What you need to play Grand Theft Auto VI: Gear up or zen out

Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI), one of the most highly anticipated game releases in years, is finally set to launch. After several rounds of delays from 2025 to May 2026, the OG (original gangster) of free-roaming, open-world games with dubious morals, irresponsible shenanigans and lawless fun, is finally confirmed to arrive on 19 November 2026. 

Developed by Rockstar Games, GTA VI promises more adrenaline-fuelled driving and shooting action in the criminal wonderland of Leonida, a modernised version of the neon-lit Vice City. Check out the extended gameplay trailer from Rockstar that will get you hyped for the game.

GTA is one of the most successful game franchises with memorable characters, gratuitous violence as well as plenty of hilariously fun and not-quite-legal activities.

And since it’s been 13 years since GTA V was released for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles, followed by a PC release in 2015, the anticipation of GTA VI in the gaming community is palpable.

Gearing up or zening out

As with other Rockstar games, GTA VI will be released on consoles first, namely the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, followed by a PC release maybe 12 months or more later. In the case of the first Red Dead Redemption, it took 14 long years for a PC release.

With around two months to prepare, three paths now lay before you:

If you already have an Xbox or PlayStation console, you can pre-order the digital version of the game now, and it can be pre-loaded on 12 November. This will save you some precious gaming time on the actual launch day spent waiting for the game to download and install on your console.

If you are a faithful PC gamer with no plans to get a console, you are looking at waiting for maybe over a year for the PC release.

It’s a good time to clear your game library backlog in the meantime while being zen about all the hype over GTA VI — maybe replay GTA V, Red Dead Redemption I and II, Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk 2077 or Saints Row to scratch the drive-and-shoot open-world itch. 

But if you don’t have either console yet and really want to play GTA VI as soon as it is released, it’s time to start shopping for one. But which one? 

Console yourself

Although Rockstar has not officially shared any recommended specs for running the game since it is released only for consoles, we can infer based on the lowest spec’ed console that can run the game, which is the Xbox Series S. 

The Xbox Series S features a GPU graphics processing unit (GPU) that can churn out graphics at 4 Teraflops, which is equivalent to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or an AMD Radeon RX580. The game is likely to require well over 100 GB of solid state drive (SSD) space to install since GTA V on the PC is already taking up 96GB.

GTA VI will also be capped at 30 frames per second (fps) on consoles, which is rather low for a modern 3D action game. For PC faithfuls with a souped-up rig, it makes the wait all the sweeter when you can eventually play the PC version at 60 fps or more.

For Xbox Series X|S versus PlayStation 5 analysis, check out our previous article back in 2020 as it is a separate discussion. My take is to get the console that has more games that you are likely to play.

For the Playstation, Sony has recently indicated that single-player games will be exclusive going forward, which means these new titles may not be released for PC in the future – think franchises like God of War and Ghost of Tsushima/Yotei.

Notably, fans for Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding fame need to take note that Physint, Kojima’s upcoming action espionage title, will be developed for the Xbox as PlayStation has reportedly bailed out on the project.

For those leaning towards the Xbox camp, there are two variants to consider:

Source: Xbox official website

Since the Xbox Series X|S have been around for around six years, it makes more sense to get the higher spec’ed Xbox Series X. Being able to play games at 4K resolution is now the norm since most modern TV sets above 40 inches in size offer that sharpness.

The Xbox Series X also has higher processing power which should offer a better gaming performance for GTA VI. In addition, a larger SSD space of 1TB in the Xbox Series X lets you install more games compared to the tiny 512GB SSD of the Xbox Series S console.

The Xbox Series X’s GPU at 12 Teraflops performance is estimated to be equivalent to an Nvidia RTX 3060Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800, which costs around S$500 to S$600 today. Considering the price and performance, the Xbox Series X is actually quite a reasonable investment if you think of it as a mini-PC, despite being a rather aged machine. 

If you prefer to buy physical copies of your games, picking the Xbox Series X is a no-brainer since it has an optical disc drive which you can also use to watch 4K UHD Blu-ray movies. Another plus for the Xbox camp is the Xbox Game Pass, which gives you access to a generous library of games under a tiered subscription model.

The highest tier, the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, gives access to Day One releases, EA Play and Ubisoft+ Classics games for S$21.90 a month. Best of all, most titles in the Xbox Game Pass library can be played on the PC as well.

For the PlayStation camp, there are three variants to consider – the PlayStation 5 digital-only edition, PlayStation 5 with a disc drive, and the PlayStation 5 Pro. In terms of specs, the two non-Pro PlayStation 5 consoles are exactly the same, with the presence of the disc drive being the only difference:

Source: PlayStation 5 official website and TechInsider

With the ability to churn out graphics at 16.7 Teraflops, PSSR (PlayStation Super Spectral Resolution) AI upscaling and advanced ray tracing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is currently the most powerful console that can run GTA VI.

Released in November 2024, this late entrant to the console wars now takes the lead from the six-year-old Xbox Series X. Its generous 2TB SSD storage keeps up with the massive storage demands of modern games. Of course, it is the most expensive console to buy as well.

The PlayStation 5 Pro’s GPU performance at 16.7 Teraflops is estimated to be comparable to an Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti or AMD Radeon 7700 XT which costs around S$600 to S$800 today. It is leading the pack among the consoles today, and the premium might be worthwhile if you can afford it.

What might tip you over to the PlayStation camp are the sweet GTA VI-themed Dualsense wireless controllers at S$115 to get you into the vibe with the game.

With PlayStation’s decision to go disc-less by 2028, gamers who prefer to buy physical games might want to reconsider. However, I personally think this will be inevitable – it has been the case for PC games for around two decades since the popularity of online game stores like Steam, GOG and Epic Games took off. Most gaming rigs don’t even have a disc drive bay anymore.

Availability

Following the release of the tantalising GTA VI gameplay trailer, shortages of both the Xbox and PlayStation consoles have been reported. With the perfect storm of global RAM shortage – no thanks to the ever-increasing demand for memory for AI data centres – and GTA VI fans rushing to buy consoles in anticipation of the game’s release, finding high-end consoles is almost a tough main story mission in itself.

At the time of writing, both the higher end PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X consoles are out of stock at the major consumer electronics brick-and-mortar stores in Singapore, like Harvey Norman, Courts and Challenger. Although they can accept orders, the sales people have said that there is no guarantee of when the delivery will actually happen.

There are slim pickings for online retailers, and some sellers on Lazada are quick to cash in with a higher premium than the recommended retail price for the PlayStation 5 Pro.

Sony Singapore’s site indicates that the Pro version is sold out while the basic PlayStation 5 is still accepting orders although shipping is “to be confirmed”.

If you can accept the lower spec’ed PlayStation 5, it is still available online at some retailers. For Wolverine fans, the pre-order for the PlayStation 5 Slim Wolverine edition is available and shipping is indicated as “end September”. 

I managed to find both Xbox Series S and X consoles online although there were warnings of low stock, and the official Microsoft Singapore site indicated that the Xbox Series X as well as the 512GB version of the Xbox Series S are sold out. You mind also find pre-owned sets as well as some for pre-order, which means brand new sets are indeed pretty scarce.

With the current console shortage, which leaves eager gamers unable to buy them despite being willing to pay, you can only hope that this might persuade Rockstar to move up the GTV VI PC release timeline. Let’s hope it doesn’t take 14 years!