — remains the sensible choice. Check your storage and your TV's HDMI 2.1 support before November 19, and remember GTA VI is digital-only: €79.99 Standard, €99.99 Ultimate (around €60 in preorder at several French retailers) (Les Numériques).