GTA 6 hype seemed to hit an unimaginable level after the release of the second trailer. But a rogue element sneaks in here: There is a weird split amongst the fanbase. Those that have seen the footage-have been mostly hard-core GTA supporters-straight-up skeptical; some have gone to the lengths of doubting whether those were real in-engine graphics. Some say it’s because they’ve never really played Red Dead Redemption 2.
Yes, you heard right. Rockstar’s last big open-world game, RDR2, somehow got realism in gaming on some new scale of standards-the environment was insanely detailed; animations were super realistic, to randomness of weather systems affecting actual gameplay of RDR. But according to these supposed GTA fans, many people went left out. So when they see the trailer for GTA 6, they go, “Nah, this ain’t in-engine from GTA 6.”
NikTek was very direct with it on Twitter, and the replies ranged between those agreeing, disbelieving, and downright confused. Some were like, “Bro, RDR2 was running on PS4 hardware and still looked insane-Man, imagine what Rockstar can do with PS5 and modern PCs.” Others? Their minds are still locked into ‘GTA Online is life,’ and I don’t think any of them have touched anything else.
Jake T had a humorous reply: He didn’t believe the GTA 6 shots would look that good in the final game, ushering in a near-immediate backlash from RDR2 fanatics telling him, “You clearly haven’t played RDR2.” Then there was Ether, who dropped the bomb: “If you saw what Rockstar did on 2013 console hardware with RDR2, you wouldn’t be surprised at all by GTA 6’s visuals.”
But the insane thing here: some people want to get “older than GTA 6″ already and reach for…”RDR3?” And Casey Dante posed the real conundrum: If GTA 6 is pushing so hard for realism, what does that mean for the next Red Dead? How much further can Rockstar even go? NikTek chimed in with a great point: Rockstar might be hitting a ceiling with graphics soon, and honestly, if they kept the same level for RDR3 but dialed in on story and mechanics, fans would eat it up.
Meanwhile, others are just kicking back and laughing at the doubters. One user named True_Sobriety perfectly summed it up: “I played RDR2 at launch, never touched the first one, and it’s still the most amazing game I’ve ever played. GTA 6 won’t disappoint.”
And what does this all distill into? If you are still one of those folks thinking GTA 6’s trailer looks “too good to be real,” then maybe it’s time you go play RDR2 first. This is because Rockstar has been cooking with next-level tech for years now, and GTA 6 is just the next step. To those who have already bought into what RDR2 pulled off, rye, grab a seat! This next one will be crazy.
Oh, and by the way, if for the good of video games, you still haven’t fixed your relationship with RDR2, fix that. Seriously, you’re missing out.
