GTA VI Trailer: Technical Analysis

[@KommanderKarl]

No one ever has to of course but any support is always appreciated :) patreon.com/kommanderkarl

[@itsmethedog3718]

fancy seeing you here

[@AdrianDaWeeb]

Appreciate the fact you had to actually ANALYZE the scene with the running man and the disappearing gas pump reflection.

[@KommanderKarl]

It was difficult to find that lol, had to do a lot of squinting and going over different scenes. But it does confirm the game will likely not feature ray traced reflections.

[@AdrianDaWeeb]

@@KommanderKarl thankfully. Idk if my device would handle it 😂

[@BobOrKlaus]

@@AdrianDaWeeb exactly my thought lol

[@DanielLangeYT]

Keep in mind you see the reflection of him when the car passes infront of him right after - sooo there might be some ray tracing as well

[@HatonomousVehicle]

@@KommanderKarl Not sure if you've seen the Digital Foundry analysis but they pointed out in the same clip, the man's reflection on the ground is still visible even after being occluded a passing truck. Also in a driving scene the rear view is reflecting what's behind it.

[@dhcook1140]

I admire your resilience in only commenting on the hair animations instead of the amazing "jiggle physics" that Rockstar went all out on. Well done sir. WELL done.

[@NinjaRufio]

3:56 Karl analyzes the hair graphics faster than the trailer switches scenes

[@bartmannn6717]

**Really curvaceous girl jiggling on the car roof** No one: Kommander Karl: Look at the hair!

[@OrionInSpace]

Now THIS is what I've been waiting for! Seeing a game developer break down the most anticipated game in history is awesome. Hope to see more videos like this in the future as more details come out about the game Karl.👍

[@nimroids6587]

This is actually an awesome and interesting breakdown. I’d love to see more of this kind of video! Thanks dude.

[@therealking6202]

Agreed.

[@itsnot1673]

Wow this is not the place i expected to get the most thorough analysis of GTA 6. Well done :)👌

[@thimblebirb]

fax

[@YOEL_44]

The guy's a game dev and a master of 3D graphics, I think it's the obvious place to look for it. Also, it's not his first analysis.

[@gregfrllo]

i really love your tech analysis on video games, thank you

[@KommanderKarl]

Yeah man, I think enough people like them that I’ll put them on this channel. I have a weird identity on here but I’m sticking to the gaming niche. Need to stop the shitposting tho 😅

[@HubertBeckham]

​@@KommanderKarlI know I like them

[@maikerugo]

I really, really appreciate a professional's analysis of technology like this. It's a refreshingly different angle from what everyone else is doing when looking at this trailer. As for other games, I kind of want to see an analysis of classic games and their tech since I know that many of them would use some particularly interesting tricks to make something work with the hardware available at the time and as well as limitations and glitches that tended to be seen across games of a particular era (I remember seeing some odd texture buffer glitches in Half Life engine games a long time back that would show up in everyone's screenshots).

[@georgeabreu6392]

Very nice analysis. Loved seeing the intersection between the 3D art, the physics, and the computation rendering techniques. Awesome intersection of all these things in game dev. Also, really liked that you used and explained the technical terms and base concepts. Hope to see more like these in the future.

[@Sharmin8r]

Love these analysis videos, you really know what you're talking about. Would love to see more.

[@Somerandomguy524]

This is nice, I thought this was a purely entertainment funny channel but these technical discussions are interesting too.

[@blocbonbon]

Randomly clicked on this vid, love the in depth tech analysis as a game designer myself!

[@roccoleader279]

Glad to hear someone talk about how good the lighting is!! It really is incredible!

[@s7robin105]

Great eye on those details. The fact it looks so similar is why I find some reactions a bit odd, like people seem unsure if the shots are "just cutscenes or gameplay" but every cutscene in Red Dead is done in engine and looks just like normal gameplay. There is no reason to assume the game won't look how it does, as again, it looks like a more polished Red Dead.

[@schadowizationproductions6205]

Thank you for your service so far, Kommander!

