GTAV PC Trevor

Rockstar have announced that the much-anticipated PC version of Grand Theft Auto V has been pushed back to March 24 2015. While the game had held a January launch date for some time, Rockstar’s relative silence on the matter in recent weeks had led many to suspect that a delay might be imminent, which has indeed turned out to be the case.

At least the news has also prompted Rockstar to give us some more information about the port, which Rockstar claims runs at 1080p and 60fps at up to 4k resolution: if true, a massive improvement over the famously shonky GTA IV PC port performance-wise. The game will also support up to triple monitor configurations, utilizing Nvidia 3D Vision.

Naturally, all this requires a fair bit of horsepower. Rockstar also announced the system requirements, which are:

Minimum specifications:
OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1, Windows Vista 64 Bit Service Pack 2* (*NVIDIA video card recommended if running Vista OS)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs) / AMD Phenom 9850 Quad-Core Processor (4 CPUs) @ 2.5GHz
Memory: 4GB
Video Card: NVIDIA 9800 GT 1GB / AMD HD 4870 1GB (DX 10, 10.1, 11)
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
HDD Space: 65GB
DVD Drive

Recommended specifications:
OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit, Windows 7 64 Bit Service Pack 1
Processor: Intel Core i5 3470 @ 3.2GHZ (4 CPUs) / AMD X8 FX-8350 @ 4GHZ (8 CPUs)
Memory: 8GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 660 2GB / AMD HD7870 2GB
Sound Card: 100% DirectX 10 compatible
HDD Space: 65GB
DVD Drive

GTAV PC FranklinThis is in line with the recently released specs for The Witcher 3 and Evolve, suggesting further that the bar for gaming specs is set to raise this year with a 64 bit OS and a hefty hard drive will be vital to keep up with the major releases. The 65 GB space hit is particularly notable, but not that surprising when you consider that the new-gen console versions of the game weigh in at 50 GB. One would expect the extra 15 gigs to be at least partly taken up with ultra high-def textures.

The port will also include the Rockstar Editor, a editing suite allowing players to create gameplay clips to the Rockstar Social Club and YouTube, and… wait for it… those heists they’ve been talking about adding to GTA Online since the 360/PS3 versions released. Rockstar claim that the online heists will launch in the ‘coming weeks’ leading up to the PC version’s release, which means that we should know more very soon. Maybe.

GTAV PC Highway