The enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto 5 for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 might use the updated version of the RAGE engine that was most recently deployed in Red Dead Redemption 2. While it hasn't been confirmed just yet, a GTA5 insider well known in the community believes he's stumbled onto new code that spills the beans.
Some in the Grand Theft Auto 5 community are focused on the potential arrival of GTA6. However, the next installment that is promised and confirmed by Rockstar is an upgraded version of the existing title for next-gen consoles. Beyond the confirmation that's it coming at some point, there isn't much known about what the company has planned for the Xbox Series X and PS5 versions.
Rockstar insider Tez2 posted on the GTA Forums that he'd found new GTA5 game data that was recently added to the game. The data mining found 'structs' that seem to show the updated version of the Rockstar Advanced Gaming Engine (RAGE) that is in RDR 2. The RAGE engine has actually been included in Rockstar's games since 2006. It first made an appearance in the company's table tennis title. Then, the engine got upgrades and updates over the years, and a version of it is in the latest version of Grand Theft Auto 5. However, the engine in RDR2 is a souped-up 2018 version from what's in GTA5's 2014 version.
The 2018 version of the RAGE engine is geared towards better performance and graphical appearance. Among other performance improvements, the Red Dead Redemption 2 version of the game engine supports physically based rendering, pre-calculated global illumination, volumetric clouds, and other features that give the game a photorealistic appearance when it comes to the landscape, especially.
Tez2 did point out that data mining isn't a guarantee that the enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto 5 will use RDR2's version of RAGE. Much like other clues that have been found, especially in Red Dead Redemption 2, nothing's been confirmed yet by Rockstar. The insider said it's possible the newly discovered programming language could mean that only the UI will use the new engine, while the rest of the PS5/XSX version will run in the older version of RAGE.
For the moment, what's going to be inside the next-generation Grand Theft Auto 5 isn't known, and the eventual release date has not been announced yet. What is known is that Rockstar Games plans on creating more single-player content for the Grand Theft Auto franchise in the future.
The enhanced version of Grand Theft Auto 5 is currently being developed for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: GTA Forums