Rockstar Games dropped 26 minutes of Grand Theft Auto 6 gameplay on Netflix today, and it answered a lot of questions that fans have been sitting on since the game was announced back in February 2022. All footage was captured on PlayStation 5, set in Vice City, and followed protagonists Jason and Lucia through missions, downtime, robberies, and a chaotic high-rise shootout. Here's everything that actually matters.
The map is genuinely enormous
Rockstar North's Rob Nelson put his own playthrough at roughly 80 hours, focused primarily on the main narrative and story-adjacent optional content. That lines up with the scale of what was shown: the GTA 6 map is three times larger than Red Dead Redemption 2's, which was already one of the biggest open worlds in recent memory. Vice City's traffic density alone looked like a meaningful upgrade just from the driving sequences shown.
The state of Leonida surrounds Vice City, and the official logline frames the whole thing as a criminal conspiracy stretching across it. So the map isn't just big for the sake of it , the story is built around that scale.
Everything We Know So Far From the GTA 6 Extended Look
Six-star wanted levels are back, and there's a criminal profile on top
GTA 5 dropped the series down to five wanted stars. GTA 6 brings the sixth star back, with visible crime icons under the stars showing exactly what you've been caught doing. That's a small detail that suggests the wanted system has more nuance this time.
What most players miss in the initial excitement is the Criminal Profile system sitting underneath all of that. Unlike wanted stars, which reset, the Criminal Profile tracks your behavior over time. Commit unnecessary violence during missions and it sticks with you. Think of it as GTA 6's version of Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system, except it's measuring how gratuitously violent you are rather than whether you're good or bad.
Everything We Know So Far From the GTA 6 Extended Look
Jason and Lucia: partners, not necessarily a couple
The extended look made clear that Jason and Lucia are the two playable protagonists, and the character-switching during missions looked smoother than GTA 5's three-character system. One getaway sequence cut between Jason hanging out the back of a car shooting at pursuers and Lucia taking over the wheel mid-chase.
Here's the thing about their relationship: it doesn't have to be romantic. The game leaves room for them to function as platonic partners if that's how you play it. The story is still built around their bond regardless. Rockstar's Rob Nelson described the core of the narrative as being about whether love can survive through extreme circumstances, but the game doesn't force that reading on you.
Jason also drew some early comparisons to Tom Hardy's Bane voice-wise, which is either charming or going to drive people up the wall. Lucia got a QTE moment where she took off a high heel and used it as a weapon, which is exactly the kind of specific, ridiculous detail Rockstar does well.
Everything We Know So Far From the GTA 6 Extended Look
What the gameplay actually showed
The 26 minutes covered a lot of ground. A few things stood out:
- NPC interaction works similarly to Red Dead Redemption 2, with conversation prompts on the street
- Dog interactions are in the game, including a prompt to pet or scold them
- Apartment downtime lets you watch in-game TV, grab a drink from the fridge, or rush your partner out the door
- Robberies are back in full force, with gas stations and convenience stores all appearing fair game
- Activities include basketball, jetskis, fanboats, kayaking, shooting galleries, base jumping, nightclubs, strip clubs, and what looked like a NASCAR-adjacent racing mode
- One sequence had Lucia find an influencer hiding in the trunk of a stolen car, who then livestreamed the police chase she was trying to escape
That last one is very GTA.
No microtransactions, no generative AI
Rockstar confirmed the single-player game launching in November will have zero microtransactions. They also stated no generative AI was used in the game's creation. Both are worth noting given how common both have become across the industry.
The game will feature political and social satire in the GTA tradition, but Rockstar confirmed it won't directly address real-world political figures or events. No stand-ins for specific politicians, no COVID-19 analogues.
What's still unknown
The extended look was heavy on story missions and Vice City itself, but online mode details remain absent. Given how much GTA Online extended GTA 5's lifespan, the absence of any multiplayer information is notable. Rockstar hasn't addressed what GTA 6's online component looks like, when it launches, or how it'll differ from the current GTA Online.
For everything on how to watch the full extended look and what times it drops across regions, check out our GTA 6 Extended Look watch guide. And if you're trying to figure out which edition to pick up before November 19, the GTA 6 editions and pre-order bonuses breakdown has everything you need.
