GTA 6 Graphics: Inside the New RAGE Engine
Derived from official trailers and screenshots.
Trailer 2 revealed a generational leap — ray tracing, lifelike water, hair physics, and procedural detail.
- Category
- Tech
- Published
- May 15, 2025
- Read time
- 6 min
- Author
- Tech Desk
Trailer 2 and Rockstar's screenshots showcased a major technical leap on a new version of the RAGE engine (informally dubbed 'RAGE 9' by the community).
Water is rendered with high-quality meshes that deform realistically as boats cut through them, with translucency that varies by water type. Shadows are detailed enough to capture individual hair strands and netted windows without shimmering, and large panning shots reveal huge draw distances with smooth world streaming.
Rockstar developers have teased cutting-edge tech including ray tracing, ray-traced global illumination, and procedural generation for objects and environments. Hair physics in particular saw a dramatic improvement over Trailer 1.