[@sledxdomi3653]

I never watched the actual trailer for this game but was suuper exited to see that u made a video on it

[@R3TR0J4N]

Thanks and appreciate the given time analysing the trailer Karl 👋 but you do missed mentioning the GYATT physics.

[@SaxSlaveGael]

Please do a technical analysis on Elden Ring! I really loved the simplicity of this analysis and I really enjoyed seeing the more serious side of you!

[@LilRonaSerena]

Have you checked whether the hair simulation is being done for characters that aren’t in center frame? It seems possible that it’s an effect that is only applied within a limited distance, and only near the middle of the viewport. This is a fantastic and interesting analysis! This is my first time seeing the trailer, but now I’m interested and very curious! Great work, Commander!

[@YOEL_44]

The simplest way of doing it would be using the already existing LOD levels, and only allowing the highest one to handle those features. With that in mind, I would say that it doesn't matter if it's in the middle or a corner of the screen, it would look the same, and from a gameplay point of view, I think it's the best option, otherwise as soon as you start turning the camera you would start seeing a bunch of very detailed animations start from a complete stand still, it would look quite unnatural.

[@therealking6202]

Ahem, *Kommander.

[@kaiomm]

A very detailed and knowledgeable analysis. Great video Commander!

[@uogiusj]

My technical analysis - everything's made a little prettier for the trailer and real gameplay might... You know how it goes... Thank you for a real video, Kommander sir.

[@adamdahlstrom2095]

Can we all just appreciate how good "Bury The Hatchet" theme is from GTA 5 (the background music)

[@YOEL_44]

RDR2 mud/snow system is what probably runs the new sand deformation (ground tessellation) too, we also see an example of that in the Thrillbilly Mud Club scene.

[@Keev250]

all of this analysis in only 5 minutes?!? Impressive.

[@flummox3d]

Damn, that SSR catch at 1:25, I don't think anyone mentioned it yet in the overabundance of "things you haven't noticed in the GTA VI trailer".

[@TaccRaccoon]

What blew me away the most about the graphics is the fact that rockstar never uses CG animated trailers for their games, so that means this is all what the game will actually look like

[@YOEL_44]

R* has tipically never used shots not taken from the game engine, but they might show extremelly doctored scenes with (in actual game) imposible situations, animations that don't apear in the final game and engine settings that not even top of the line computers from 10 years in the future could hope to run in real time. Also this is a cinematic trailer, not a gameplay one, so take it with a severe amount of salt.

[@ArturKwaszyn]

​@YOEL_44 take a look at any previous Rockstar trailer. Even if they play with lightning and camera angles, the games still turn out to be just as good, or even better than trailers. Therefore, even if this is cinematic, the game is still going to look like this. It would make literally zero sense for them to forfeit 20 years of doing in-engine trailers and create something that isn't in-game.

[@YOEL_44]

@@ArturKwaszyn Look out for the trailer 1 vs release GTA V thread in GTAForums, you'll see what I'm talking about.

[@shremk9100]

Great analysis! In regards to the reflections, I spotted some discrepancies in the reflections that could suggest ray tracing is also being used alongside SSR. In the same scene with the streaking man, it seems like it's only the gas pumps which disappear when occluded. If you go frame by frame, the reflection of the truck which the police officer runs past stays intact the whole time. There are also a few frames at the end of the scene where a truck covers basically the whole frame, but the reflection of the streaker remains visible. These are normally things that wouldn't be covered by cubemaps since they're dynamic objects, so maybe this could mean that certain elements are removed from the RT BVH structure for whatever reason, although only removing the gas pumps from that scene seems kinda odd. Possible RT use can also be seen in other scenes, like with the car that drives behind the guy in the crotch-grab scene, or with how cars seem to display self-reflectance of and in the side mirrors.

[@BobGeanis]

All I've been thinking about is how MUCH I'll have to upgrade my PC.

[@R3TR0J4N]

True! it's like GTAV release again, came full circle with GTA6 when it comes to the baseline if the PC is good enough.

