Grand Theft Auto Online

Looks like they've realised they've got to fix it after the uproar it's caused, which has happened before it's out for most of the planet too, there was a reply from a customer services rep that someone got that really didn't help matters.

Yeah, according to the countdown on my dash.

Yeah, considered getting it for my Series X but then thought the Dualsense options might make it feel more like an upgrade, since many impressions appear to regard this as a pretty ‘light touch’ update…

It’s not a huge upgrade but it definitely looks better than the previous console versions. I’ve not checked out any YT videos so I don’t know if it’s just compression and stuff but on my OLED it definitely looks decent for an 11 year old PS3 game. Fidelity is best but fuck 30fps. Performance RT is where it’s at.

It feels better to play than the PS4 game, though I didn’t put many hours into that. I assume they’ve tightened up the controls a bit, as it feels both more responsive and less tank-like. It’s still the same game so it’s not wildly different but it feels better. Maybe that was work done for the PS4 title but from memory this feels improved.
The controller haptics are good. In the opening heist you can feel the snow and dirt under the cars tires whereas it doesn’t have any real feedback in sports cars on tarmac in the city as the roads are smoother. It’s there but it’s very subtle. Guns feel alright. It’s not as distinct as a racing or shooting game but it ties everything together nicely.
When you’re chased by cops the lights around the touch pad flash red and blue, and phone calls come from the controller speaker really clearly (this is surprisingly good for something that I would have otherwise dismissed as a gimmick).

For less than a tenner I reckon it’s worth it.

On Series X, I've just played to the end of the Repo mission, back at Franklin's crib. It's a fairly small update. And playing the Story, by default it's set to "Fidelity" visual mode, which I think must mean that it's true to the existing Xbone version because I can see very little difference in PQ or frame rate. But if you go to the Settings menu, you can enable either "Performance" or "Performance RT" mode. I dunno. I bought the upgrade for £17 a few days ago and I don't feel screwed, but I could feel that way if I had paid full wack. In fact yeah, no fucking way is this worth £30+. But y'know, the new shit does look nice. In the exploding bank vault right at the start, you can see the (slightly) nicer explosive effects. It does of course look a lot better in 60 frames. There is extra details in shadowed areas and everywhere has just a lite extra shine. On a negative, there is very noticeable juddering when the camera pans around scenery during cut scenes. This is especially noticeable after Michael's visit to the shrink when the into music plays and the camera pans around the city. That sucks.

I then loaded up Xbone GTA V (also on Series X) for comparison. The slower frame rate is super jarring throughout and as we all know, unplayable now in the era of 60fps on consoles. It looks jank and unplayable now.

Strangely, the loading times on the new X/S version is much quicker, and also the file size is 10gb LESS than the old gen version.

When I bought GTA V on the Xbone after I had already owned and completed it on PS3, I paid full wack and I felt it was worth every penny. The graphics were already extraordinarily good on the PS3/360 machines considering their age, but the extra layer of shine plus of course the game changing first person mode, brought out a new gameplay experience as it felt even more cinematic than before.

This is nowhere near as big a leap as that, but it is significant and I think just about worth £17. I'm going to play on and see how far I get with it, maybe I'll bounce off it after 10 hours or so, but if I play through it again then it will easily have been worth the money. To be clear though, it is a lazy ass upgrade. I think R* busted their full nut on RDR2. Their armies of coders and playtesters must be all completely balls deep in GTA VI and RDR1 Remastered.

It looks pretty, but it's still that same game from 9 or 10 years ago that I've played so many times...



£8.75, though. Might be worth it for that just to not have to put a disc in next time I want to have a thrash.

Feels better with 60 fps. I tried 'Fidelity' mode but 30 fps looks really choppy. Maybe it's a result of full 4k and 65" screen size but it just becomes a massive distraction. Might work for games with much simpler graphics (cel shade etc) but for busy high res textures it looks awful.

The perf modes are a big improvement.

Also, some of the haptic are odd, like something is loose in the controller!

I'll probably stay strictly to the story as I never finished it due to to many in game distractions and my usual routine with open worlds - sightseeing - buggering up the flow of any plot.

Also top tip- if you're doing the new Hao's Tuners race in Online... maybe don't start it if it's raining?! (Although the puddles do look pretty)

Character transfer worked so that's nice, did the Hao time trial and I'm glad I didn't have to play for the repairs on the car after it as a car I'm unused to, at a speed cars couldn't go before, some twisty bits and traffic meant it got a bit banged up.

The freebie HSW car is taking a few dings as I learn how to drive it.

Load times and joining sessions etc much improved but you can certainly tell the difference if you start up an invite only session to do some testing and it's about 5 seconds which is a lot faster. Unfortunately, just like the last gen versions you can't start an invite only session unless you're in story mode which is a bit awkward if you've decided only to get the free GTAO version for PS5 or bought it on Xbox.

Wasn't that impressed with single player character switching times the first time I tried it, I'm at the stage where Michael and Trevor are exiled from LS. It seemed to take a while to get to Franklin, when it finished switching it has actually put me straight into a mission chasing some dudes down so that explained it. Finished the mission and was Trevor so switched to Franklin again and it only took a few seconds this time.

Running in performance RT mode and other than the frame rate and the much improved anti-aliasing it doesn't look hugely different (so far) but those two things were looking incredibly ropey in 2022 on PS4.

Looks alright, can't expect much more from what was a PS3 game. Haptic feedback is lovely though, probably one of the better games to use it and well worth the 8 quid if it continues to be this good throughout.

So the single player campaign is now DLC for GTA online. What fresh new level of fucking bullshit is that?

I think that's an overstatement. The game has SP and MP - you can play either or both.

So after all these years the console people can pay yet again to get the version PC players had on launch.

R* really know how to take the piss.