GTA V on PS5 and Xbox Series X: What Changed

GTA V's PS5 and Xbox Series X|S release on Mar 15 2022 was not one upgrade but three, because Rockstar gave each console a different set of graphics modes. A PS5 and a Series X get the same three modes. A Series S gets two, and neither of them uses ray tracing. Three years later the PC got its own version, GTAV Enhanced, with ray tracing effects the consoles never received. This page sets out, in Rockstar's own words, what each version does, what carries over from an older copy, and what it costs to get today. The game itself is covered on /library/gta-v.

At a glance

What is counted, and how

Features come from Rockstar's own descriptions: the Mar 15 2022 press release Take-Two published, Rockstar's Mar 15 2022 Newswire post, and Rockstar's Mar 4 2022 detail post as reprinted in full by Gematsu (we did not find the Mar 4 Newswire page itself). We did not run our own frame-rate tests, and we do not quote third-party performance analysis, so every number below is Rockstar's target, not a measurement. Prices are US store prices on Oct 11 2026.

Gaps are counted in calendar days by script:

• Original release (Sep 17 2013) to Mar 15 2022: 3,101 days, or 8 years, 5 months and 26 days.
• PS4 and Xbox One release (Nov 18 2014) to Mar 15 2022: 2,674 days.
• Mar 15 2022 to PC Enhanced (Mar 4 2025): 1,085 days.
• Mar 15 2022 to the free console upgrade (Jun 18 2026): 1,556 days.
• Pre-load (Mar 8 2022) to launch: 7 days. Launch to the end of the launch offer (Jun 14 2022): 91 days.

Left out: review scores (on /library/gta-review-scores), GTA Online's update history (on /library/gta-online), and file sizes, which Rockstar did not state.

Every current-generation version, per Rockstar

The table no other page on this site has: each version, its date, and the modes and features Rockstar lists for it.

All three console versions share the improvements Rockstar listed on Mar 4 2022: increased population and traffic variety, denser vegetation, better shadows and water reflections, improved anti-aliasing and motion blur, and new explosion and fire effects.

The Series S row is the one most guides skip. Pure Xbox noticed it on Mar 4 2022: ray tracing "appears missing entirely" on the Series S, because Rockstar's text never mentions it for that console.

What carried over from PS4 and Xbox One

Story Mode. From Mar 4 2022, players could upload one save per platform to the Rockstar Games Social Club from the Game tab of the Pause Menu. Saves stayed available for 90 days.

GTA Online. On Mar 15 2022, players with a Social Club account could migrate their whole GTA Online profile: characters, GTA$, progression, stats, vehicles, properties, weapons, clothing and player-created jobs. Two rules mattered:

• Purchased GTA$ transferred only within a console family (PS4 to PS5, Xbox One to Xbox Series X|S). Earned GTA$ transferred anywhere.
• Migrating removed the profile from the PS4 or Xbox One account it came from, per Rockstar's Mar 15 post.

Returning players got a Hao's Special Works Karin S95 and two Chameleon paints for migrating.

What did not carry over was the purchase. The new versions were sold again. At launch, Rockstar priced GTA V and GTA Online together at $9.99 on the PlayStation Store and $19.99 on the Microsoft Store through Jun 14 2022, and made the new standalone GTA Online free on PS5 for the same 91 days. VGC reported that the free PS5 offer required PlayStation Plus. That changed on Jun 18 2026, when Rockstar made the upgrade free for any PS4 version and for the digital Xbox One version. Rockstar's wording names only the digital Xbox One version, not Xbox One discs.

What it changed

The online game split from the story. Mar 15 2022 was the first time GTA Online was sold on its own. It still is, at $19.99 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on Oct 11 2026.

It opened the door to GTA+. Take-Two's May 16 2022 release says GTA+ launched on Mar 29 2022 as a membership "exclusive to Grand Theft Auto Online players on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S". PC got it with Enhanced in 2025. In Jun 2026 Rockstar added GTA V's Story Mode to the GTA+ Games Library.

It arrived later than first planned. VGC wrote on Mar 4 2022 that these versions were originally due in November 2021. Take-Two's Nov 3 2021 release already said March 2022.

Where it stands, checked Oct 11 2026

The full picture across the series is on /library/how-to-play-every-gta-today, and the subscription history on /library/gta-game-pass-ps-plus-history.

Legacy

GTA V's next-generation version is the template GTA VI starts from. GTA VI launches on Nov 19 2026 on the same two console families, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and on no others. See /library/gta-vi.

Trivia

• Rockstar's Mar 15 2022 post counted "more than 40 massive updates" for GTA Online by then.
• The five vehicles new on Mar 15 2022 were the Coil Cyclone II, Karin S95, Imponte Arbiter GT, Pfister Astron Custom and Pegassi Weaponized Ignus. All five reached PC with Enhanced in 2025.
• On PC, Legacy and Enhanced players do not share sessions, so friends must play the same version.
• The Career Builder gives new or restarting characters GTA$4,000,000 to spend on a business, a vehicle and weapons.

Sources

• Take-Two / Business Wire press release, Mar 15 2022
• Rockstar Newswire, Out Now on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, Mar 15 2022
• Gematsu, GTA V and GTA Online for PS5, Xbox Series details, Mar 4 2022
• Take-Two 8-K ex. 99.1, Nov 3 2021
• Take-Two 8-K ex. 99.1, Feb 7 2022
• Take-Two 8-K ex. 99.1, May 16 2022
• VGC, graphics modes confirmed, Mar 4 2022
• Pure Xbox, Rockstar details GTAV on next-gen, Mar 4 2022
• Rockstar Newswire, Free Upgrade for GTA V on PC, Mar 4 2025
• Rockstar Newswire, The Next Big Score, Jun 17 2026
• PlayStation Store, GTA V (PS4 & PS5), checked Oct 11 2026
• Microsoft Store search, Grand Theft Auto, checked Oct 11 2026
• Steam, GTAV Enhanced, checked Oct 11 2026
• GTA VI Forum FACTS.md, F1, F3