Quick heads up before anything else: if you’re playing GTA V on PC right now, you’re on GTA V Enhanced, not the original 2015 release. Rockstar replaced the classic PC version entirely in March 2025 with a rebuilt engine that added ray tracing, DLSS 4, FSR 3, and a much bigger Advanced Graphics tab. If you find an old settings guide online with none of that mentioned, it’s outdated. The legacy version isn’t even available to buy anymore.
Short answer: turn on DLSS or FSR upscaling first; it’s the single biggest performance win with almost no visible quality loss at Quality mode. Then set ray tracing based on your GPU tier rather than maxing it by default, since it’s the most demanding setting in the new menu by far.
The setting that matters most: upscaling
At 1440p, DLSS Quality mode renders internally around 960p and upscales back up. Most people genuinely can’t tell the difference from native resolution at normal viewing distance, but the performance gain is immediate. This is the first thing to turn on regardless of your hardware, and it frees up headroom for ray tracing if you want it.
Ray tracing: worth it, but be deliberate about it
Ray tracing is the headline feature of the Enhanced update, and it genuinely changes how the game looks, especially at night and in rain. But Maximum RT can cost a lot of performance for a surprisingly small visual gain over Very High RT, and it can actually look noisier in motion. Unless you’re on a top-tier GPU with frame rate to spare, Very High RT is the smarter default.
By hardware tier
Lower-end GPUs (GTX 1650-class or similar): Lean on FSR/DLSS Performance mode, keep ray tracing off entirely, and don’t feel bad about it. The game still looks good with upscaling doing the heavy lifting.
Mid-range (RTX 3050-4060 range): DLSS/FSR Quality mode plus Very High RT is a comfortable target for most builds in this range.
High-end (RTX 4080 and up): You’ve got room to run Maximum RT with DLSS Quality and stay well above 60fps in most areas, though dense areas at night are still the biggest test of any GPU.
Bottom line
Don’t chase Maximum settings across the board just because you can. Upscaling first, then a ray tracing tier that matches your GPU realistically, gets you 90% of the visual upgrade without fighting your frame rate the whole time.
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