Rockstar’s 26-minute Extended Look at Grand Theft Auto VI is the first proper gameplay footage the studio has released, and it quietly answers a lot of mechanical questions that trailers never could. A huge amount of it is borrowed from Red Dead Redemption 2 and reshaped for a modern crime setting, from contextual dialogue prompts to a reputation system that watches how you behave between missions.
Quick answer: The Extended Look confirms six wanted stars, a CCTV-and-witness profile that builds a description of you during crimes, a Criminal Profile reputation system, RDR2-style contextual dialogue, slow-motion targeting for both Jason and Lucia, gym and consumable-driven stats, and a 30fps target on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
GTA 6 wanted system: Six stars and CCTV witness profiles
The wanted meter goes back to six stars, undoing the five-star cap that GTA V used. More important is what sits underneath those stars. During a crime, security cameras and nearby witnesses assemble a description of you, and each detail they lock in appears as a small icon below the wanted level.
That turns a police chase into an identity problem rather than a straight escape. If cameras catch your face and clothing, ditching the car alone will not be enough.
| Detail tracked | What it means in play |
|---|---|
| Face | Logged if you are seen or filmed uncovered; face wraps and coverings from the item wheel counter this |
| Clothing | Your outfit becomes part of the description police broadcast |
| Accomplice | The second protagonist can be identified separately |
| Weapon | The gun you drew is recorded; firearms can be concealed behind your back before entering a store |
| Vehicle | The getaway car is tied to the profile |
Criminal Profile system explained
Criminal Profile is the game’s take on an honor system, and it is broader than a simple good-bad slider. It reads everyday behavior alongside crime, so throwing trash into a bin or feeding one of Leonida’s animals counts, and so does how brutal you are during a robbery or how cleanly you get away.
Crucially, not every crime is weighted the same. Shooting back at an NPC who started the fight is treated differently from opening fire on a crowd unprovoked. Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson has said that “consistent actions may have an impact in terms of how the world reacts to you and how the narrative plays out.”
Note: The visible payoff is in NPC behavior. Reactions from people on the street shift over time based on the profile you have built, rather than resetting after each mission.
Dialogue options and crowd control
Holding L2 brings up the contextual interaction system from Red Dead Redemption 2. Prompts change depending on who you are near, with options including GREET, ANTAGONIZE, QUESTION, and HOLD HANDS when Jason and Lucia are together. The same wheel is how you defuse a confrontation instead of shooting your way out of it.
Robberies use the same idea under pressure. Aiming at a store clerk or a security guard and shouting them down stops them from reaching a panic button, and pointing weapons at more than one person helps hold a standoff together while your partner works. Dogs get their own prompts too, with SCOLD, PET, and STUDY options.
GTA 6 combat: Vitals targeting, slow-motion aim, and cover
Gunfights are built around a new vitals targeting layer. The reticle turns red over a spot that kills instantly, and yellow around joints and limbs where a shot incapacitates instead, dropping enemies who then writhe on the ground. Both protagonists have a slow-motion ability, with Jason’s highlighting enemy weak points and Lucia’s focused on a single shot, and kills can end in a cinematic killcam.
Movement around a firefight has been loosened up. Cover feels less locked in place than GTA V’s version, you can vault and slide over obstacles more smoothly, and the camera swaps shoulders automatically in tight interiors. Melee adds directional dodges and lets you grab whatever is lying around as a weapon.
Your arsenal is capped. You can carry two rifles and two pistols at a time, with anything else stored in vehicle trunks or weapon lockers at your properties. Guns now carry manufacturer names such as the Moreland 850 Shotgun and the Duke 556 Assault Rifle, you can hot-swap between two equipped firearms without opening the weapon wheel, and enemy weapons are quick to pick up mid-fight. Dual-wielding is not returning, though Lucia can fire a shotgun one-handed while hauling a bag with the other. Crouching is in; the prone stance seen in the 2022 leaks is not.
Health, stats, and consumables
Health is no longer a single fixed bar. Jason and Lucia have different health pools that grow through physical activity, so gyms, bench presses, swimming, sprinting, and cycling all feed back into your stats the way San Andreas handled it. Food, drink, and smokes top up specific cores between fights.
| Item | Effect |
|---|---|
| Cigarettes and cigars | Replenish cores, including the slow-motion ability meter |
| Snacks and drinks (Blitz Berry Smoothie, Protein Shake, Logger Beer) | Restore health and energy cores |
| Pills and medicines | Replenish and fortify the health core beyond its normal level |
| Zombix | Restores health, with the game warning that repeated use makes it less effective |
| EpiPen | Confirmed healing item carried in the inventory |
The weapon wheel has been redesigned so R1 or RB flips between weapons and items. That item side holds binoculars, body armor, a flashlight, duffel bags, trauma kits, and the face coverings you pull on before a robbery.
Car theft, blinkers, and the 3D minimap
Stealing a car is no longer one button press. Older vehicles trigger a Slim Jim minigame, where you work the tool into the door using a right-stick timing meter, and window smashing is a separate option. Cars with electronic locks need a key cloner, and an Immobilizer Bypass item exists for higher-end vehicles, so not everything on the street can be taken on impulse.
Driving picks up small realism touches. Cars automatically flick on their turn signals when following a route to a waypoint, streets are narrower with denser traffic than GTA V’s, and drive-by shooting extends to leaning out of windows, firing from truck beds, and even shooting while swimming. The minimap now renders buildings in 3D, which makes navigating downtown blocks easier at speed.
Wildlife study and side activities
Pressing R1 near an animal studies it and logs the entry in a compendium, exactly as it worked in Red Dead Redemption 2. Leonida’s urban wildlife is part of that, with iguanas on walls, leashed and stray dogs, and seagulls squabbling over scraps, alongside the alligators, boars, snakes, flamingos, dolphins, and sharks found further out.
The activity list is long. Hunting and fishing both return, and the footage covers basketball, dirt bike races, stock car racing, scuba diving, kayaking, timed target practice, gym workouts, and backyard wrestling. NPCs also react to you being obnoxious, including when you start a livestream with a click of R3.
Performance target, release date, and editions
The footage was captured on a base PS5 and delivered as a 30fps asset, which lines up with the game targeting 30fps on all consoles. Internal rendering resolution looks like 1440p upscaled to 4K, with ray-traced reflections and diffuse global illumination doing most of the lighting work. Higher frame rate modes are being considered for post-launch updates, but nothing is confirmed. There are also no visible loading screens, with elevator rides and transitions used to stream interiors in.
| Detail | Confirmed |
|---|---|
| Release date | November 19, 2026 |
| Platforms | PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S |
| Standard Edition | $79.99 / €79.99 |
| Ultimate Edition | $99.99 / €99.99 |
| Format | Digital only; physical boxes contain a download code, no disc |
| Modes | Single-player only at launch |
| Frame rate | 30fps target on all platforms |
Taken together, the systems point in one direction. Crimes now leave evidence tied to your face, clothes, weapon, and car, everyday behavior feeds a reputation that NPCs respond to, and health and combat depend on what you have eaten, trained, and packed. Whether the world holds up outside a curated 26-minute cut is the open question, and that only gets answered on November 19.
