Back when Bungie’s Destiny was still doing platform-exclusive content, it would release certain Exotics and Strikes about one year later on Xbox One and PC. This usually coincided with big expansions, like The Taken King, so everyone received a free Hawkmoon. And while free Exotics for no other reason than because your greedy publisher wanted as much cash out of your IP as possible and is now throwing you a bone out of pity is neat, it was also inconsequential. Save for the feeling of “Why even bother?”
As out of left field as it sounds, Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced and Expanded finally coming to PC provided the same feeling. Referred to Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced, it launched to some…mixed user reviews on Steam. How mixed? Out of 12,757 user reviews at this time, only 51 percent are positive. It peaked at 187,059 concurrent players shortly after release and averaged a little over 159,000 players in the last 24 hours, so clearly people are playing.
However, the impression among many fans, especially the longtime Grand Theft Auto Online fans that you’re trying to appeal to ranges from “negative” to an overwhelming “meh.”
Maybe it’s because the content arrives about three years later and isn’t considered all that substantial. Hao’s Special Works is a nice addition to the game, with 25 different cars to upgrade and special liveries if you win enough races. PC players even get five brand-new vehicles that haven’t been available till now, though you have to wonder how worthwhile that may be. After all, they’ve received plenty of new vehicles, and assorted craft through updates.
At least the revamped Landing Page looks good, and the new Career Builder helps ease new players in while getting them into the fun stuff faster. On the other hand, longtime players have faced different issues, particularly with migrating their progress from the original release (aka Grand Theft Auto 5 Legacy). Story Mode seems to carry over well enough, allowing players to appreciate the visual enhancements (such as they are, but we’ll get to that), but those on GTA Online are having no luck.
The other problem is Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced exists as its own game. Don’t get me wrong: From a specifications point of view, this makes perfect sense. The Legacy version launched in April 2015 and recommends a GTX 660 and a third-generation Core i5. It’s an easy choice for those with less powerful hardware, so why mess with that audience by making this a mandatory update?
However, even if the migration issue is resolved, there’s the problem of splitting your audience. Those with the Enhanced version can’t play GTA Online with Legacy owners. If you’re on the former but your friends are stuck on the latter due to hardware limits, you can’t play together. Of course, you could always maintain two separate installations – one for the Enhanced version to enjoy all the new features and the other for Legacy to team up with your pals.
Two saves with separate progressions and one nagging feeling about the point of it all. At least you can still play with randoms online, right? However, text chat has also been removed, so you better get on the microphone if you want even the slightest chance of success in heists.
But surely you can’t be too hard on a free upgrade for current owners? Rockstar has even discounted a bundle containing the Legacy and Enhanced editions with the Criminal Enterprise Starter Pack by 50 percent. The latter gives you numerous properties, vehicles and weapons alongside GTA$10,000,000. What a deal…except many have reported not receiving items from the Starter Pack, so that’s one more issue to add to the pile.
However, all of this aside, it’s a free upgrade. Just ignoring all the problems, it lets you play Grand Theft Auto 5 on PC with ray-traced reflections and shadows, AMD FSR 1 and 3 or DLSS, and faster loading times. Surely, that must count for something, right?
Well, yes, but also no. The PC version of Enhanced also packs in ray-traced ambient occlusion and global illumination, and the results are pretty good. While it can be largely unnoticeable in some interiors, watching sunlight pouring through an archway and realistically illuminating the area, bringing out its colors all the more, is pretty great.
However, the ray-traced reflections are a different matter. While they can look good in several scenarios – admiring skyscrapers or the shiny hoods of sportscars – there’s a certain blurriness in their quality. Also, many buildings don’t use ray-traced reflections, utilize the Legacy version’s reflection system or lack reflections altogether. And as gorgeous as the game can look during a rainy night, the reflections in certain water bodies look inaccurate.
On the bright side, at least Rockstar fixed an issue capping the frame rate at 120 FPS and DLSS performance is solid (even if MSAA is much better quality). Loading times are also improved by a few seconds in Story Mode. And hey, for what it’s worth, GTA+, Rockstar’s subscription service, is seemingly working without a hitch. If all the microtransactions in GTA Online weren’t enough already, you can pay even more to the company. Talk about generosity! Considering all the other issues, its addition stings all the more for PC players.
The final verdict for Grand Theft Auto 5 Enhanced? If you’ve never played the base game, have a good rig, and are comfortable with using your mic in GTA Online (and quickly finding out why text chat is better), it’s worth checking out. Grand Theft Auto 5’s story is still one of the very best in video games, with memorable characters and an involving plot as lovingly over-the-top as it is satirically biting.
There’s also a stunning open world to explore, with so much enjoyable content and incredible attention to detail that will catch your eye. This was true over a decade ago when the game first launched and even more so when the PC version arrived later. You could argue that this is even superior to the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 versions, with ray-traced AO and GI making the world look more natural, lived-in and breath-taking than ever.
If you’re a longtime owner, then maybe it’s worth downloading to check out the lighting changes in single-player. Drive around Los Santos, seeing the better side of the reflections (just don’t look too closely at them), maybe doing a fresh playthrough.
For GTA Online players, the hassle of migrating your progress over isn’t worth it right now, and you can’t even play with Legacy friends. The latest update, Oscar Guzman Flies Again, might be worth checking out because beyond making specific cars faster in Hao’s Special Works and partaking in some races, there isn’t much new content in the Enhanced version.
You can go either way on whether the three-year wait was worth it because, before this, all eyes were on Rockstar to provide an update on Grand Theft Auto 6. A new trailer, new details, anything. Instead, they received a grim reminder of Rockstar’s desire for more cash, its reputation for problematic upgrades, the apparent disdain that it has for PC players (if the lack of a PC version for GTA 6 wasn’t enough), and its constant milking of a game that’s beyond tapped.
