Following update 1.8, users had reported a significant downgrade to the visuals of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 5 on current gen consoles. This included worsened parallax mapping, reduced car deformation and an increased popping. Rockstar acknowledged the issues and promised a fix, which is somewhat arrived with patch 1.9.
The patch is rather sizeable but several Reddit users are pointing out that it fixes the deformation and popping issues. The parallax mapping still seems to be an issue though, especially on the PlayStation 4, so look forward to further updates for the same in the coming weeks.
As it stands, Rockstar has had its hands full with problems plaguing Grand Theft Auto Online following the release of Heists from connectivity and server issues to lag and matchmaking problems. While the initial downgrade in visuals was thought to have been for improving online performance, it was quickly discovered to not be the case (single-player also suffered from these graphical downgrades). Stay tuned for more information on the next update.
