Part of me still laughs that it is 2026 and people are still arguing about how GTA 5 should look, but here we are, tweaking graphics and chasing frames while cruising around Los Santos with stacked GTA 5 Money in the bank. NaturalVision Evolved has been "the" visual upgrade for a while now, and the big December 2025 drop really does feel like a new pass on the game rather than just another preset. You load it up, jump on the freeway at dusk, and it suddenly feels a lot closer to what everyone imagines from the next GTA, not a remaster of a game from the PS3 era.

Volumetric Clouds And New Lighting

The headline feature this time is the proper volumetric clouds in the NVE build. On paper that sounds like a small tweak, in game it is anything but. When you drive into the city at sunset and see those chunky clouds catching the last light, you stop noticing the age of the map and just enjoy the view. There is an "experimental" extra for certain cloudy weather types, and you can tell it is still a work in progress, but that is kind of the fun of it. You get weird, dramatic skies one minute, then a really grounded, realistic afternoon the next. Extrasunny and clear lighting have been reworked too, so daytime shots do not look as washed out. Colours feel closer to real life, less like a filter, more like someone went through and actually relit the city.

Rain, Reflections And Small Details

Rain has always been a big deal for modders, and this update leans into that again. In the Evolved version, raindrops do not just smear the screen; they land on cars, guns, and the "camera" itself in a way that reacts to how fast you are moving. Gunfights in a storm suddenly feel a lot different when the water streaks sideways as you sprint for cover. If you are hammering it down the motorway, the droplets shift with your speed and direction, which sounds like a tiny thing but changes how the whole scene feels. On top of that, they added optional screen-space reflections for puddles that you can toggle in the ReShade menu. Night-time streets, neon signs bouncing off wet tarmac, the glow from shop fronts sitting in the water – it is the kind of touch where you find yourself pulling over just to take screenshots.

NaturalVision Lite For Normal PCs

Not everyone wants to melt their GPU just to get nicer sunsets, so NaturalVision Lite is a smart move. It keeps a lot of the same general look – better lighting, improved colours, more believable weather – but dials back the heavy stuff so you are not staring at a slideshow. It works in single-player and on FiveM, and you do not have to mess around with ReShade at all if you do not want to. That makes it way easier for people who just want to install, tweak a couple of settings, and play. You still get that "next-gen" feel when you pull into downtown at night, just without needing a monster PC humming in the background and fans screaming every time the rain starts.

Roadmap, Tech Work And Community Support

Looking into 2026, Razed has made it pretty clear that both the Enhanced and Legacy versions are staying on the table, which is good news for anyone who has an older setup or just prefers the older look. A lot of the behind-the-scenes work now is about reverse-engineering DX12 shaders and building better internal tools, so new effects and fixes can roll out faster instead of taking months. You might not notice that side of it right away, but it is the sort of foundation work that keeps a mod alive long after most people would have moved on. If you are still sinking hours into GTA 5 and you care about how it looks, it is hard not to appreciate that level of effort, and it is not shocking that plenty of players are happy to jump on Patreon and support it the same way they might buy some GTA 5 Money for sale.