GTA 5 Expanded & Enhanced FAQ

While the pre-release marketing for Expanded and Enhanced hinted at new content justifying the “expanded” portion of the title, the actual release is definitely much more focused on the “enhanced” side of things.

E&E brings real 4K, upscaled 4K, 60 FPS and HDR support GTA 5 and GTA Online alongside improved textures, particle effects, lighting effects, reflections and shadows across the Xbox Series X|S and PS5, while also sporting UI tweaks and decreased loading times. E&E also makes use of 3D audio and immersive controller feedback.

In GTA Online, players can make use of the Career Builder to hit the ground running when starting out, allowing you to pick one business, several vehicles and other items which you’ll own immediately when you start. You’ll also get a starting cash boost to help you settle in. This feature was designed to make entry into the game more accessible following 8 years of constant DLC additions.

Speaking of DLC additions, Hao’s Special Works also comes to GTA Online with this release, featuring new time trials, new races, new vehicles, new vehicle upgrades and more additions to the LS Car Meet, including a fun new feature allowing you to purchase exact copies of other players’ custom vehicles.

There is minimal difference in so far as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X having complete feature parity, while the weaker Xbox Series S has different graphical presets available, and the settings of these presets are also tamer to account for the capabilities of the smaller consoles. There is no difference between the disc drive and digital versions of the PS5.

Expanded & Enhanced is only available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Since the new edition does not actually contain new content for story mode, the technical improvements would not be as relevant on PC, which already possesses broad graphical options and compatibilities. The only thing currently setting E&E apart from the PC version is Hao’s Special Works – but more on that below.

Yes – currently, at least. It isn’t clear if Hao’s Special Works is only a timed exclusive to E&E, but it is not accessible on any other platform. It makes sense to include incentive content not available on PS4 and Xbox One, but it is odd gating off content, which does not exist in the console ecosystem and does not have hardware limitations, from the PC. It is possible Hao’s Special Works will see release on PC or other platforms later on, but there is no word on this as of yet.

It is not clear whether GTA Online updates will be made E&E exclusive going forward, or if it is only Hao’s Special Works (as above). When the Enhanced Edition launched on PS4 and Xbox One, updates still arrived concurrently on both versions of the game for a short period of time.

Yes – you can transfer both GTA 5 story mode and GTA Online progress. For story mode, you need to upload a save to the Rockstar Social Club, from where it will be imported. Your Online character can then be imported in-game. Note that only one save game can be stored in the Social Club at any given time.

Players have documented waiting periods when importing saves – it isn’t instantaneous, and that is normal. A screen will inform you that the importation is still under way before booting you to the main menu. After the process is complete, you can pick up where you left off in story mode. In Online, you can choose to start fresh with the Career Builder, or continue from where you were.

GTA Online going standalone is one of the big talking points with this new release, but it is still included if you buy E&E. You can also choose to only buy GTA Online of course, which is cheaper and does not include the story mode for GTA 5. Right now, GTA Online as standalone is free to keep on PlayStation 5.

Rockstar has announced that players will be able to transfer their earned $GTA to the new console, but not Shark card $GTA. Earned $GTA is the money earned doing missions and in-game activities.

The reasoning for this has not been confirmed, but it is likely to do with the Shark Card sales being made on either the Xbox or PlayStation stores, and commission payments that might be due to them.

Unfortunately, no. If your friend is on a PS4 version, the regular version of the game, and you have the Expanded & Enhanced version on your PS5, you won’t be able to play together. Only players that each have the Expanded & Enhanced version will be able to play together.