GTA 6 Launch Trailer Shows No Clear Sign of PS5 QSSR, Digital Foundry Says

Grand Theft Auto VI’s new launch trailer does not show clear evidence that the PS5 version is using Sony’s QSSR upscaling technology, according to Digital Foundry’s technical analysis. That is an assessment of the trailer footage—not confirmation of the final game’s rendering setup.

Rockstar says the Grand Theft Auto VI launch trailer was captured in-game on PlayStation 5. In Digital Foundry’s breakdown, Richard Leadbetter said the team could not identify the visual characteristics it would expect if QSSR were being used to reconstruct the image.

The analysis estimates an internal resolution around 1440p in the examined footage. Digital Foundry also noted that reconstructing that image to 4K with QSSR could consume roughly four milliseconds of a 33-millisecond frame budget in a 30 frames-per-second game. If Rockstar’s existing scaling already produces the desired result, the team argues that spending more than 10% of the frame budget on a different solution may not be worthwhile.

Those numbers are technical estimates made from a compressed marketing video. Rockstar has not published a rendering-resolution target, confirmed QSSR support, or detailed the final graphics modes for GTA 6. Optimization can continue through release, and the technology used in a trailer capture does not necessarily define what will ship.

QSSR is Sony’s machine-learning upscaler for PlayStation hardware, but its presence should not be assumed from a PS5 capture alone. The safest conclusion is the narrow one: Digital Foundry did not see convincing evidence of QSSR in this specific footage.

For the story and character details shown in the video, see our GTA 6 launch trailer coverage.

Would you rather Rockstar prioritize image reconstruction or spend that frame-time budget elsewhere in GTA 6?