[@JuliusTheTiger]

Agreed about not being to notice everything when stuff is zooming around the screen. If things are moving at 30, 60, 144, 240 FPS, we are less likely to notice things. I notice especially if it's in more of my peripheral vision, I am less likely to notice. Many game companies, film companies, and anime studios (more for TV shows) know this. Sometimes in an anime, I decided to look at one of the background characters, and the character will look strange (even though anime is sometimes, what, 8-12 FPS?). I'll notice this mostly if I look away from where the camera is pointed.

[@Backfisch5927]

Only analysation of this trailer i'm actually going to watch

[@DefinitelyNotJethro]

I hope you can play as a crocodile with the help of mods in gta 6 XD Nice analysis. I thought they would do something similar like they did in RDR2 too.

[@peickudeicku1493]

Seeing this technical analysis gives me excitement that what you see in the trailer is THE IN-GAME cutscene

[@Pi_is_ok]

More of these videos! Please!

[@invisiblehearths]

I'd love to hear a technical analysis of Myst and/or its sequels. Myst IV: Revelation in particular always crashed in the middle of the bubble-carrying puzzle--never finished it as a result, but I always wondered whether the graphics caused that glitch. Thanks for sharing your experienced perspective! I haven't had a lot of luck getting into shooter games, but I love your work regardless.

[@loganwolv3393]

I think R* is using a mix of everything when it comes to reflections, so that means somehow some parts of the reflection are actually ray traced, take a look at the cars reflecting, they're dynamic objects and they reflect without any artifacts in the puddles, the buttom part of the car looks entirely artifact free, so they're really mixing things together somehow.

[@KommanderKarl]

Cars use a combination of SSR and R* environment map system.

[@loganwolv3393]

My bad, i didin't phrase my sentence quite correctly, i meant to reffer to the puddles that reflect the car, the reflection of the buttom of the car looks flawless while in RDR2 what's out of screen space just cuts off, but if that's also envoirment map system then that's very very impressive and well done. Surely on PC we'll get actual ray traced reflections i imagine.

[@yingoyango3323]

amazing video!

[@godman7789]

3:59 there's a lot physics going on in this crib

[@HesTheCook]

Awesome breakdown; GTA 6 looks stunningly good so far.

[@SeriousDragonify]

Obviously you didnt clearly watch at all. 1:58

[@slapnut892]

I think Niktek did the best analysis on this.

[@KommanderKarl]

Niktek eh? We’ll see about that

[@KommanderKarl]

Just watched it. Holy shit you’re right.

[@MeltWithU]

It’s a good breakdown, I just caught this today for whatever reason… But, remember that rockstar addedsome raytracing into GTA V for the current systems. Adding real time reflections to shop windows and puddles. Though the reflections break up from a distance. Meaning that they only reflect stuff within a certain confine of the scene. Seemingly, maybe 30 feet out from the character or less. I’m not sure if they are using raytraced shadows also, but the shadows do look noticeably better. I imagine some of this is going to be carried over to GTA VI. Along with some upgrades. So I wouldn’t doubt that we will see some real time lighting or at least approximation over time, like as we saw in that UE5 demo. it seems like a lot of work has been put into animation and physics. Which, the rockstar engine always had great implementation of physics. I am hoping that it carries over to gameplay and it’s just not superficial. Rockstar is always the Company who pushes technology forward. Not that many companies ever follow suit, simply because rockstar spends $500 million to make their games. Something few other companies are willing to do, not knowing what the outcome will be. Whereas, with rockstar… They pretty much know that they are going to sell a ton of product to pay for the development costs. It will be interesting to see exactly how far they are going to push things on modern systems and if they aren’t already shooting for next generation. Which has been discussed already. They may be shooting for the PS5 Pro and next generation Xbox in 2026. And the current machines will be the PS3 to the PS4 or Xbox 360 to Xbox One Version of the game. Though, I imagine they will push the current machines to their max. Something very few developers. This generation have even come close to.

[@sganicocchi5337]

Karl technical videos yay. I absolute love these vids.

[@Knorrkator]

There seem to be some ray tracing reflections as well as seen in the car rear mirrors and if you look at the scene with the naked guy running in the last frame he gets occluded by a truck but his reflection remains

[@FokkerBoombass]

What do you think of the next-gen twerking physics?

