Since Rockstar Games announced the next-gen versions of Grand Theft Auto Online, many gamers were left wondering just how much will be expanded and enhanced in this incarnation of the multiplayer shooter. For a long time, there was little to no word from Rockstar on how extensive GTA Online will be changed for modern hardware, nor how the experience will differ from what is already available on contemporary platforms. However, after the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions have finally hit store shelves, players have stopped wondering and have started questioning the next-gen release's more unusual graphical choices.
For the uninitiated, the next-generation version of Grand Theft Auto Online is established to be a totally revamped version of the standalone game. Not only does it serve as a way of making this industry-defining game more available and revised for modern systems, it also comes packaged with various upgrades such as upscale 4K resolution, 60 FPS, and ray tracing for select consoles. On top of this, Rockstar further promised to introduce more updates and features in the near future to help seal the deal in making this the definitive version of Grand Theft Auto Online.
In short, this expanded and enhanced version of GTA Online aims to vastly improve the experience on almost every technical front possible, making the gameplay more visually and graphically in line with what can be seen on top-of-the-line PC hardware. Although, while this sounds like a dream come true for many fans, some players are expressing their disliking of how the next-generation version displays its in-game explosion effects.
The smoke in E&E is 2D, and it’s using an effect to seem 3D where it moves to face the camera from gtaonline
Now, Reddit user Interesting-Ad927's popular post reinforces this very negative notion of Grand Theft Auto Online. The video with nearly 500 upvotes captures the player causing casual chaos within the downtown district of Los Santos - an area that proves to be a routine sandbox for GTA Online PVP combat. However, instead of the bloodshed, this time the main focus of the video is on the "embarrassing" two-dimensional explosion effects that appear when the player blows up a vehicle.
The reason this is such a controversial change within the community is that looking back at Grand Theft Auto Online on the eighth, even seventh, generation consoles see explosions being thoroughly rendered in three dimensions. So, with this version of GTA Online being on consoles like the PS5, which comes shipped with a high-speed DDR4 RAM to run the most demanding games, it's safe to say Rockstar let down some players.
In summary, it is not a pretense to say that the reaction to this version of Grand Theft Auto Online has certainly been mixed. Although improvements such as more detailed textures and a higher FPS have been met with open arms, here's hoping that Rockstar will iron out some of the more contentious creases in future updates.
Grand Theft Auto 5 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.