Before launching GTA Online, tweak these PS5/Xbox Series settings

Grand Theft Auto Online will never die. Rockstar will simply port it to future consoles to the heat death of the universe. (Or until people stop playing it…whichever comes first.) And because the universe is still moving and people are still playing, Rockstar recently ported GTA Online on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. These new ports have a large, potentially overwhelming amount of settings to play around with, including the ability to change how the game handles ray tracing, key driving controls, and more.

The game is totally playable and looks great right out of the box. However, you can vastly improve your experience by taking a moment to review the settings menu and making a few tweaks. Here are some I recommend:

Choose Performance or Fidelity mode on next-gen consoles

GTA Online supports a few different visual quality modes on the fancy new consoles. Personally, I’m a big fan of the performance mode, which finally lets console gamers enjoy it too GTA Online at 60fps. However, if you prefer higher quality shadows and a sharper image, Rockstar also offers a 4K/30fps mode that looks very nice on a high-end TV.

There’s also a third option, Performance RT, but I’d stay away from that. The ray tracing effects in this game aren’t spectacular – they’re mostly limited to shadows – and the trade-off to get RT isn’t worth it, as the game struggles to maintain 60fps in high-traffic areas in this mode. If you want high-quality graphics, stick with fidelity, otherwise go for performance. All three modes can be found in the visual settings menu.

Turn off the PS5’s adaptive triggers

In most games, I enjoy the PS5’s adaptive triggers (force feedback) as they add extra weight to actions like firing a gun or smashing an enemy. However inside GTA Online, I quickly turned them off. For one, the implementation seems buggy, making an odd constant ticking clicking noise even when I was just standing around.

Another reason I turned them off is because I have over 700 hours of muscle memory GTA Online, and the new triggers screwed that up, making it harder for me to ride. To turn off adaptive triggers, go to the controls section of the settings menu.

Increase brightness when using HDR

When I started playing GTA Online It looked dark on my PS5. Looking around online, this seems to be a fairly common problem. I fixed this by increasing the brightness settings via the HDR calibration menu in the game’s visual settings. On the screen where you tweak the various HDR options, I had to crank the brightness up to the point where it almost looked too bright. A bit odd, but this resulted in a nice looking image in game. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your TV and setup.

Make the reticle bigger (or change it completely!)

GTA Online‘s simple aiming reticle appears to be much smaller in the next-gen port than it was on the older consoles. Or I’m just getting older. Or it looks smaller because of the resolution increase. Whatever the reason, if you also want the reticle dot to get bigger, you can easily change it from the weapon aim option in the visual settings menu. Oh, and while you’re there, you can switch to the “complex” aiming style, which gives each weapon type its own unique crosshair.

Change the handbrake control for a more classic one GTA Online Feel

I know some prefer R1/RB as handbrake button GTA Online, but in my mind it will always be X/A. I can’t remember when, but eventually Rockstar changed that setting and switched the default setting of the handbrake controls from the original buttons to the bumpers. Luckily, you can change it back through the controller’s settings menu.

Note, however, that these and a few other settings are often reverted to their default options for seemingly no reason. The magical world of GTA Online!

Oh, change the drive-by controls too

You’ll find them in the same settings area as the handbrake stuff, you can also tweak how you shoot and drive. I know some people prefer the “point and shoot” option, but I find it cumbersome in hectic moments and rarely feel like I need to be precise when driving and shooting. So I’ll switch to the easier option, which shoots the moment you press the button.

Change the vehicle camera height

I don’t know why Rockstar keeps changing my settings and lowering the car cam, but I wish it would stop. I find it much easier to drive in third person when using the elevated car camera option. To change this – or reset it after resetting it again – go to the camera section of settings and set the “Car Camera Height” to high instead of low.

Lock your car to prevent strangers from stealing it

The name of the game is literal Grand Theft Auto, so it’s not surprising to hear people steal cars all the time. But you don’t want your own car stolen. To prevent this, open the interaction menu, go to vehicle settings and change access to “Friends and crew only”. This way your friends and crew members can enter your car freely and not random strangers.

However, if your friend decides to betray you and steal your ride, you can kick him and everyone else out via the “empty own vehicle” option, conveniently located in the same place as the vehicle access setting.

Stay stylish and stay bulletproof

Stay stylish but safe GTA Online by hiding your bulletproof armor. Just go to the Body Armor section in the Style Settings section of the Interaction Menu. Once there, not only can you equip armor, but you can also turn it invisible, allowing you to look cool while wearing a kevlar vest.

Limit all those annoying messages cluttering the screen

Finally if you find GTA Online‘S Frequent, annoying in-game messages and notifications (and they can be), don’t hesitate to change the notification settings. To do this, open the settings menu and scroll down to Notifications. There you can turn them all off, limit which ones you see and/or slow down how often they appear.

Personally I leave them on but limit how often they can spawn as they are sometimes useful. But I understand why you might want to turn them all off to get some peace and quiet. No judgement. We all need a little rest every now and then.