Top 5 GTA 5 visual mods for realistic graphics

Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 5 Expanded and Enhanced in 2022, which featured improved graphics. While this version is limited to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, PC players can install various visual mods for their copy of the game. Whether one wants to replay the story mode or just upgrade its visual effects to today's standards, these mods greatly enhance the overall experience.

While there are countless graphical mods available on the internet, some are just a class apart. With that said, in this article, we will be ranking the top five visual mods for GTA 5 to get realistic graphics.

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VisualV and 4 more GTA 5 visual mods for realistic graphics

5) LA Vegetation

The LA Vegetation mod replaces the game's vanilla vegetation with the ones seen abundantly in the real-life city of Los Angeles, which is the inspiration for Los Santos.

Once installed, GTA 5 looks a little more lush and realistic due to the enhanced textures of the different plants and trees included in it.

However, the LA Vegetation mod does not alter the game's visuals any further, which holds it back.

Additionally, it hasn't received a lot of updates since release and is quite outdated. Still, it is not a bad choice for those who are just getting into modding.

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4) VisualV

VisualV was originally released in May 2015 and is one of the oldest GTA 5 mods to date. It is also one of the most widely used graphical mods for this game.

Some of its features include in-game lighting enhancements and texture upscaling. This mod utilizes its own presets of ENB and ReShade along with a heat haze effect.

Users will notice removed grass dithering, improved tree reflections, and a lot of visual upgrades. The creators of VisualV have also rewritten the entire weather system from scratch.

While it has received regular updates over the years, with the most recent one dating back to January 2023, its age doesn't allow it to compete with the newer mods available today.

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3) Awesomekills Graphics

Awesomekills Graphics is primarily a lighting correction mod. It utilizes ENB and Reshade presets, which are at the core of the majority of GTA 5 visual mods available today.

This mod saturates the in-game lighting and also implements ray-tracing, which completely changes the visuals that most players are familiar with.

Awesomekills Graphics was released in 2016 but has been regularly updated. The most recent one arrived on May 9, 2023, and reworked the presets, enhanced the lighting, improved reflection intensity, and brought bloom, gamma, and color changes to the game.

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2) RTX-V Alter Graphics

As the name suggests, RTX-V Alter Graphics aims to implement ray tracing-like effects. It uses the RTX Real Reshade and also works with other GTA 5 graphics mods available on the internet.

Along with lighting improvements like the Awesomekills graphics mod, RTX-V Alter Graphics also enhances the base textures.

One of the best aspects of this mod is that it is free. Despite that, it can easily rival the presets used in some of the popular visual mods that need to be purchased.

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1) NaturalVision Evolved

NaturalVision Evolved is the best mod for GTA 5 to get realistic graphics. It was released in 2020, so it is fairly new and also receives regular updates, with the latest one dropping on May 19, 2023.

Some of its main features are improved glare and reflections, better shadows, corrected saturation, and realistic lighting during thunderstorms.

NaturalVision Evolved also enhances in-game entities like trees, plants, and ground textures and implements realistic reflections as well. All of this works greatly towards providing a somewhat brand new experience of the same old game.

While fans wait for the GTA 6 release date, using a mod like NaturalVision Evolved can give a taste of what the sequel's graphics might look like.