Rockstar’s own confirmed GTA 6 features list is short: a single-player game set in the state of Leonida, two playable leads in Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, and a November 19, 2026 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Almost everything else now known about how the game plays comes from one source, Edge magazine’s cover feature, published free on GamesRadar+ on October 29. This guide puts every feature in one place and says where each one comes from.
Edge writer Simon Parkin watched Rob Nelson, Rockstar North’s co-studio head and head of development, play the current build for 90 minutes, and also spoke to Aaron Garbut and Phil Hooker. Many of the details below are Edge’s description of that session, not Rockstar announcements, and we label them that way. Map size and NPC numbers are covered in our GTA 6 map size and NPCs report, so we only summarise them here.
Table of Contents
Quick answer: GTA 6 features at a glance
- Confirmed by Rockstar: single-player, Leonida with Vice City and five more named regions, Jason and Lucia as leads, Standard and Ultimate Editions, a pre-load from November 12.
- Police: a “heat” system shows what the police know about you (clothes, partner, CCTV, weapon). Edge also saw stinger strips and a K9 unit.
- Choices: a Criminal Profile from “Professional” to “Irredeemable” that Rockstar says shapes the story, plus a four-point relationship scale for Jason and Lucia.
- Cars: the WAINK app for theft-to-order jobs, the Scooter Bros app to have your car delivered, and fuel and engine health on every vehicle.
- World: working buses and trains, layered weather, a longer day-night cycle, narrower roads and a smell-reaction system.
- Story pacing: some missions are gated behind raising cash, so you can’t chain story jobs back to back.
- Not confirmed: an online mode, a PC version, a map size in square miles and whether Jason and Lucia can marry.
Complete GTA 6 features list with sources
Checked October 29, 2026. “Edge” means the feature reports it, usually from the play session. “Rockstar via Edge” means Edge attributes it to Rockstar or quotes a developer.
| Feature | What’s been reported | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms and date | PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, November 19, 2026 | Rockstar, PS Store, Xbox Store |
| Game mode | “Grand Theft Auto VI is a single-player experience” | PS Store and Xbox Store descriptions |
| Setting | Leonida: Vice City, Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, Mount Kalaga National Park | Rockstar’s GTA VI site |
| Two leads | Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos; you can switch between them “whenever the narrative allows” | Rockstar (leads); Edge (switching) |
| Criminal Profile | Tracks your behaviour from “Professional” to “Irredeemable”; influences how the story unfolds | Rockstar via Edge |
| Relationship scale | Jason and Lucia’s closeness on a four-point scale, raised by time spent together | Edge |
| Heat system | On-screen icons show what police know; change clothes, split up or drop the weapon to shake it | Edge |
| Police tactics | Stinger strips, helicopter searchlights, K9 units | Edge (play session) |
| WAINK app | Lists cars wanted by fences, with security and tracking details; pay depends on condition | Edge |
| Scooter Bros app | Pay a small fee and a courier delivers your car, then rides off on a scooter | Edge |
| Weapons in the trunk | Your arsenal is stored in your car’s boot | Edge |
| Fuel and engine health | Every vehicle has a fuel gauge and an engine-health readout | Edge |
| Public transport | Fully functioning buses and trains | Edge; Phil Hooker quoted |
| Weather | Clouds move on their own; wind affects boats and aircraft; storms can lightly damage aircraft | Edge; Aaron Garbut quoted |
| Day and night | Cycle extended “substantially” compared with GTA V | Edge; Rob Nelson quoted |
| Roads | Narrowed to “a more believable size” | Rob Nelson via Edge |
| NPCs | Personality traits, around 600,000 animations, reactions to how you carry a weapon | Edge (see our Edge report) |
| Smell reactions | Characters grimace and recoil in foul-smelling places | Edge |
| Interiors | “An order of magnitude more interiors” than earlier games | Aaron Garbut via Edge |
| Story pacing | “Natural gating” between missions; some jobs need cash first | Edge |
| Open map early | Leonida reportedly opens up “relatively early” | IGN, citing the GTA VI O’Clock podcast’s reading of Edge |
Diving off the Leonida Keys: IGN reports the map opens up relatively early. Image: Rockstar Games
What Rockstar has officially confirmed
Rockstar’s own material sets the base. The store listings call the game “a single-player experience”, and the release is November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a pre-load from November 12. Our GTA 6 release time and pre-load guide lists the unlock times by region. Rockstar’s GTA VI site names six parts of Leonida, which we cover one by one in the GTA 6 map guide. Its People pages profile Jason, Lucia and the supporting cast, all collected in our GTA 6 characters list.
The Ultimate Edition’s extras, such as the ’95 Grotti Cheetah, the Shitzu Squalo boat and shops that only open with that edition, are official as well. The GTA 6 pre-order guide compares both editions.
GTA 6 police: heat system, stingers and K9 units
According to Edge, the police respond to what they know about you rather than to a star count alone. A “heat” system records your physical description, whether you worked alone or with a partner, what you wore, whether CCTV caught you and which weapon you carried. Icons at the top of the screen show that police report. To shake it, you make yourself less recognisable. If witnesses saw two people, splitting up from your partner removes that detail. Changing clothes or dropping the weapon removes others.
