GTA 6 Might Not Look as Good as It Is in Trailers

There are a lot of reasons why Grand Theft Auto VI is the most anticipated game of 2026. When Rockstar Games revealed the debut trailer for the studio’s next installment, gamers were impressed by the level of detail and insane graphics. But it seems like the recent update might make players doubt that the final version of the game will look the same.

Recently, the former developer of Rockstar Games, David O’Reilly, who worked as an environmental artist for Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Grand Theft Auto VI before he left the company in 2023, appeared on Kiwi Talkz podcast, where he teased that Grand Theft Auto VI might look different from what we saw in the previous two trailers. According to him, studios often pay attention to scenes in the trailer to show the best visual effects, but in the end, it may look less exciting. You can check out the highlights from his interview below:

"When you make a trailer, they look at where the camera's going to be, and everything in that view is getting madly polished, whereas everything not in that view isn't getting madly polished yet.

The whole world doesn't look like that. You focus on the areas of the trailer, and that's the projection of what the entire full game is going to be like. That's why you get differences in trailers and the final game. You can't view that as, 'That's locked down now. That tree will be there when it releases.' You can't look at it like that."

Some fans took the former developer’s words too literally and decided to compare how the footage from the trailers for GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 looked to their final versions. Fortunately, they didn’t notice any significant deterioration in quality and even believe the games look better now, as you can check out below:

We are still a little bit far from GTA VI's release, but this summer Rockstar Games will release more official information when the game’s marketing campaign is about to start. For now, you can also find out everything we know about GTA 6 so far, about the story, gameplay, map, open world, platforms, and more— here.

Are you concerned Grand Theft Auto VI might have downgraded graphics when it releases? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Grand Theft Auto VI is confirmed to release on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.