Summary
Text chat may soonreturn toGrand Theft Auto Onlineafter beingabsent in the game’s enhanced upgrade. After years of being exclusive to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, Rockstar Games finally released the “Expanded & Enhanced” version ofGrand Theft Auto 5andGrand Theft Auto Onlinefor PC users, bringing a myriad of technical upgrades and graphical improvements to the title. However, the surprise removal of text chat has resulted in massive backlash from the community.
For PC users,Grand Theft Auto 5has now been split into two separate games: Legacy and Enhanced. The former of the two is the original version ofGrand Theft Auto 5before the Enhanced upgrade, meaning no ray tracing options, no ultrawide monitor support, and more. However, theEnhanced version ofGrand Theft Auto 5comes with a plethora of graphical improvements for players to check out, including ray tracing features such as ambient occlusion and global illumination, support for AMD FSR and NVIDIA DLSS, faster loading times, enhanced support for higher resolutions and aspect ratios, and much more.
Rockstar Games Reportedly Working On Text Chat for GTA Online
Although the free upgrade comes with plenty of improvements, fans were left annoyed after discovering thattext chat had been removed fromGrand Theft Auto Online. While the feature remains readily available in the legacy version of the game, players jumping into a public lobby inGrand Theft Auto Online Enhancedare unable to communicate via text. However, it looks like the feature could soon be returning, as auser on GTA Forumsdiscovered a message from a Rockstar developer left in the game files. The message reads, “Text chat option not yet added to Gen9. Coming soon.”
It’s unclear when the feature could return, but it appears as though Rockstar is upgrading the feature for the new version of the game and failed to have it ready for the launch ofGrand Theft Auto 5Enhanced. The studio also likely didn’t anticipate the huge outrage from the community after its removal. As of writing,Grand Theft Auto 5Enhancedreviews are mixed on Steam,with many of the negative user reviews citing the lack of text chat as the reason. There are also plenty of users experiencing performance issues and graphical glitches, which has also lowered the game’s review score.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only issue that has plaguedGrand Theft Auto Onlinesince the Enhanced upgrade. To celebrate the update’s release, Rockstar Games attempted togive away a free vehicle forGrand Theft Auto Onlineplayers. The vehicle in question is the Karin S95, which many fans were eager to redeem. However, fans quickly noticed that upon redeeming the “free” vehicle, they were being charged almost two million GTA$. Although some players were being refunded, the community was left annoyed, with some even refusing to claim the car.
