2025 was meant to be the year thatGrand Theft Auto 6finally hit the shelves, but the project has been struck with a delay that will see it release in May 2026. In general, 2025 has already been a strong year for gaming, withClair Obscur: Expedition 33,Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2,Split Fiction,Monster Hunter Wilds,and many other titles already being Game of the Year worthy with more exciting projects on the way. 2025’s gaming scene will more than survive withoutGTA 6, and it seems thatGTA 5will too with this impressive graphical upgrade.
Grand Theft Autohas a reasonably impressive modding scene, with Rockstar even owning a modding team to aid in converting mods. Thanks to its online features,GTA 5has been given the tools to be a long-lived titleand survive the more than decade-long wait for a sequel. A recently made mod has shown that community-created content is as important in this regard as online functionality, as shown off by the impressiveNaturalVision Enhancedmod that givesGTA 5the graphical upgrade it needs to match most modern games and compete with its own sequel.
NaturalVision Enhanced Makes GTA 5 Look Almost As Good As GTA 6
Lighting Enhancements Make All The Difference
Maybe by the talented Razed Mods,NaturalVision Enhancedbrings current gen visuals to the enhanced version ofGTA 5, making Los Santos look more realistic than ever. There is also a version in the works for the legacy edition (original) of the game too, calledNaturalVision Evolved, although this is currently in its beta stage.What makesNaturalVision Enhancedsuch a game-changer forGTA 5is massive upgrades to lighting, although many other visual features have been greatly enhanced as well, aiming to make this twelve-year-old game look as realistic as possible with an all-in-one package.
Razed Mods also made visual enhancement mods forGTA: The Trilogy, Red Dead 2,andDying Light 2.
NaturalVision Enhancedaims to take full advantage of the ray-tracing features added inGTA 5 Enhanced, hence why the lighting looks so impressive in the trailer shown onYouTube. This makes the reflections of metallic surfaces, like cars, look almost photoreal, and while the character models lack the polygon counts of theirGTA 6counterparts to sell the photorealism, when driving around, players could almost be fooled into thinking that this isGTA 6. Although lighting improvements are the biggest talking point, especially with how ray tracing has been taken advantage of, it isn’t the only upgrade.
The weather has been reworked to be more realistic, ambient colors have been enhanced to make the game seem more vibrant, and the colors really pop in the trailer.Textures and models have been enhanced, and this can be seen best with the vegetationaround San Andreas' map, which all contribute to how realistic the game can look, especially at night when it’s raining. The reflections from puddles help to sell this realistic aesthetic, and it’s all because of ray tracing that has been built upon by this mod.GTA 5has never looked better.
Modding Will Keep GTA 5 Alive Until GTA 6 Drops
And Online Will Pull Its Weight Until May
The wait forGTA 6has been an arduous one, especially since it has recently been extended, but ifthe recent trailer is anything to go by, it seems like Rockstar will maintain its standard of excellence with it. Rockstar needs to, given how popularGTA 5was and how big the IP is, makingGTA 6’s launch possibly the biggest gaming has ever seen, and it better be with that $100 price tag. Still, that doesn’t meanGTA 5doesn’t have legs, especially becauseGTA 6will take a little longerto get to PC and have online functionality.
GTA 5had its online mode about two weeks after the game launched (GTA 5released on June 27, 2025, and got its online mode on October 1 the same year).
To get the closest thing toGTA 6while waiting until May, or even longer for PC players,mods likeNaturalVision Enhancedare important for this. While this specific mod requires an RTX or otherwise ray-tracing enabled GPU to look good,GTA 6won’t run on a PC without the high-end specs anyway. One issue withNaturalVision Enhanced, and to a lesser extentGTA 5modding as a whole, is that it is currently only available for the single-player campaign, although this might be a blessing in disguise for those prepping forGTA 6.
GTA 6won’t launch an online mode, at least as far as is known right now, andplaying the single-player campaign ofGTA 5one more time, withNaturalVision Enhanced, could be the perfect way for players to build anticipation for the sequel. Rockstar has always been famed for its writing, withRed Dead Redemption 2being most recent. Players immersing themselves back in the satirical world ofGTAthrough5’s campaign is the perfect way of getting prepared forGTA 6, at least in theory.
GTA 5 Modding Could Paint GTA 6’s Future
GTA 6 Could Last As Long As GTA 5
It’s no secret that games are taking longer to develop and developers are looking at ways to extend a game’s shelf life while fans wait for the next project. AlthoughGTA 5’s online has been the go-to method for this, especially because Rockstar has been steadily providing supportand content for it, modding could play its part inGTA 6.NaturalVision Enhanced’s current version is one of the most impressive visual overhauls in all of modding, not just forGTA 5, and it came out on the eve ofGTA 6’s release, over a decade after5launched.
GTA 6could be around for over a decade without a sequel, especially if there’s a thirdRed Dead,and ifGTA 6online is as popularas its predecessor, which it probably will be. With many big games getting official mod support, andRockstar kind of doing the same with the official modding team helping convert mods from the originalGTA 5to theEnchancededition, it makes sense thatGTA 6will get a slice of that in its future. Supporting a community that loves a game enough to make content for it is never a bad thing.
In the meantime,NaturalVision Enhancedis here to give players a taste ofGrand Theft Auto 6by makingGTA 5andSan Andreaslook more realistic than ever. PC players will have to buckle up and wait even longer forGTA 6to reach their platform, soNaturalVision Enhancedcould be used to scratch the itch and stem the envy while console players are running around Vice City in May 2026. Still, there’s a year to go for everyone, andNaturalVision Enhancedmight be the answer to those tired of the seemingly eternal wait.
