GTA 5 "Enhanced and Expanded" Edition will reportedly utilize Red Dead Redemption 2's RAGE engine

One of the biggest swerves of 2020, apart from the obvious, was Rockstar Game's presence at the PS5 Reveal Event, in the form of a trailer for GTA 5, and not a sequel.

The reveal of a new console would probably lead one to believe Rockstar would use the event as a way to unveil its marquee title for next-gen consoles. However, the publisher had different ideas, and players were treated to a reveal of GTA 5 Expanded and Enhanced Edition, set for release in 2021 on next-gen consoles.

It is still unclear whether the remastered edition will include additional content for GTA 5's Story Mode or make significant changes to the engine.

A recent discovery by alloc8or, which was reported by Tez2, notes that the newest update to GTA Online adds new structs in the game, suggesting some pretty interesting stuff.

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GTA 5 Enhanced and Expanded Edition to use Red Dead Redemption 2's RAGE engine?

New structs added with #GTAOnline recent update, found by @alloc8or, suggest that we might see the enhanced edition utilizing RDR2's RAGE version.Also, a struct called "CHasCharacterToTransferDecisionPage" seems to imply the enhanced edition will feature character transfer.

— Tez2 (@TezFunz2) January 10, 2021

According to recent discoveries made in GTA Online's code, it seems like the update makes way for the enhanced edition and will be utilizing the version of the RAGE engine used in Red Dead Redemption 2

RAGE (Rockstar Advanced Game Engine) is a proprietary game engine developed by Rockstar that has powered all of its titles since 2006. The engine has gone through several iterations over the years, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is the most polished and refined version of the engine yet.

Therefore, it is potentially great news that Rockstar will be utilizing it for the next-gen version of GTA 5. Whether that means new character animations, interiors, or otherwise, it remains to be seen.

The findings also included a 'struct' that allows GTA Online players to transfer their character over to the enhanced version. This feature means that players will not have to start from scratch in the game and work to regain their position and rank in Online.

This is also extremely positive as sections of the player base were worried that GTA Online's standalone version on next-gen consoles might not allow for character transfers.