[@abdoghany5008]

It's very cool to see the trailer through expert eyes like yours.

[@AintPopular]

Great watch

[@R3TR0J4N]

From me hating shadow rendering, to now me loving shadows being rendered at the distance. Legit captured realtime in engine.

[@SirFingleton]

damn. karl really knows his trade well

[@KommanderKarl]

You gotta know this shit if you’re gonna work in this industry lol

[@SirFingleton]

of course. i just find it impressive

[@RAFA120HOJAZ]

0:14 There is something that no one talks about, is that GTA VI will use a LOD system, and it is incredibly noticeable when they show the map from above, look at this direction

[@bshap495]

No one's talking about because it's nothing new. Every 3D game has an LOD system.

[@vin101]

Thankyou for making this video. 💓 finally someone who actually knows what they're talking about lol.

[@tomgnyc]

I think the subjunctive pixelative dilation is done using parallax deductive infraction.

[@epicdude3659]

Not gonna lie, ive never noticed the disappearing gas pump, and Ive seen the trailer about 6 or 7 times by now.

[@dancinglizard6034]

good work

[@therealking6202]

@3:20 Yeah, look at that...hair....lol...

[@tristandoran601]

The use of 'Love is a Long Road' by Tom Petty in this trailer was a master stroke.

[@guhguh4]

well after GTA 6 will come out you will do more npc series which is great

[@fatih.tavukcu]

The reflection disappearing at 1:40 is not due to the extreme viewing angle, but because the to be reflected image literally not being displayed anymore, as it leaves the screen on top, so there is nothing to be reflected anymore :)

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

I could be wrong, but I _think_ the term your looking for is "frustrum culling". _"In 3D computer graphics, a viewing frustum_ _or view frustum is the region of space in the_ _modeled world that may appear on the_ _screen; it is the field of view of a perspective_ _virtual camera system._ Therefore, frustrum culling being that anything not on the screen is culled, and as such, not processed. (thereby increasing performance)

[@balemdl866]

In the last frame of naked guy running scene most of the screen is obscured by the truck yet you can see the running man in reflection in the puddle which indicates a use of ray tracing. Most likely they'll use ray tracing for rendering NPCs and cars reflections

[@KommanderKarl]

It’s not raytracing because the reflection has no depth sorting. When his reflection passes in front of the reflection of a pump, the pump reflection disappears. This is highly indicated of screen space reflection. I’m very doubtful they’re going to use ray tracing for anything beyond perhaps indirect lighting.

[@vin101]

You should probably talk more about the rigs. Especially the hair. Are all the models going to have bone hair rigs? Or just the main characters.

[@diazaditya2426]

I think water gonna be best part of this game because they gonna use real time water simulation for gta 6

[@kellencameron3191]

The fact that I know all the technical terms you use XD

[@deadlockraven1849]

You should do a graphics analysis of Vice City remastered just to see where they went wrong in upscaling it and where they admittedly went right.

[@sword0115]

I hope the game will at least have an option for Ray-Traced reflections and shadows because GTA5 has that option (on PS5 and Xbox series X only)

[@citrigaming]

YOU ARE DOING GREAT! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

Maybe they're utilizing AMD's old (but presumably still kept modernized) _TressFX_ hair system? I believe the first Tomb Raider reboot utilized it. Whether that can produce the shadows you pointed out initially, I dunno... However, it definitely could do the lifelike individual strands, as that was it's claim to fame back then! And since I'm here and you mentioned SSR... Which reminded me of SSSS from Fallout 4, which is _"Screen Space Subsurface Scattering",_ could THAT be the technique for the hair shadows/lighting?

[@marcfuchs6938]

For a moment I was wondering "why is the funny NPC guy doing some kind of a tech analyzis?" Then I remembered "ah, he's a game developer...... being funny is just his side quest"

[@jasomtubol]

I really liked this!

