If you were to keep scrolling through Twitter, you probably would have stumbled upon some truly alien screenshots purporting GTA 5 to look like…well, NOT GTA 5. It was not any GTA 6 leak after all. A big thank you to the NaturalVision Enhanced mod for giving Los Santos that next-gen look.
Created by Razed, a title he surely earns with such an amazing production, this mod is among those that created an entire new look for GTA 5-from lighting and textures to ambiance. Realistic shadows, reflections, and colors that seem to exist in reality. Those pictures floating around were stunning enough that people actually thought Rockstar released an early GTA6 teaser. Nah. We just saw a very, very determined modder parading his or her works.
However, this is no simple plug-and-play mod that would turn the game into photorealism within seconds. A few absurd comments already surfaced in the replies, where someone complained that the game crashed during cutscenes while another muttered that daytime lighting is almost unbearably bright. And yes, performance is also very concerning. High-end rigs are said to have a smooth frame rate, though mid-tier users face plenty of issues. Some were even joking that you’ll probably need a “4090 and about 64GB of RAM” to do this gay.” Ouch.
Anyway, the hype is real. Everyone is going crazy over the insane level of detail visible everywhere, especially on that second screenshot going around (you know what I’m talking about). That has “wait, this isn’t a real photo, is it?” vibe. Even the regular petrol is calling it impressive. Yet others hurried to state that it is however very much GTA 5 at its core. I mean, they’re nicer-looking palm trees and ocean waves, but those are still the same old NPCs forgetting how to walk and crashing into lampposts.
About that GTA 6 confusion? Well, that’s just funny. One reply simply says, “We got GTA 6 in GTA 5 before GTA 6.” Definitely. Rockstar is taking its own sweet time with the next installment, so these modders have been doing the heavy lifting in the meantime.
Well, it’s out there to be tried (links are already floating down in the replies; respect to SK-HYJINX for dropping the link), but be warned; you might have to lose some time digging in and out of settings, switching between different versions of DLSS (more thanks to HMS_TV1 for the tip), and quite a few serious frame count losses for glory.
So yeah, GTA 5 still lives-and it should keep living for quite a while with mods like this. I only hope Rockstar is taking notes for GTA 6’s lighting engine. Just saying.
