Grand Theft Auto 5: Xbox Series S Next-Gen Features Tested - 60FPS, Loading Times and More!

Is everything intact on Xbox Series S? We put Microsoft's entry-level console through its paces with direct comparisons to Series X - where ray-traced shadows proved a highlight. Performance at 60fps appears to be on average worse off on Series S overall, despite the drop to a native 1080p - but is it still playable? Tom finds out.

[TheLegendOf]

I cant speak for everyone, but ray tracing isnt as important to me as frame rate and polygon/texture quality. But to each their own

[a]

This should've been a free Smart Delivery update across current gen consoles. Great analysis, disappointing lack of ambition from Rockstar.

[austinjohnson]

Considering that the Series S is outselling the Series X, devs really need to spend more time optimizing for the S, because it's in more people's hands. It has the power to handle most games, it's about the effort that is put in from the developers.

[PuneetMhajan]

They did the bare minimum. They know that to make money in today's world, you don't really need to innovate. All you need is a basic "good enough" product and that's it, keep bringing hype and new stuff, and new people will show interest, and the cycle never ends.

Excellency isn't rewarded THAT much in today's world anymore.

[HarryB]

It would be nice if we eventually got a video about GTA Online and its performance. GTA Online has a bunch of background scripts running all the time that affects performance, and GTA Online is the main player focus really since it’s responsible for most of the long term success with GTA V.

[fpstechtesting]

I guess it's no suprise that we have a lower resolution and no RT on series s. Both of those require plenty of VRAM. 1080p is just fine at 60fps, but what's most annoying are those drops, surely bespoke changes could have been made by Rockstar to get a better lock?

[FutureAlien]

Technically, the Series S version seems to be about what I expected and I agree that there was a lack of ambition here. But the most important issue for the next-gen versions is the price. This should have been a free update, the likes of which we have seen a lot of. I'd imagine they could have used the good publicity after the GTA Trilogy debacle but hey, what do I know...

[SilverChoc]

What’s making this version of the game much more demanding than last gen and PC at very high settings? Most of the improvements other than ray tracing seem to be a lot of small improvements that shouldn’t cost too much on their own, so I don’t get why it’s running worse than it did on GTX 970/R9 290x tier cards. I would understand if they increased draw distances, ultra tier grass and even higher quality AF, but draw distances are still PS4/XBO level despite the significant CPU improvement.

[williamcrms]

The Series S has circa three times the GPU horsepower of an Xbox One yet drops to mid-30fps at 1080p (same res as XB1) with no RT enhancements or other major upgrades. Rockstar must have spent ten minutes tops working on this version.

[HdezJorge]

Most of the people I know with a Series S don’t care about ray tracing. They didn’t buy the console with that feature in mind. For them performance/loading times and features like quick resume are what matter the most. Most of them say they can’t tell the difference between rt/on and rt/off.

[danbooke]

The problem isn't the Series S (yes, it's not up to par with PS5 and Series X). The problem is this "port" doesn't do much to take advantage of current gen features.

It's like developers are porting their titles to this gen and just being fine with SSD load speeds and calling it a "next gen upgrade".

[optimistprime]

It's not that the xbox series S is being left behind though. If you want a true example of what it's capable of look no further than metro Exodus enhanced edition. Even on the less powerful series S console it's still able to push 60 FPS and full ray tracing global illumination With only dynamic 1080P resolution as the cost. These games are not fully optimized to take full advantage of what these systems have to offer. And it's a shame that these choices are not here.

[pherron]

To be honest, I don't really notice ray tracing unless it on water or shiny stuff and even then, when I'm in the thick of the action it still just blends into the background. It doesn't affect my overall game enjoyment as a gameplay improvement like good AI would. Until they can implement it without the performance hit most developers should omit it. 99% of players won't even notice it. It should definitely be in picture mode though.

[sheppo]

Meanwhile watchdogs legion does full ray tracing just fine on the SX. Feels a lot like this is a cut corner by the dev rather than a technical limitation on a 9 year old game.

[Henlak-]

GTAO really killed R*'s ambition

This should've been a free "upgrade" that we got from the launch of next gen.

A quick 60FPS patch should've come on day 1 then they could add the "Ray tracing" later

[cameraman]

“There’s no ray tracing on series s but only on series x “ Like there’s ray tracing to begin with

[hotdognl]

Just noticed something funny about the difference in shadows: While technicaly the diffuse shadows should be more correct I'm still not completely sure wich version appears more natural. The diffuse shadows are still as dark as the smaller, non RT shadows. The effect should not just expand a diffuse shadow but also make the shadows less dark.
Seems R* is still trying to master the use of RT and has forgotten that more is not always better. Just as they did with the new broken glas effects.

[Orain]

I hope FSR 2.0 will make a big difference for series S allowing for more raytracing and more upsampled 4k support.

[stewardappiagyei]

While Series S doesn't get ray tracing here, there *ARE* a number of titles that do have the feature implemented like Hellblade, Metro Exodus (at 60fps no less), Watchdogs Legion and Matrix Awakens. Clearly the console can handle the feature in detailed game worlds. And this is ignoring the possibility for further optimizations and performance boosting tech like FSR 2.0 down the line. There is no cause for concern with Series S' performance imo.

(Edit: erroneously included Gears 5 in the supported RT games).

[braedonlock]

It would be cool to see the new Dying light 60 FPS mode and the balanced mode for seriesx/PS5. Upvote so they can see!