[@Koen1702]

In the trailer right after 1:28 in this video a car passes by (isn’t shown in this video), but you can stil see the man’s reflection under the car. How was that possible if they were using ssr?

[@TH_Zireael2077]

Just hoping that GTA 6 will use raytracing. Or, ever better, path tracing like Cyberpunk 2077

[@HyouVizer]

Thanks for explaining it in laymans terms for us that dont know anything of game develop. All this looks very impressive 🤩

[@shravan1010]

There are leaks of a new groundbreaking water physics which are realistic

[@Izentahmed]

3:18 I know it's just detail, but it's not Lucia. Not same hair color and don't have the moles on the face

[@KommanderKarl]

Thank you, I wasn’t entirely sure.

[@HypnoPantsOnline]

Damn, that is some gorgeous lighting and graphics, hopefully the game isn't entirely made by their design departme--

[@alejandropulidorodriguez9723]

splendid

[@R3TR0J4N]

i cant wait for how much Ray Tracing will progress by the time the game is released, a new benchmark after Cyberpunk. no need for GTA mods that douse the road with baby oil anymore 😅 (Imagine slow drive bys underneath Vice City neon lights)

[@theraiden1018]

You said more in under 5 min than DF did in a whole hour

[@aninverse]

Of course you are a rendering G. Face palm moment for me 😃

[@bryansnaylor]

Now this is a sick concept. Tell me another creator that uses their knowledge to flex

[@Ingus-q7l]

I don't think RAGE is playing the major role, I think that its more on the art teams side, yes rage does play a role in path tracing, and illumination and terrain and more, but the FEEL of the game is more derived from the art. That's what I think

[@Anetaeus]

No better time to go over gta6 than at 666k subs

[@Superdude255]

But a 2026 release date for PC? C'mon Rockstar

[@Lazarusis4ever]

Duuuuuuuude thier not playing gta Wright, I must wreak havoc just to see what happens before I start the missions...

[@MrDilldock]

3:18 I don't think that is Lucia.

[@AnonymousMaykr]

Yeah the lights look nice but the surface of the skins on humans look meh. Feels to me like GTA 5 with pretty lights

[@KommanderKarl]

Human skin is still one of the most difficult things to render.

[@AnonymousMaykr]

​@@KommanderKarl I believe that. IMO Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3 do it pretty well (especially in comparison to this trailer).

[@null9652]

Bro you literally roasted rockstar games devs 💀💀💀

[@Izzo250]

Did I spot DAYS GONE in there?

[@TJ_ax]

Definitely a legit next gen looking game

[@thepathsa]

You somehow UPPED my excitement for the game with this video, sure, there may be some Screen Spaced effects, but either way, it's gorgeous! Great vid, you'll be going far 👍❤️

[@rodrigotm1461]

All the NPCs are *PACKED*

[@skyzocka]

Did you study computer graphics?

[@samghost13]

It's another GTA Game ant that's okay. It looks okay. I am more Hyped about Stalker 2 like the whole Stalker Myth and the Modding community it is so cool! I did some mods for Postal 2 and Postal Brain Damage! Long live the Modding Community and long live Kommander Karl! RWS Rock's!!!

[@Iburntmy_toast]

Can you reload a phone?

[@samghost13]

Those Open Worlds are not like the latest and greatest Graphics! Can't wait to see UE5 Stalker 2 like Robocop was Awesome! It was a good game and it looks so good! Without AMD FSR i could not play those games so cudos to AMD!

[@AngelicaFanGirl]

Get ready for revolutionary euphoria physics, and animations. So excited!

[@mksushi5754]

You missed something pretty crucial at 3:44, if you look closely you can see that the water is wet.

[@supersnailspeed_studio]

MEET MY MEAT BYCLE!!!!

[@isekaiexpress9450]

The hair animations seem to be prebaked and not a part of physics.

[@Al-Pacino-k7v]

Bist du eigentlich Deutscher? U german ?

[@e-frame5344]

NERD! I love this🤟

[@hichamkin3658]

Hello am human

[@MatchaFlavoredTea]

Never understood why people comment "FiRsT!." Lame.

[@goobyboyxp]

Same