Hands On: Is GTA V Worth Buying All Over Again For Xbox Series X|S?

Almost a decade since it outset released for Xbox 360 all the way dorsum in 2013, Grand Theft Auto Five gets its 3rd Xbox outing this calendar week on Tuesday, March 15th, this time in the form of a defended version for Serial 10 and Series S. It's not a free upgrade from the Xbox One version, and then you'll need to consider whether you desire to pay for the next-gen improvements. Is it worth dipping into your pocket for? That depends on what y'all're hoping to get out of it.

The biggest deviation with this version of GTA 5 (and GTA Online) compared to the Xbox Ane version relates to visuals and operation. We've only had a chance to attempt the Xbox Serial X edition so far, which features three functioning modes in Fidelity (native 4K, 30fps), Performance RT (upscaled 4K, 60fps) and Performance (upscaled 4K, 60fps). All three of these modes await pretty similar to each other, so even if you opt for the latter, the visuals are undoubtedly a welcome upgrade over the aging Xbox One version.

Fidelity mode is where you'll start, and information technology looks pretty neat considering this is a game that was made x years ago. In item, the three chief characters (Michael, Trevor and Franklin) look sharper and more than detailed than they've ever done on Xbox before, while the game's lighting is too notably improved across the board. The downside to Fidelity is that it's notwithstanding locked to 30fps, and just similar the Xbox One version, it just feels a flake too choppy in our stance. If yous've ever played GTA 5 on PC, you'll know what a divergence lx frames per-second makes to the experience, and so Allegiance is probably best reserved for taking beauty shots. The upgraded detail is certainly axiomatic in this way though, fifty-fifty if we wouldn't draw it as a huge transformation.

Hands On: Is GTA V Worth Buying All Over Again For Xbox Series X|S? 1

Operation RT is intended to be the sugariness spot, still containing ray-tracing features (although these seem quite subtle at first glance), but also targeting 60fps at an upscaled 4K resolution. Y'all can just near see the difference compared to Fidelity in terms of the visuals, just information technology's but a small downgrade. Plus, yous get the benefit of that increased framerate, which makes an absolutely massive difference to the performance. The game feels very fluid at 60fps and doesn't noticeably chug (albeit with VRR turned on), even if you lot're doing something like firing a homing launcher into a pile of busy traffic. The third choice, just called "Operation", is again some other minor downgrade in visuals, prioritising a smoothen 60fps above all else on both Series X and Series S.

We feel like the game's use of HDR might be a little bit bewitched at launch, equally certain scenes appear overly night to us, but we're only basing this off a couple of initial hours of impressions — at that place'due south more testing to be done before nosotros can requite a final verdict on this. In regards to everything else, we're suitably impressed with the visual and performance improvements in GTA 5 for Xbox Serial X, much like we were with the Xbox One version in 2014.

Both GTA v'south story mode and GTA Online allow you to transfer your progress over from Xbox One to Xbox Series X and Due south (permanently in regards to the latter), and GTA Online too features a few other new features specifically for this next-gen version. If you want to get-go from scratch, yous can take advantage of a i-fourth dimension Career Architect feature that gifts you $4m to get a business up and running, and there'due south also a new intro sequence, exclusive content including new vehicles and missions, migration bonuses and more. It'southward still basically the aforementioned game (although it doesn't feature cross-play with Xbox One), simply with a few quality of life upgrades.

Hands On: Is GTA V Worth Buying All Over Again For Xbox Series X|S? 2

Another matter we should mention is that the game's notoriously long loading times are improved on Xbox Serial 10 and S compared to Xbox One. Jumping into GTA V or GTA Online is still definitely non instant by any ways, but y'all're not sitting effectually for over a minute only waiting for Story Mode or Online to load up. That'south a relief in our volume.

So, is GTA V worth buying for Xbox Series X and/or Xbox Series Due south? Again, we should point out that these impressions are only based on a couple of early hours with the game on Series X and so far, but this version ticks most of the boxes for us. Sure, it's not a massive visual transformation, merely the Xbox One version has felt outdated for quite some time now, and the improver of greater graphical item throughout the game coupled with that all-important threescore frames per-second target (in certain performance modes) breathes new life into GTA Five for next-gen consoles. Whether it's worth the money depends on how eager you are to revisit the globe of Los Santos on Series X or South, merely after playing this version, we'd admittedly detect it very difficult to go back and enjoy its sluggish Xbox 1 counterpart.

Got any questions for us nigh GTA V on Xbox Series X and S? Allow us know down beneath.