GTA Vice City NextGen Edition on Steam Deck is so perfect I wish it was official

GTA Vice City has been remade by fans in the GTA IV engine, bringing modern rendering features, enhanced physics, better gunplay and more to the amazing PS2-era open-world game. A completely standalone release that doesn’t even require a copy of GTA IV or Vice City, this fan-made remake is damn near perfect.

While we won’t be linking to the project for legal reasons—Rockstar, please, don’t hurt us—we have installed the mod on Valve’s Steam Deck handheld. As it turns out, not only does the new standalone conversion mod run extremely well on Valve’s PC-handheld-that-could, but it’s now the best way to experience Vice City on the machine.

GTA Vice City NextGen on Steam Deck

There are a few tutorials for how to install the new GTA mod on Steam Deck, but some players may find their milage may vary, as is the realm of PC gaming. For our money, this simple tutorial was best, and had us running the standalone Vice City remake flawlessly in under ten minutes.

So far, we’ve played only two-and-a-half hours of GTA Vice City NextGen Edition, and it’s been mostly flawless. Outside of some clashing lighting effects—such as the iconic lighthouse’s beam of light—and some flickering shadows, the game has run flawlessly on Valve’s machine. In fact, despite being built in the GTA IV engine, the standalone mod doesn’t exhibit any of that game’s technical quirks. For example, locking down to 30fps when traffic density gets too high.

On Steam Deck, Vice City NextGen Edition looks great and runs at a near-flawless 60fps with some truly gorgeous lighting effects that shine off the top of the game’s boxy 80s cars. It’s fantastic, and a marked improvement over the game’s official remaster as part of the GTA Remaster Trilogy. While that version of the game has improved over time, it’s still not perfect, and the novelty of Vice City in GTA IV’s engine with its euphoria physics and improved gunplay is much more enticing anyway.

While GTA 6’s grand return to Vice City won’t be launching on PC alongside its console counterparts and will likely run like molasses on the Steam Deck when it finally does, this is at least a fine return to the beautiful neon-lit Miami parody that runs like a dream on the handheld.

For more GTA coverage, read about why publishers want GTA 6 to cost $100 to hike their own prices up, or check out why some publishers are actively terrified of the game’s release date later this year.