GTA 5’s swanky new upgrade for PC has arrived, bringing the platform up to the lofty GTA standards next-gen console players have been enjoying for a little while. Unfortuntely, it’s debuted to mixed reviews on Steam, with some folks being disappointed by the features on offer, or struggling to pull their existing characters across into the new version.
One gripe in particular’s caught my eye, and as someone who sometimes suffers from a bit of the ol’ social anxiety, I can see why it’s rankled some of the GTA faithful – Rockstar’s not included the regular in-game text chat you might be used to using to say important things to your friends, trolls, or hopefully not inept randoms you’re trying to recruit into your heist crew.
Yep, that’s one of the issues cited in negative reviews of the Enhanced version of the game, among other stuff, such as how it performs and looks.
“Rockstar truly did the bare minimum improving the game & the absolute maximum integrating GTA+,” wrote a Steam user named KeithTheBat, “They removed lots of content, removed text chat in Online mode, cannot transfer your Online characters/save over if someone dropped you money in-game many years ago (even if you tried to avoid it), no aim assist for controller users (I only use a controller when flying anyway, so this means nothing to me), removed graphical settings & limited others, & very clearly, heavily implemented GTA+ in to the game.
“Honestly,” they added specfically regarding the lack of the usual text chat, “even though I have a microphone, I am not too sure I would want Grand Theft Auto VI at all without text chat in Grand Theft Auto: Online, especially since players who do not have a microphone will not be able to communicate. How are people doing the “Pacific Standard Job” in Grand Theft Auto V: Enhanced Edition: Online, supposed to communicate with each other in the setup that involves two drivers & two navigators, without microphone? They simply reasonably can not.”
Some players have felt so strongly about this that they’ve seemingly contacted Rockstar Support for an explanation, with one response just confirming that in-game text chat is’t currently supported in the game, but you can use platform-specific chat functionality or actually text other players via your in-game phone (which is slightly more of a faff).
Meanwhile, if you’ve had issues migrating your account across, it’s possibly worth reading through this post on Rockstar’s Support website. It notes that “Depending on your online character and service load, migrations may take time to complete,” and that “Some Profiles may not be eligible for migration for several reasons, such as account suspensions or bans, or the Profile having illegitimate or insufficient progress.”
It’s also worth being aware that Rockstar’s confirmed support for what’s now the ‘Legacy’ version GTA 5 on PC isn’t going anywhere for the moment, so you can stick with that if you wish, provided the people you’re playing with are willing to do the same.
Plus, if it meets its current release window, you’ll not have too long to wait for GTA 6. How are you finding the GTA 5 upgrade? Let us know below!