Grand Theft Auto VI: What We Know so Far

Grand Theft Auto VI Could Be Based in Vice City (Miami) or even London

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The largest spectrum of speculation for the upcoming GTA game seems to stem from talking about where the action is going to take place. The Know stated back in 2018 that GTA VI would take place in Vice City, which is Rockstar’s version of Miami. This in turn started the rumor that the series would be returning to the 1970s - 1980s era, but just like the city prediction, this is pure guesswork right now.

Even a return to London was suggested and even the series’ first ever visit to Tokyo, but apparently the latter idea was scrapped because the Japanese capital’s road network wasn’t suitable to be adapted for a Grand Theft Auto Game.

But players will still travel to at least another city aside from the main one and it is believed to be a city in South America, maybe Brazil or Columbia, where the player will travel to make drug transactions.

Grand Theft Auto VI Could Feature the United States in One, Big Open World

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A previous leak suggests that Rockstar’s internal name for the next GTA game is “Project Americas” and in that case this dual-city idea would still make sense. Upon learning the name, some have suggested that the game will have a full open world map that compresses the U.S. map into one open world. And that has been done in The Crew and The Crew 2 and it was actually done pretty well with fewer resources than what Rockstar has at its disposal. So while this has by no means been confirmed, it could be technically feasible to achieve.

So, essentially, whichever way Rockstar chooses to go, if it goes for multiple cities or locations, then the map will either be a seamless one, allowing you to drive from one corner to the other with no loading screen, or it could be comprised of separate locations you load into; this is similar to what you see in The Witcher and other similar titles.

Grand Theft Auto VI Will Probably Have Multiple Characters - Just Like GTA V

Grand Theft Auto developers have stated in the past that the series narrative has to be driven by a male protagonist or protagonists. And, it has not veered away from this course, although the latest installment features three main characters instead of one and the player can freely switch between them. It is believed one of the reasons why Rockstar chose three separate characters for GTA V is in order to better cover the map - it’s easier to jump from character to character rather than having to get just one character from point to point.

So, since we’re expecting GTA VI to have a bigger map with multiple locations, it’s safe to assume that the multiple character idea will be retained and maybe even expanded - they could have more than three playable characters.

One of these characters could be female, for the first time in the series’ history, contradicting what company officials previously stated about GTA being a kind of male fantasy world where a female character wouldn’t make sense.

But now that the series has adopted a multiple character model, maybe one could be a woman. And on top of this, some rumors also suggest one of the characters could be a police officer of some sort. This could add a totally new dynamic to how the game’s story will function and, honestly, Rockstar could really add something to the game if one of the characters was a cop - maybe an undercover one working to infiltrate crime organizations or a dirty cop willingly working for the bad guys for his (or her) own benefit.

Grand Theft Auto VI Release date

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The time frame for when this next installment in the GTA series will be released is not yet known, but we can speculate and estimate based on what Rockstar has done with the series in the past. It seems the consensus is GTA IV will launch for the next generation of PlayStation and Xbox gaming consoles. These new systems are expected to hit the market around the same time, most likely in 2020, and all reports suggest we shouldn’t expect to see the new GTA game beforehand.

It’s quite unlikely that Rockstar will unveil the game at the 2019 E3 gaming expo which runs June 11 to 14, and neither of the two major consoles is expected at the venue.

And regarding a PC version of the new GTA, it may very well be launched sometime after the console versions come out or, as some have suggested, the new GTA will be exclusively available on consoles in order to support sales of these systems. But we hope this is not true as GTA is a series that originally started on out for PC and to this day, the best GTA experience you can have is on the PC, especially thanks to the extensive modding scene that has taken the game into new and unexpected directions.

So expect to see Grand Theft Auto Six debut either in 2020 or 2021, first on the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox and afterward, hopefully, on PC as well.

