We now know what GTA 6 looks like, based on what was presented in the recent trailer, at least. It got me thinking: will my gaming rig even be able to handle the heat? Well, short of having no official line on a release window for the PC version, I’m refraining from any panic buys at this time, and you should too.
GTA 6 will eventually be released on PC, just like its predecessor, which was one of the best games on PC. Although we hope not to have to wait as long after the console releases this time. But given how great the game already looks, it would be easy to get drawn into a panic and upgrading hardware well in advance.
Instead, my plan is much simpler: I’m going to wait. I’ve waited long enough for the reveal of GTA 6, so I can handle a few more years of waiting before I need to truly prepare for its arrival.
It’s understandable that after the release of Alan Wake 2 – a game that completely ripped up the traditional approach to graphical fidelity and made lofty demands even in its lowest system requirements – the door might be open for other developers to do the same. I, however, see this as an isolated case… for now.
GTA 6, unlike Alan Wake 2, will be a massive open-world game, and this means that the world itself is built differently from day one. At this point, I think it’s safe to rule out Nvidia GTX series cards as viable for GTA 6, but beyond that, I imagine the bar could still be set as low as the RTX 20 or 30-series cards.
Rockstar is smart to the industry and won’t want to put GTA 6 out of reach for PC players. It will be a game that thrives because so many people can play and enjoy it for years. So, while it’s not unreasonable to assume Rockstar won’t compromise heavily to account for budget or old hardware, given where the market may be in two years, I can’t see there being an outrage over who can and can’t get GTA 6 to run.
In fact, I can see retailers targeting the GTA 6 release date with their pre-builds at some point over the next few years, selling on the basis that ‘this PC will run GTA 6’ in the same way that many gaming laptops are still sold with GTA 5 factored in. Granted this has since moved on to titles like Cyberpunk 2077, but that’s also a great benchmark to consider.
If you recently upgraded your PC or purchased an up-to-date gaming laptop or pre-built rig in the past 12 months, it’s safe to assume you shouldn’t have any issues running GTA 6. Until we’re told otherwise, I may even assume my current PC is fine too, with its Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070, although the 11th gen Intel i7 processor might be cause for concern.
I’ll continue to window shop for upgrades as always, but the urge to just buy a new GPU or CPU is easily quelled by the fact that there is no way of telling how GTA 6 on PC will be handled. With potentially two years of games still to come before we get our hands on GTA 6, it’s always a possibility that other games shake up the hardware market well before then, perhaps following on from the spark that Alan Wake 2 ignited earlier this year.
Strap in, folks. We’ve got a long way to go, but the wait will be worth it, I’m sure.
While we’re waiting, check out the estimated GTA 6 system requirements over on PCGameBenchmark to answer the question… Can I run GTA 6?