GTA 6 gameplay: every feature confirmed so far, from combat to wanted levels

For years, GTA 6’s trailers showed what Leonida looks like, not how the game plays. That changed in August 2026, when Rockstar released a roughly 26-minute extended look at real gameplay, captured on PS5. It covered story missions, combat, driving, police chases, character switching and a long list of side activities.

Here’s every gameplay feature that’s been confirmed, what’s new compared with GTA 5, and what’s still a rumor.

Combat and shooting

GTA 6’s combat looks like a refinement of GTA 5’s rather than a total overhaul, with clear influence from Red Dead Redemption 2.

• Cover-based shooting. Both Lucia and Jason can snap to cover and fire from it, with smoother transitions than GTA 5.
• Disable, don’t just kill. The extended look showed shots to the legs bringing enemies down, so you can disable people instead of killing them.
• Weapons seen so far include pistols, automatic rifles and shotguns.
• One weapon at a time. Reports from the showcase say dual-wielding from Red Dead Redemption 2 isn’t returning.
• Weightier movement. Running, aiming and taking hits look heavier and more physical, closer to Red Dead Redemption 2.

The focus system

One of the biggest confirmed additions is a focus system for interacting with the world. Holding L2 (on PS5) lets you lock onto a person or animal and choose how to interact, rather than the limited options of GTA 5.

If you played Red Dead Redemption 2, this will feel familiar: it’s how you greeted, antagonized or calmed people in that game. In GTA 6, it should make conversations, robberies and confrontations far more flexible.

The wanted system

Police in GTA 6 look much smarter. Based on coverage of the extended look:

• Six-star wanted levels reportedly return, one more than GTA 5’s maximum of five.
• Police track what you wear and drive. Changing your clothes or switching vehicles can help you lose them, and they react differently depending on your disguise and getaway car.
• Chases across the whole state, with the trailers showing police on highways, in the Keys and in the swamps.

The exact rules won’t be known until launch, but it’s clear that escaping the cops will take more than outrunning a radar circle.

Character switching

Like GTA 5, you can switch between protagonists, this time Lucia and Jason. The showcase showed:

• Playing as the couple together, with both of them in the same mission
• Splitting up to play each of them separately
• Switching mid-action, including during combat

With two leads instead of three, the switching looks more focused on missions where they work as a team.

Side activities

The extended look confirmed a long list of things to do outside the main story:

Activity	Notes
Basketball	Shown in Vice City
Wrestling and boxing	Combat-sport side activities
Scuba diving	Underwater exploration
Kayaking	On Leonida’s rivers and coast
Street racing	Day and night races
Dirt bike racing	Off-road events
Shooting range	Challenges to test your aim
Pool, mini golf	Classic GTA minigames
Gym workouts	Affects your character’s build
Hunting and fishing	Return from Red Dead Redemption 2
Airboats and scooters	Shown around Grassrivers and Vice City

That’s a huge step up from GTA 5’s story mode, and it plays to Leonida’s strengths: water, wildlife and a busy city.

Your character’s body and condition

GTA 6 brings back some survival-style systems that GTA fans haven’t seen since San Andreas:

• Working out at the gym changes your character’s physical build
• Eating affects your condition
• Sleeping is part of the routine

These were confirmed in coverage of the showcase. How deep they go, and whether they can be ignored, won’t be clear until launch.

Driving and vehicles

Driving in the extended look shows more weight and detail than GTA 5, with damage, suspension and handling all looking more realistic. Leonida’s geography also means a lot of travel by water:

• Cars, trucks and motorbikes across the state’s highways
• Boats, jet skis and airboats around the Keys and swamps
• Scooters around Vice City

For every vehicle spotted so far, see our GTA 6 cars and vehicles guide.

A living world

Leonida is full of people doing their own thing, and that’s a big part of how GTA 6 plays:

• Social media is everywhere. Residents film, stream and post constantly, and the trailers frame many moments as in-game clips.
• Wildlife reacts to you. Alligators, birds and other animals appear across the map, and the focus system works on animals too.
• Crowds are denser than in GTA 5, especially on the beaches and nightlife strips.

The map itself is covered in our interactive GTA 6 map.

Music on the move

GTA 6’s radio works on foot as well as in vehicles: Rockstar confirmed you can listen through in-game headphones and earbuds. There are also on-demand podcasts for Lucia and Jason. See our GTA 6 soundtrack guide for the radio stations revealed so far.

Performance: 30fps on console

During a visit to Rockstar North, head of development Rob Nelson said GTA 6 was running at 30fps on consoles during development. Asked about a 60fps mode, he said he’d need to check with the technical team. Rockstar hasn’t announced performance or quality modes yet, including for PS5 Pro. Our GTA 6 PS5 Pro guide covers what’s known.

No microtransactions in story mode

According to Red Bull’s coverage of the extended look, Rockstar said the single-player game has no microtransactions. Rockstar also said no generative AI was used in making the game. GTA 6’s online mode hasn’t been detailed yet; see our GTA 6 Online guide.

What’s still a rumor

A few gameplay claims are widely shared but not confirmed by Rockstar:

• Exact map size. Reported at about twice GTA 5, but not official.
• Enterable buildings. Expected to be far more common than in GTA 5, but no number has been given.
• Heist structure. The trailers lean heavily on robberies, but how heists work hasn’t been shown in detail.
• Cheats. Every main GTA since GTA 3 has had them, but they’re unconfirmed. See our GTA 6 cheat codes page.

GTA 6 gameplay vs GTA 5

	GTA 5	GTA 6
Playable leads	Three	Two
Combat	Cover shooting	Refined cover shooting, disable enemies
Interaction	Limited	Focus system for people and animals
Wanted level	Up to five stars	Up to six stars (reported)
Wanted tracking	Location-based	Tracks clothing and vehicles (reported)
Body and condition	Stats only	Gym, eating and sleeping
Hunting and fishing	Limited	Full activities
Radio on foot	No	Yes, with headphones

What to play before GTA 6

If you want to get your hands ready for GTA 6, these games are the closest preview of how it plays:

1. Red Dead Redemption 2. The focus system, weightier movement, hunting, fishing and survival-style systems in GTA 6 all come from here. It’s the best way to get used to Rockstar’s newer, slower style of control.
2. GTA 5. Character switching and much of the driving and shooting carry over. The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions are the best way to play it.
3. GTA: Vice City. The original 2002 trip to Vice City, for the history and the soundtrack. The Definitive Edition is on current consoles.

Controls: what we know so far

Rockstar hasn’t published a full control scheme, but the extended look confirmed a few things:

• L2 (PS5) brings up the focus system to interact with people and animals, as in Red Dead Redemption 2.
• Cover is context-based, with smooth snapping to walls and objects.
• Character switching works from a menu, like GTA 5’s switch wheel.

We’ll publish a full controls guide for PS5 and Xbox on launch day.

Accessibility

Rockstar hasn’t detailed GTA 6’s accessibility options yet. Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5’s current-generation versions included options like subtitles, aim assist settings and control remapping, so expect at least that. We’ll cover the full accessibility menu on launch day.

The bottom line

GTA 6’s gameplay builds on GTA 5 with ideas from Red Dead Redemption 2: cover-based combat where you can disable enemies, a focus system for interacting with people and animals, smarter police that track your clothes and car, and a big list of side activities from hunting to scuba diving. You can switch between Lucia and Jason, and the single-player game reportedly has no microtransactions.

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026. Find out exactly when it unlocks for you.