NaturalVision Mod Just Took GTA 5 PC to a Whole New Level

GTA 5 Enhanced may be catching heat on Steam right now with a "Mixed" review score, but for modders? This is the best thing that’s happened in years. Especially for NaturalVision Enhanced Mod, which just dropped today.

Modder Razed and his team have been building visual overhauls for GTA 5 for years. Their latest version—NaturalVision Enhanced—isn’t just a step up, it’s a massive leap into photorealism. And it’s happening because of one simple reason: GTA 5 PC gets a Huge Free Upgrade with the Enhanced edition. Whatever your opinion on Rockstar’s latest monetisation moves, the tools and backend improvements opened the door for modders to go wild.

"Oh yeah, even I'm a bit surprised by what we've been able to accomplish," Razed tells me. "I'm lucky to work alongside some incredibly talented people who've come up with things like custom shaders (such as volumetric clouds) and a range of other techniques that have helped shape NaturalVision over the years."

"And now, thanks to Rockstar Games and the release of GTA 5 Enhanced on PC, we have an amazing opportunity to take things even further. It's a really exciting time for us."

This isn’t just an art pass. We’re talking full integration of ray tracing, volumetric lighting, custom weather effects, reworked shadows, better colour balance, and tons of new high-res textures. Stuff that wasn’t feasible—or simply wasn’t supported—before Rockstar’s Enhanced build went live. It’s wild that a 10-year-old sandbox is now pushing visuals that rival next-gen open-world games.

And it’s all free. No microtransactions. No Patreon gates.

Razed’s team has been quietly working on the project for months. He calls this the “most refined and immersive version of NaturalVision we’ve ever created.” If you’ve seen the older NaturalVision Evolved builds, you already know what that means: cinematic shots, realistic street lighting, and a version of Los Santos that feels way closer to real-life L.A. than anything Rockstar ever shipped.

"NaturalVision Enhanced taps into the new ray tracing tech within GTA 5 Enhanced to bring the world to life with a different sense of realism. Players can expect to see improved lighting, shadows and colors across San Andreas, along with some of the high-quality textures and props from NaturalVision Evolved ported over."

For longtime GTA modders, this update changes everything. There’ve been plenty of attempts at realism mods before—QuantV, Redux, VisualV—but NaturalVision Enhanced Mod has consistently led the pack in terms of polish and ambition. With the PC upgrade, the mod now runs smoother and with more visual fidelity than ever before.

That’s a big deal for a game this old.

Let’s not forget: GTA 5 launched on Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2013. It’s outlived multiple console generations, hit over 185 million copies sold, and somehow keeps showing up on every “most-played” chart across Steam, Epic, and Rockstar Launcher. The Enhanced version may not be doing great in user reviews (again, Steam says “Mixed”), but it’s still one of the most downloaded and streamed games out there. And now it looks better than ever.

"Although with NaturalVision Enhanced and the power of ray tracing, I think it's safe to say we're closer to that vision than ever before. Huge thanks to Rockstar Games for helping make that possible."

That’s the twist. As much as people dunk on Rockstar for slow development or endless re-releases, this move—giving PC players enhanced tools and support—actually helped bring NaturalVision’s original goal of “photorealistic GTA” closer to reality. It also shows what can happen when modders get access to high-level rendering features and don’t have to reverse-engineer everything from scratch.

If you’re wondering how this all stacks up against other mods, NaturalVision Enhanced includes lighting passes for every time of day, remade weather states, reflections with real-time accuracy, and shader tweaks that affect how fog, haze, and ambient lighting work in the city. It’s one of those rare mods that doesn’t just look better—it feels different when you play it.

And again, it’s free.

You can grab NaturalVision Enhanced Mod today from the official site or the team’s Discord. Razed has said they’ll continue to update it based on feedback, so this is likely just the beginning of what Enhanced GTA modding will look like in 2025.

If you’ve ever thought GTA 5 looked dated—or you just want to see how good an old game can look with the right hands working on it—this is the mod to try. No fluff, no gimmicks. Just raw graphical power, finally unleashed.

GTA 5 might be a decade old, but with GTA 5 PC Gets a Huge Free Upgrade, and NaturalVision Enhanced Mod leading the charge, it somehow feels brand new again.