New Leak Details 'GTA 6' Game Engine; Could Go Toe-To-Toe With Unreal Engine 5

Fans of "Grand Theft Auto" who are impatiently waiting for the popular gaming franchise's next mainline entry may have something to cheer about as a reliable industry insider has leaked some details regarding the new title.

Rockstar Games confirmed that "GTA 6" is in development earlier this year, but no other information was provided by the gaming studio.

The industry insider who goes by the name Matheusvictorbr shared in an interview that the upcoming "GTA" game installment uses the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) 9, which Rockstar expects could "compete directly with Unreal Engine 5." The RAGE 9, according to the insider, houses a plethora of features, some of which are exclusive to "GTA 6."

These features include "massive improvements to how players and NPCs interact with each other and the world around them." Moreover, the game engine reportedly has the ability to "revolutionize environmental effects," like how the wind impacts vehicles players are driving, as well as water physics.

"GTA 6" will also benefit from the revolutionary mechanics of the game engine. In a nutshell, the game engine is the software framework designed for video game development–the CPU counterpart in PCs, which processes data to produce games.

Compared to Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5, which only supports 12K resolution textures, RAGE has supported 16K textures since 2018, suggesting that it has accumulated more features in the span of four years. The insider also noted that with RAGE 9, "GTA 6" will be a game that's ahead of its time.

These details align with what Rockstar Magazine author Chris Kippel said about the RAG 9. In a tweet, Kippel said, "Obviously, the new version of the graphics engine of #RockstarGames (RAGE9), which will be used for #GTA6, is likely to be quite incredible. I was able to get very positive feedback; we really shouldn't be disappointed on this point. We are talking about an engine ahead of its time." https://twitter.com/Chris_Klippel/status/1517489562452480000

"GTA 5" is the second best-selling game of all time and Rockstar Games is pressured to release an equivalent or better successor. The game developer's goal in developing the next-generation "GTA" title is to make it as realistic as possible.