Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look on Netflix, showing gameplay for the first time.Among other things, the video previews driving and many of the vehicles to be featured in the game.Grand Theft Auto VI will release on November 19 on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
You already know what Grand Theft Auto VI is. This week, Rockstar Games finally released a 26-minute extended look at gameplay. Mindblowing is the word we’re going to use to describe what was in it. However, this is Car and Driver, so we’re going to focus on the cars and the driving.
Rockstar Games
After a drug deal gone wrong, which ends in an intense police shootout, we cut to a parking lot where main characters Jason and Lucia are committing grand theft auto on an old muscle car. Poetry. Immediately, this reveals a new gameplay mechanic that wasn’t in Grand Theft Auto V. Players can choose “slim jim” to reach between the window and door panel and yank the door open or “smash window” to break in how we’ve always done it. Notably, Jason waits until he is out of view of a passing tow truck before jimmying the lock open, demonstrating the heightened pedestrian awareness in GTA VI.
Rockstar Games
Some time later, our two protagonists are getting ready for a night out when we see them walk towards a very BMW E30-looking Ubermacht Sentinel Classic convertible. As Jason drives away and pulls onto the road, he reaches up to press a button that drops the top. Lowering a convertible roof isn’t new for GTA, but a specific animation from the driver to engage that feature is a particularly nice detail that makes the game feel that much more real. Something else happens in this exact moment that is very important too. The right turn signal flips on and cancels as Jason straightens the wheel. If you spent any time at all in GTA V chilling out and obeying traffic laws, you’ll know one of the most infuriating parts of playing like that is you couldn’t indicate while driving (without mods). It is unclear in this preview if the player is pressing a button to turn the signal on, or if the game is detecting that the player is turning right and does it automatically. We shall see in time.
Rockstar Games
Here’s a quick analysis of the driving physics in GTA VI. Just by going off how the cars look while maneuvering, it seems Rockstar has returned slightly to the jelly suspension of GTA IV, which some consider to be more realistic. Bodies pitch and roll in a more dramatic fashion than GTA V, but it still looks more toned down than GTA IV. Perhaps a happy middle ground. Later, a police chase scene in a Benefactor Shafter (Mercedes-Benz E-class), now piloted by Lucia, shows a heavy amount of tire-shooting from Jason hanging out the back window. Bullets pop the front tires of pursuing police cruisers, which induces a roll-over more often than not, something not seen nearly as often with the GTA V physics engine. Our theory is vehicles are simply more top-heavy this time around, so do be cautious hopping curbs at speed in Vice City.
Rockstar Games
Shortly after, Lucia finds cover in a shadowed alley, and we get our first intimate look at car interiors in GTA VI. Holy moly. What a step up from the initial 2013 release of GTA V on Xbox 360 and PS3, where the inside of vehicles looked nothing short of a couple of 240p JPEGs on top of black pixels. In GTA VI, leather seats have high-fidelity texture and stitching; the dash illuminates and shows detailed readings from the speedometer to the radio and climate controls. You can even make out a cutout for the glove box.
We simply have no choice but to talk about the racetrack. It was only a brief five seconds, but it revealed a couple of things. First, a legitimate track with curbing, catch fences, and a pit lane is on the map. In fact, you can briefly see a pull-off to the right that likely leads to the pits as the player is cresting the hill. Second, the player’s HUD has a lap counter, position indicator, lap timer, and that’s it. No suggested racing line like Forza or Gran Turismo, no best lap time, live leaderboard, or time delta to the car in front. It’s ultimately fine that these extra pieces of HUD aren’t there, but any serious racing-game enjoyer knows that those are crucial parts of the experience.
There is way more to talk about; we’ve barely mentioned any carspotting, but these are the gameplay features and mechanics that stood out to us. Grand Theft Auto VI releases on November 19 and will be available on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
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With Pennsylvanian roots, Carter has spent years on some of the greatest driving roads in the country. From every gear shift in his first car—a 2008 Scion tC which he still proudly owns—and long before, Carter has always been about the raw power and emotion that cars exude. Carter was raised in an artist’s household and found an early passion for filmmaking. He would document family vacations, create short films with friends, or pick up freelance video jobs. Not long after high school, Carter took a dive into photojournalism and gained opportunities to travel all across Pennsylvania. He filmed pro sporting events, interviewed politicians, and covered daily breaking news in his home community. Carter says the combination of video/photography and cars at Car and Driver equals his dream job.