GTA 6 May Finally Fix 18-Year-Old Rockstar Animation Bug

Ever noticed a weird, jerky stutter in Rockstar games that makes characters look like they're in stop-motion? You're not alone. For 18 years, a subtle animation bug has plagued titles like GTA 4, GTA 5, and both Red Dead Redemption games. And until now, it seemed like GTA 6 would inherit the same issue.

According to Digital Foundry, the problem is animation stutter – both character animations and camera movements are sometimes unevenly paced. It can look like frame drops, but it's actually tied to the RAGE engine that's powered Rockstar's games since GTA 4. Every GTA 6 trailer so far, including the extended gameplay look, showed the same stutter. That is, until the recently released launch trailer.

That new trailer is completely clear of any apparent animation stutter. Even more impressive, it uses extensive panning camera shots – the kind where the stutter is usually most obvious. So what changed? Rockstar hasn't said, but it's possible they've finally cracked the code.

Of course, there's a chance the trailer simply featured a curated selection of scenes without the issue. But given that Rockstar made no effort to hide the stutter in previous previews, that seems unlikely. The devs have also made clear they're still tweaking things up until the very last minute.

Could this be the end of a graphical quirk that's haunted Rockstar's games for nearly two decades? We'll find out in one month's time when GTA 6 launches. If you're still figuring out where to pre-order, you know where to click.

What do you think – will the stutter be gone for good, or is this just a trailer trick? Let us know in the comments!