Grand Theft Auto 6 looms large as 2026 kicks off. Whether or not the game actually comes out this year remains to be seen, and I’m sure that particular discussion will overshadow much of the conversation around GTA 6 as the months go by. While there are indeed other AAA titles of note coming out this year, from the tantalizing and mysterious Switch 2-exclusive The Duskbloods to the sure-fire hit of Marvel’s Wolverine, it’s clear that Grand Theft Auto 6 is voraciously eating up all of the air in the space.
It’s inevitable that GTA 6 will be a huge hit regardless of what shape it lands in, and however Rockstar has decided to shift the franchise’s formula forward. At present, we’ve not seen gameplay, though we do know that it’ll be a Bonnie and Clyde-esque thriller set in the sun-soaked bustle of Vice City. As such, it’s time to dig into what we expect, and hope, GTA 6 to actually be like as a game, and to do that, it’s most helpful to look back at what has come before.
GTA 5 is undoubtedly Rockstar’s biggest hit so far, and it’s easy to see why. The moment-to-moment action is snappy, the setting is bright, funny, and decidedly silly, and the driving is streamlined and arcadey. Regardless of what you’re driving, controls are tight, predictable, and easy to master. It’s the easiest GTA game to play, and it’s perhaps the safest version of Grand Theft Auto from a design perspective.
One only needs to load up GTA 4 to see just how Rockstar’s approach to game design and storytelling has changed over the years. I’m hoping GTA 6 to be a continuation of this gradual evolution, but I’d be lying if I said I wanted it to lean more into GTA 5’s characteristics than GTA 4’s.
There are many aspects of Grand Theft Auto 4 that I wholeheartedly prefer over Grand Theft Auto 5, and as we approach the imminent release of a brand new GTA game, I’m hoping Rockstar looks past the juggernaut success of GTA 5 and adopts GTA 4’s design philosophy instead.
The Cannonball Run
For a series named after an act of vehicular theft, Grand Theft Auto games can live or die based on their driving mechanics and the way vehicles interact with the environment. Now, Grand Theft Auto 4 car physics are notoriously divisive, with vehicles feeling more like weighty sailing vessels as they tear across the streets. At times, mid-range racing cars genuinely felt like trying to direct a cannonball down a track. And I absolutely love that about GTA 4.
Everything about GTA 4 is underpinned by a heavy and meticulously designed physics engine. As such, cars all feel different from one another, and it takes a decent chunk of time before you feel confident enough to take your foot off the brakes and try out riskier evasive maneuvers. This is precisely how driving should feel, especially when sitting behind the wheel of a rusting sedan while being pursued by the cops.
By comparison, GTA 5’s driving is light, floaty, and more akin to an arcade racer than a driving simulator. This, of course, appeals to more players, and perhaps suits the GTA Online side of things much better than how the driving translated to online races in GTA 4.
Personally, I want the driving in GTA 6 to harken back to GTA 4’s approach. This is a game I’ll probably be playing for years to come, and I’d like to work a bit before I’ve mastered the art of street racing and vehicular getaways.
There have been massive advancements in controller haptics since the launch of GTA 4 and GTA 5 as well. Adding a proper weighty physics system to vehicles opens up a whole world of possibilities where adaptive triggers are concerned. I’m hoping that Rockstar looks to GTA 4 when dialing in how different vehicles handle. I’d love it if driving a truck felt completely distinct from driving a high-end sports car, and I believe that the answer lies somewhere in GTA 4’s unique car control code.
This must be the place
GTA 4 leaned so completely into a sense of place and atmosphere, to the point where you could show me a screenshot of any curb, any random park bench in the game, and I’d immediately recognize it as GTA 4. It pulled heavily from 70s cinema, adding a sepia-toned smothering of fog and haze to Liberty City. Every frame of GTA 4 looks like a film poster, evoking The French Connection, Midnight Cowboy, and 1970s Scorsese. It’s a bold and striking choice, one that makes GTA 4 stand out from other games in the series.
GTA 5 is practically gleaming when placed next to its moodier older brother, going all in on sun-soaked California streets and perfect botox-ridden bodies. Differences in setting aside, GTA 5 and GTA 4 have clear differences in how they value the places the stories take place in. In GTA 4, Liberty City is inescapably prevalent, whether you’re cruising around grimy underpasses or walking through overcast parks.
With GTA 6 going back to Vice City, I’m not suggesting Rockstar sticks a sepia filter on it, nor do I think its streets should be defined by heavy fog and oppressive smog. What I would like to see is a real sense of place, more of a commitment to GTA 6’s setting than we saw with GTA 5. I must have racked up hundreds of hours in Los Santos over the years since GTA 5 launched, but very little of the city’s character and atmosphere has ever stuck with me. GTA 5 is completely unique in this regard, and I think it’s easily the worst 3D Grand Theft Auto game in terms of having a memorable and distinctive setting.
GTA 6 will offer up a modern take on Vice City, so it’s not quite as simple as drenching everything in neon and 80s aesthetics. Instead, I’d like GTA 6 to lean in on the swamplands, the grimy spaces between shuttered strip malls, and above all else, I’d like it all to feel completely in and of its own in terms of art direction. Finger marks on sunglasses, condensation on beer bottles, and realistic recreations of the way puddles reflect light simply don’t interest me, not as much as a proper vibe and atmosphere of a city that’s as much of a main character as the two protagonists.
The Power of Love
Lucia and Jason will serve as GTA 6’s dual protagonists, and having them be a couple is already a step in the right direction when compared to the three relatively mismatched protagonists of GTA 5. Franklin, Michael, and Trevor were characters brought together by a life of crime, and there being three main characters diluted the narrative heft at times. I never really got the impression that the men cared for one another at all, more that they were thieves forced together. Ultimately, there’s no honor among thieves, and GTA 5’s overarching narrative failed to deliver the emotional highs of GTA 4.
GTA 4’s Niko Bellic is more considered and complex, bolstered by a much darker and more grounded story. He’s the only protagonist, sure, but his relationships felt tighter as a result. His loyalty to his cousin and his surprisingly solid moral compass have really stood the test of time. Lucia and Jason are lovers, and I think there’s much greater potential for some actual character depth from the jump than with Franklin, Michael, and Trevor.
We’ll have to wait and see how these two protagonists interact, how switching between them works, and where they both lie at the end of the story. Rockstar will need to evoke the grimy drama of GTA 4 to keep me interested, especially when plotting out the dynamics between the protagonists and those closest to them.
Of course, we’ve yet to see much of Grand Theft Auto 6, despite years of teasers and trailers. It’s entirely possible that GTA 6 will take a completely different direction from its predecessors. It might serve up the most detailed and lived-in world we’ve ever seen in gaming, and its cars might forge a new path in how physics and handling are simulated.
Rockstar, as always, is an enigma, and it rarely does precisely what we all expect. Still, I’m hoping that the finished product has some of the weight, the dirge, and the smog of GTA 4. I’d take that over the glamour and ‘realism’ of GTA 5 any day.
Right, I’m off to listen to Tom Petty’s Love Is a Long Road for the hundredth time in 2026 already.
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