Is This Shot the Best in Gaming History?
When the trailer for the highly anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6), was released, fans couldn’t help but obsess over every frame. However, there’s one shot in particular that has been hailed as the “single best shot in video game history.”
This shot is an overhead view of Vice City at dusk, with the sun setting in the background and the central business district gleaming in the distance. It has topped the list for many observers who have been dissecting the 91 seconds of footage that Rockstar Games unveiled on Dec. 4. Fans have been blown away by the visual quality, with one fan stating, “I knew it was going to look good but not this good, they weren’t lying when they said they were gonna exceed our expectations.”
This particular moment in the trailer showcases a slow pan over a multi-laned road, providing the first glimpse of the upgrades that Vice City will receive when GTA 6 is released in 2025. Of particular note is the shot over the center of the bay, which demonstrates the upgraded engine’s impressive depth of field and dynamic lighting. These graphical features were limited in previous console generations when GTA V was released almost a decade ago.
Another fan has speculated that the location and shot in the trailer are heavily based on Key Biscayne, a real-life location south of Miami, Florida. The similarities in the pool’s location, the highrise building in the bottom left, the four-lane archway, and the overall geography of the area make it hard to disagree with this speculation.
One fan even noticed the realistic volumetric clouds in the trailer, reminiscent of Red Dead Redemption 2. The weather features showcased in the trailer, including detailed drizzle and stunning blue skies, further enhance the visual experience. And the best part? GTA 6 is still over a year away, meaning there’s plenty of time for the developers to make it even better.
But is this truly the greatest video game shot in history? It may be too early to make that claim. Remember the first look at Meridian in Horizon: Zero Dawn, the Zeppelin explosion in Battlefield 1, or even Peter Parker swinging through the streets in Insomniac’s Spider-Man? As amazing as the shots in the Dec. 4 trailer for GTA 6 look, let’s not get ahead of ourselves and set unrealistic expectations. We’ll have to wait until we can actually play the game, even if it means waiting over a year (or more for PC fans).