Digital Foundry Analyzes GTA 6 Trailer: May Not Use PS5's New QSSR Upscaling

Digital Foundry Analyzes GTA 6 Trailer: May Not Use PS5's New QSSR Upscaling

Digital Foundry has analyzed the technical details of the GTA 6 trailer and suggests the footage may not have used QSSR, Sony's new upscaling technology for the base PS5. QSSR is a counterpart to the PSSR tech found on PS5 Pro, designed to deliver high-quality image scaling on the standard console. It is currently limited to Sony's first-party titles, including Marvel's Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei, both slated for 2026. Sony's longer-term goal is reportedly to open QSSR to third-party developers, including Rockstar Games. The timing of bringing the technology to the base PS5 is notable, arriving about a month before GTA 6's launch, a game said to run well on the older console. However, in Digital Foundry's video, Rich Leadbetter argued that if the internal rendering resolution is 1440p, upscaling to 4K with QSSR would cost around 4 milliseconds, more than 10 percent of a 33ms render budget, calling it a considerable waste. He questioned what QSSR would offer if the internal resolution is already relatively high and noted that image quality was one of the aspects criticized in the Extended Look. According to the analysis, GTA 6 may not be fully optimized for Sony's new upscaling tech, with a native 1440p resolution targeting 4K displays. More information is needed once the game launches to confirm whether and how Rockstar uses PSSR/QSSR. The discussion is relevant for players…