Grantee I have never tried out 8k but I can't imagine it looking sharper than 4k.  I find the difference between 1440p and 4k quite small.  

Rebirth isn't winning GOTY. Liked the game a lot but it's just not. Stellar Blade outshines it. And Helldivers is going to get most of the attention. Even if just for RPGs Unicorn Overlord is probably the best RPG this year.

Animal Well have a 👊 chance?

Usually, the best game of the year is the one with the higher metacritic. FFVII Rebirth is still the higher this year (92%).

Just because it isn't your GOTY and you don't want it to win doesn't mean it's not going to though lol. Stellar Blade doesn't outshine it outside subjective opinions which can be anything. So far Rebirth has no real competition from a critical and consensus standpoint. Stellar Blade, Dragon's Dogma 2, and Infinite Wealth won't win against it. But a few upcoming games including AstroBot might have a chance, depending on reception obviously.

The majority of GOTY winners are games that I don't agree with, hopefully this time the winner aligns with my opinion and not yours!

It's also got a 93 on Opencritic, and a 90 userscore on Metacritic (higher than most if not all modern JRPGS including Persona 5), which is an impressive feat considering how bitchy the Final Fantasy fanbase is!

This.

I am currently on Chapter 12 so far in Rebirth and it is a great game but it's so bloated and the mini games are annoying as hell. It's definitely not my game of the year so far.

Knee jerk thought is Rebirth won't win GotY, but what is going to compete with it? Not much. I see it as the best candidate thus far.

Yeah there's a very short list of candidates when you consider how narrow of a focus GOTY candidates usually are. Historically it's only been Action-Adventure or RPGs. The only exception up to this point has been Overwatch. At least with TGA. 

There are games that I feel have been more than deserving to be considered over the years but because they're in genres that aren't considered GOTY worthy (like Strategy games) or are too small in scale to be considered GOTY (like Unicorn Overlord) makes me immediately think they don't have a chance. 

I personally would vote for Helldivers 2 or Unicorn Overlord. By far the best games I've played this year. But I am rooting for the likes of Astro Bot or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2