Grand Theft Auto V has broken a big sales record in this week, but some versions of the open-world action game are having technical issues.
Digital Foundry, the video game technology specialist for Eurogamer, analysed the PlayStation 3 digital download version of GTA V and reported serious streaming issues that aren’t present on the Blu-ray disc.
Ground textures popped in half a second late during the opening montage, and the digital version had a delay in drawing objects like grass.
As GTA V progressed, Digital Foundry noted that textures on buildings struggled to update and objects, including an entire skyscraper, popped in and out of view.
Many hours of testing, with two separate consoles, failed to produce similar problems on the Blu-ray version of the game. “It’s clear that the extra bandwidth from allowing the game to stream from both disc and hard drive offers a clear improvement compared to the digital edition,” said Digital Foundry’s Thomas Morgan.
The Digital Foundry analysis concluded: “At this point we cannot recommend the digital download version of GTA V, as it introduces streaming/pop-in issues that are simply not present in the retail disc version of the game.”
Not great news for PS3 owners who’ve already dropped $59.99 on the PlayStation Store for the digital download.
This issue with a fully installed build of GTA V echoes similar problems that Xbox 360 owners encountered when installing both discs to the console’s hard drive. Developer Rockstar Games subsequently warned against installing the second disc for optimal performance.