Grand Theft Auto VI Could Be a Stream-Only Game

But this talk of platforms for which it will be available might be rendered irrelevant thanks to the new streaming feature that is said to be integrated into the game. It will essentially run the game remotely and stream the image to any device the user selects, even a smartphone - yes, that’s right, you’re probably going to be able to play the full next GTA game on your phone with minimal drop in quality or performance compared to playing it locally.

Grand Theft Auto VI Could Feature Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is another feature believed to be in the game and one that will probably completely change the experience of playing. It would be awesome if done well, but, then again, very few people actually use (and enjoy) the current level of VR tech, so unless Rockstar improves VR altogether and finds an easy way to integrate it so that everybody can play without expensive headsets, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a main feature.

A Brand New Game Engine Could Provide Game Features Beyond Our Wildest Dreams

The current game engine used by Rockstar for its recent titles (Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA V and even 2012’s Max Payne 3) is called RAGE, and it could be enhanced and reused for GTA VI. It’s been in use since 2006 and it can obviously be improved and gain new features like 4K capability and 60 fps frame rate; these were added in for the PC version of GTA V, along with dramatically improved draw distance (necessary for the game to render large, open spaces) and various shaders and effects to improve the feeling of immersion.

If Rockstar uses a brand new engine, then the game could have features we can’t even begin to think of because through using a new engine purpose-built for this application, more features will be added to the core program from the start and they will be better integrated than something added years after the engine was released.

So we do hope an all-new engine is in the works, especially since Rockstar will want to take full advantage of the superior specs of the next generation of consoles.

We don’t know the hardware specifics of the upcoming PlayStation (which may or may not be called PlayStation5 or PS5), but the rumor mill has churned out reports that it will support native 4K resolution (possibly even 8K, according to some less credible rumors), room scale wireless virtual reality, a unique type of hard disk that will apparently speed up game loading times 19 times compared to the PS4.

The next Xbox console (which may or may not be called Xbox Two) is apparently going to be offered in two flavors from the start. The first of these is apparently going to match (and probably surpass) the next PlayStation in terms of hardware and the second (smaller, cheaper) Xbox will be designed with a focus on streaming gameplay to other devices.

Conclusion

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No other game currently in development has more hype built behind it than Grand Theft Auto VI. Rockstar doesn’t even need to release any information about it because we just know it’s going to be worth the wait based purely on the company’s excellent track record. They release games rarely, but when they do, these games are usually good or better than anticipated.

Even if none of the above turns out to be true, make no mistake that this new GTA game will still be good, just in new and unexpected ways. The developer won’t stray too far from the established formula, and it may integrate more of the multiplayer part into the core game, since multiplayer has proven so hugely popular in GTA V and it is what has been keeping the game alive long after everybody played and finished the main story campaign.

With this extra focus on multiplayer, the experience of playing may change and even the story missions may have some kind of multiplayer component. This has been done before in the Watchdogs series by Ubisoft where random real players can connect to your game session and either try to hunt you down or have you hunt them down - this simple mechanic could be implemented and expanded upon in GTA VI since multiplayer has proven just so successful for the franchise.

But mods are also a huge deal for GTA V and they too are helping keep the game alive on PC. With mods you can radically alter the experience you have in the game and tailor it more to your needs and this is a good thing because the developer will try to create a game that has mass appeal and in doing so may alienate some players who like a more specific type of game. And that specific type of game can be recreated through the use of mods, so I think that at least for the PC versions, fully integrated mod support is a must.

In reality, though, Rockstar has stayed very tight-lipped about the upcoming game which some say has been pushed back by more than a year as the company has focused on finishing and delivering Red Dead Redemption 2 in time and making it good. Now it is rumored that Rockstar isn’t just working on Grand Theft Auto VI, so even now it may not be dedicating all of its resources towards its completion. The game will most likely be here in 2020, though, and there’s still plenty of time for leaks, news and, why not, maybe some official information released by Rockstar itself to fuel the hype.