Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced on PC – Everything You Need to Know

Grand Theft Auto is attracting attention lately, and no, it’s not because Rockstar finally dropped a new trailer for GTA 6. Instead, it’s for Grand Theft Auto 5 on PC. It finally received the exclusive content and features from the Enhanced and Expanded version launched in 2022 for Xbox Series X and PS5. Better late than never, and it’s a free version that exists separately for current owners. What’s not to like?

Unfortunately, PC players aren’t exactly thrilled about some new features, while others face issues. Here are several things you should know about Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced on PC and whether it’s worth revisiting Los Santos.

PC Requirements

As noted, Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced is a separate product – the original game is now Grand Theft Auto 5 Legacy and retains the same settings and hardware requirements. However, several minimum and recommended specs are higher for the Enhanced edition. You need a solid-state drive with 105 GB installation space with the minimum requirements including a Core i7-4770 or AMD FX-9590, 8 GB RAM, and a GTX 1630 (4GB VRAM) or a Radeon RX 6400 (4GB VRAM).

The recommended requirements include a Core i5-9600K or Ryzen 5 3600, 16 GB RAM, and an RTX 3060 (8GB VRAM) or a Radeon RX 6600XT (8GB VRAM). An SSD with DirectStorage compatibility is also necessary. Despite the mandated SSD, reports indicate that load times aren’t much different from the Legacy version.

Hao’s Special Works

One of the more significant new additions with the Enhanced version is Hao’s Special Works, available in Grand Theft Auto Online’s Los Santos Car Meet. Players can take certain vehicles and install Performance Upgrades to make them even faster. There are 20 such cars already available in the PC version – including the Bravado Banshee GTS and Grotti Itali GTO Stinger TT – which meet these requirements, so you can start upgrading them immediately.

New Vehicles

But that’s not all. Five new vehicles previously exclusive to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are now available for PC players and also eligible for Performance Upgrades – the Coil Cyclone 2 Supercar, the Imponte Arbiter GT Muscle car, the Karin S95 Sports car, the Pfister Astron Custom SUV and the Pegassi Weaponized Ignus Supercar. It’s also worth noting that Hao’s Special Works will alter the look of all upgradeable vehicles, adding a sleeker, more colorful appeal.

HSW Race Series

Cruising through Los Santos and “accidentally” forgetting to avoid pedestrians is neat, but what if you want to test these upgraded vehicles against other players? Hao’s Special Works Race Series is the ticket, offering 20 races exclusive to upgraded vehicles, encompassing locations like Los Santos Port, San Chianski Mountains, Vinewood, Los Santos International Airport, and much more. These races support up to eight players.

HSW Time Trials

If solo play is more your speed, then maybe Hao’s Special Works Time Trials will suffice. There are eight in total, with three par times to beat, depending on the vehicle class. Complete all of them, and you can earn a special livery, “HSW Elite,” which can be applied to your upgraded vehicles.

Career Builder

Instead of creating a character and hopping into the tutorial for GTA Online, there’s now the Career Builder. On top of granting you GTA$4,000,000, it gives you multiple career paths: Executive, Gunrunner, or Biker. From there, you can buy a property to serve as your base and various weapons, vehicles, and more that will help the cause. So whether it’s arms trading,  management, or new missions, there’s much to pursue for first-time criminals.

New Landing Page

One of the other major changes to GTA Online is the revamped Landing Page. It lays out all the important content – from new vehicles, Heists, and Hao’s Special Works – and also informs players about everything new. If you’re a new player, it’s a decent way to ease newcomers in or returning players without getting lost in the vast swathes of content available. You might want to think twice about Heists, though, because…

Removal of Text Chat

If you are a GTA Online player and have utilized text chat for communication, there’s bad news – it’s removed in the Enhanced edition on PC. Rockstar hasn’t given any reason for this, touting kernel-based anti-cheat and voice chat moderation as improvements before the Enhanced version went live. It also hasn’t acknowledged the issue, but if you’re someone who doesn’t care for voice chat, maybe think twice before pursuing any co-op activities that require coordination.

Ray-Tracing

The current-gen versions officially brought ray-traced shadows and reflections to Grand Theft Auto 5, which carry over into the Enhanced version on PC. However, the latter also includes ray-traced ambient occlusion and global illumination, ensuring more naturally lit environments based on impressions thus far (though the difference isn’t earth-shattering).

The problem is with the reflections – while they can look good on vehicles and some buildings, players have complained of a lack of sharpness. Certain buildings also don’t have ray-traced reflections while the quality of reflections on water bodies is either underwhelming or incorrect.

Story Mode and Online Migration

For those with thousands of hours in the Legacy version over the years or who want to see how Story Mode looks with the visual improvements, it’s possible to migrate progress to the Enhanced edition. However, it doesn’t seem to be working for GTA Online, with players informed that the profile associated with the Rockstar Games account isn’t currently eligible for migration. Rockstar hasn’t acknowledged this issue, but it is assisting those who can’t log in or who have seen their online saves disappear.

Upscaling Support

Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced supports AMD FSR 1 and 3 alongside Nvidia DLSS 3. The latter is considered the ideal option (though it’s not universally beloved). Some players recommend MSAA for better quality, even if it’s much more demanding. Frame Generation isn’t currently available but Rockstar said it will be added sometime in the future.

Higher Frame Rates

Outside of ray tracing, upscaling, and so on, the upgrade brings higher frame rates, aspect ratios and resolutions to PC players. While it initially launched with a 120 frames per second cap, Rockstar has since released a patch addressing this. It seemingly occurred when setting Frame Limit to off. With the issue fixed, players are reporting frame rates of 170 to 180 FPS, though the upper limit (if it exists) is unknown.

DualSense Support

If you enjoyed the feeling of the DualSense’s Adaptive Triggers, good news – they’re now supported with the Enhanced version on PC. Some players reported that aim assist isn’t working in GTA Online but you actually need to enter Story Mode and change it there.

GTA+

Amid complaints about the ray tracing, lack of frame rate options, and migration issues, there’s at least one silver lining – GTA+ is now officially available for PC players. This month’s subscription includes the new Principe Deveste Eight Supercar for free (packed with a Performance Upgrade), two liveries for the same, and other cosmetics. You can even buy the new McKenzie Field Hanger added with the Oscar Guzman Flies Again update for 30 percent off. What a steal!