Sony launched the PS5 Pro in November 2024 without a must-have showcase title. Nineteen months later, GTA 6 is the first game with the scale and technical ambition to truly stress-test the Pro's hardware — and the stakes are enormous for Sony.
Part 1
Sony launched the PlayStation 5 Pro in November 2024 without a must-have showcase title. Nineteen months later, it still does not have one. Grand Theft Auto 6 is the first game with the scale, the ambition, and the technical demands to truly stress-test what this hardware can do.
Part 2
The PS5 Pro has a hardware advantage on paper: 67% more compute units than the base PS5, 28% faster memory bandwidth, approximately 45% faster rendering performance, and ray tracing speeds up to twice as fast. PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, Sony's AI-driven upscaling technology, rounds out the package.
Part 3
The problem is what that upgrade has actually delivered in practice. Since launch, the PS5 Pro Enhanced library has consisted almost entirely of games that already existed on the base PlayStation 5. Gran Turismo 7 got higher resolution, Spider-Man 2 received improved ray tracing, and Ratchet and Clank benefited from better frame pacing. None is the kind of transformational difference that justifies the now-$900 console.