Gameplay reveal · August 27, 2026
Rockstar's first real gameplay reveal ran 26 minutes. Here is every mechanic it showed, with the timestamp where you can see it.
Watch on YouTube · 26 min
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Every notable moment and the exact time it appears
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The systems behind the footage, explained
Jason and Lucia run jobs as a pair, and you can switch between them almost anywhere in the game. Their relationship is a system, not just a story beat: it can turn romantic or stay platonic, it grows through shared jobs and downtime, and repeatedly ignoring each other's texts can damage the connection.
The wanted meter goes back up to six stars for the first time since GTA IV, with NOOSE responding at the top end. The smarter change is the hollow star: it means police are looking for you but have no confirmed description yet, so changing clothes, swapping vehicles or putting on a mask can shake them. Jason and Lucia can also split up to divide the police response.
Aiming now marks red points for lethal shots and yellow markers for joints you can disable, making non-lethal takedowns and disarms real options. You can swap between two carried firearms instantly without the weapon wheel, wield some guns one-handed, and slow-motion aiming returns alongside Max Payne–style kill cams.
Scores are built around a choice between speed and value. Blowing a safe open is faster, but the blast damages some of what is inside. Multiple exits let you plan around the police response, masks come off the item wheel, and weapons holster automatically as you walk into a store — so you decide when you stop being just another customer.
Vehicles are tiered by security. Older cars fall to a Slim Jim minigame with a timing meter, while higher-end ones have electronic locks that need a key cloner. The WAINK app scans a car for value, alarms, locks and trackers before you commit, trunks store weapons and clothing, and visible damage cuts what a fence will pay.
The montage confirms basketball, pool, mini golf, weight training, swimming, scuba diving, kayaking, fishing, hunting, base jumping, parachuting, shooting ranges, stock car and dirt bike racing, jet skis, airboats and even backyard wrestling with WWE-style finishers. Working out and eating visibly change how the characters look.
Leonida is roughly twice the size of GTA V's map, and Vice City alone is about double Los Santos. The bigger jump is density: Rockstar has spoken of more than 600,000 NPC animations against roughly 55,000 in GTA V, and the map itself now uses satellite-style imagery rather than simple road plans.
Long stretches of the reveal are just living there — opening the fridge at a safehouse, picking an outfit, watching TV channels with their own fake commercials, petting a dog with Pet, Scold and Study prompts, or running into the Trunk Challenge livestream. The satire is intact, from Angstipan to a Prairie Sandwich advertised at roughly 30,000 calories.
A few widely repeated numbers are not Rockstar statements. The 30 FPS figure for consoles comes from a content creator's account of a hands-off session — Rockstar has only said a 60 FPS mode is not guaranteed. The 80-hour length is Rob Nelson describing his own playthrough, not an official campaign length. And the map size remains a community estimate; Rockstar has never published a number.
Every location in the reveal sits somewhere in Leonida. Open the interactive map and explore the state from Vice City down to the Keys.
Open the interactive mapScreenshots are official Grand Theft Auto VI assets published by Rockstar Games on its official media page. GTA6MAP.IO is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.