Yeah, game like GTA6 will require A LOT of CPU power for complex simulations, there is no way around this and most open world games this gen have very simple NPCs - worse than those in GTA5 and RDR2 (Cyberpunk was heavily criticized for this for example).
You can already see Crimson Desert dropping to 30fps or below in CPU heavy scenarios on PS5 and Pro.
Exactly! I will say there are somethings that can be scalable even on the CPU side, you could make hair physics less physically accurate than what we're seeing in the trailers so far, you could dramatically decrease NPC counts, downgrade Euphoria physics or have a ceiling of complexity for it that is appropriate for a 60fps game with all the other systems working in tandem on a Zen2 CPU from 2019/2020…
You could do so many things that may plausibly be scalable, this same principle can be done even in GTA 3 if you extend that belief, they could've decreased the number of cars, NPCs & other stuff and it would've hit 50fps or so on a PS2, you could decrease & decrease, simplify & simplify, remove & remove, until the game or the engine does not meet your goals or your design philosophy. But what we do know for a fact is building a game strictly at 30, will always lend you double the amount of what you can achieve at 60, there's no two ways about it! It's more about what can be done and what can't be done depending on their target goals, it's a mixture of systems & tasks that they employ to achieve what they want at the target fps that they want. Can somethings be scalable? Yes. Are there things like general city complexity, physics simulations, animation systems, wind simulations, other overhead & Ray Tracing targets that can't be scalable or else it'll hinder the developer goals or not meet Rockstar's expectations? Yes. We also must not tread too much on what should or shouldn't be done, because we don't have much to gauge on, lemme give you an example: by pointing out that we can decrease NPC counts & some stuff here and there, are we presupposing that with these reductions, we'll be getting a stable 60fps experience? So this amount of reduction to NPCs will double the FPS? I don't think so, but we have some hard facts, like 30 target will always let you do more than 60, and we know more stuff, but not to the extent of assuming the exact developers' goals & intentions, we can criticize the developer's goals, we can expect more and whatnot…maybe Rockstar is targeting for a 60fps game after all & this is their vision with it, we don't precisely know yet.
It's why I don't like delving into these discussions too much because subjectivity will somehow creep in & it becomes what certain features can be cut or "downgraded", but I still have my own ideals, which is targeting 30fps will always lend more elaborate details & give you more opportunities to harness systems that otherwise would not be possible at all or not at the level of complexity a developer would want to achieve, it's why I pray that GTA 6 uses all the power of PS5 at 30fps, do everything you can with it, go balls to the wall like my friend
Msamy
or
Represent.
said (I still laugh at it
), it's a game that is meant to last for more than a decade, please Rockstar I beg you!! I respect developers that put their vision first than what target FPS they want to achieve, provided they push the technological envelope of course, GTA 4 & 5 saw frame rates that reach as low as 18 fps or so, if your game reaches 30? Reaches in the 20s in Saint Denis RDR 2 (XB1/PS4)? So be it! I believe that placing more emphasis on pushing tech there rather than austerely tailoring your targets by sticking to stable 30 or stable 60 goes a longer way in achieving your exact target goals, within reasonable margins of course, doesn't mean we can hammer the system until it reaches 10 fps.
PS6 is right around the corner, it's not far away, PC version can run it at 120fps and above with Path Tracing and all the bells & whistles. Just construct a baseline that is as much "future proofed" as you possibly can, yes even at the detriment of not having a 60fps option on base consoles from 2020. That's my opinion anyways.
Sorry for the long-winded blabber & the belaboring of some of my points, I do get passionate sometimes, and English is my 3rd language.