Edge says the game allows “a degree of latitude” before bad behaviour turns into a wanted level. During the session, police laid a stinger strip that was “almost invisible” at night, and a K9 unit’s dog chased down and pinned Jason. Edge describes the overall aim as making crime feel “precarious” instead of godlike.
Criminal Profile and the Jason and Lucia relationship
GTA 6’s answer to a morality system is the Criminal Profile. It tracks Jason and Lucia’s behaviour on a scale from “Professional” to “Irredeemable”, shown with angel and devil icons. Edge says you can knock an enemy out instead of killing them, or try threats and intimidation first. Players who “shoot first” build a violent profile. This is the one gameplay claim the feature attributes directly to the studio: “Rockstar says that your Criminal Profile will influence how Jason and Lucia’s story unfolds.”
The couple’s closeness is measured on a four-point scale. According to Edge, it usually rises the more time they spend together: beach walks, cycling, the gym (once they’ve bought a membership) or just driving around. The limits are firm. You choose what kind of criminal to be, not whether to be one. When asked whether the pair can marry, Nelson would neither confirm nor deny it.
Jason's Criminal Profile tracks whether he plays it 'Professional' or 'Irredeemable', per Edge. Image: Rockstar Games
GTA 6 cars: WAINK, Scooter Bros, fuel and trackers
Edge describes several new vehicle systems:
- WAINK: a phone app listing car models wanted by fences, with each car’s security features and tracking. Higher-end models ping their location to the police, so you have to lose the tail on the way to the drop-off. Part of your pay depends on the car’s condition.
- Scooter Bros: open the app, pay a modest fee, and a courier delivers one of your cars within seconds, then rides off on a scooter. IGN points out that the name nods to the “scooter brothers” GTA 4 meme from 2008.
- Weapons in the trunk: your arsenal sits in your car’s boot, so your own car matters more than in earlier games.
- Fuel and engine health: every vehicle has both. Edge says cars go a long way before they run low, and refuelling is quick.
- Riskier carjackings: some drivers flee, others are armed and fight back. A newer car may have a tracker, and the owner may report the theft.
Edge also saw a semi-scripted street race. Youths in a customised 4×4 kept taunting Nelson on the highway until he accepted their challenge.
Every GTA 6 vehicle has a fuel gauge and engine health, Edge reports. Image: Rockstar Games
Leonida’s world: weather, buses, trains and smell reactions
GTA V’s weather used preset states. In GTA 6, Edge says, clouds move on their own, shaped by wind, humidity, fog, time of day and season. You can see a storm forming in the distance, roads get wet and then dry at different rates, and wind changes how boats handle near islands. Planes and helicopters get buffeted in storms and can take light damage. Pedestrians look for shelter.
The day-night cycle has been extended “substantially”. Nelson says that with GTA V’s timings “everything felt too fast”. GTA V’s wide roads have been narrowed to “a more believable size”. The game also has fully working bus and train systems. Phil Hooker, the head of development responsible for stability, told Edge: “I’m obsessed with making sure they always turn up.”
Small systems stack up too. Rockstar first built a reaction to a bad smell for one piece of explorable content, then turned it into a general system. In the session, Jason grimaced and recoiled in a house trashed by a dog, with no scene written for it. Edge also saw Jason drink coffee for stamina and a protein shake for health, and Garbut describes days spent “buying cigarettes and beer in the shop and going on the train”.
Can you speedrun GTA 6’s story?
Not in the old way. Earlier GTA games sent the next mission almost as soon as you finished one. Edge says GTA 6 still accommodates story-focused players but adds “some natural gating” for downtime. Sometimes Jason and Lucia have to raise money before the next job, for example by holding up a gas station or jewellery store or by stealing a car a fence wants. Insider Gaming and Dexerto framed this as “no speedrunning”. Edge’s wording is softer: the story isn’t locked, but you’ll need to earn cash along the way.
Does the GTA 6 map open up early?
Probably, but this one is secondhand. IGN reports, citing the GTA VI O’Clock podcast’s reading of the Edge issue, that Leonida will open up “relatively early”. The line isn’t in the free online text of the feature, so treat it as reported, not confirmed, until the game is out.
What Rockstar hasn’t confirmed
- Online mode: not announced, and the Edge feature doesn’t mention one. See what Rockstar has said about GTA 6 Online.
- PC version: not announced. A GamesBeat report says PC could follow in early 2027, but that comes from anonymous sources.
- Map size in square miles: Rockstar gave only a comparison with earlier maps, no figure.
- Marriage: Nelson “refuses to confirm or deny” it.
- A third trailer: Rockstar has announced none since the October 15 launch trailer.
FAQ
Does GTA 6 have a morality system?
Yes, in a limited form. The Criminal Profile tracks whether you play as a “Professional” or an “Irredeemable” criminal, and Rockstar told Edge that it influences how the story unfolds. You can’t choose to stop being a criminal.
Can you switch between Jason and Lucia?
Yes. Edge says you can switch “whenever the narrative allows”, as in GTA V. During chases you can also hand the driving to one character and shoot as the other.
Does GTA 6 have public transport?
Yes. Edge reports fully functioning bus and train systems, and Phil Hooker says he has memorised all the routes.
Can you call your car in GTA 6?
Yes. According to Edge, the Scooter Bros app delivers one of your cars for a modest fee within a few seconds.
Is GTA 6 single-player only?
At launch, the store listings describe it as “a single-player experience”. Rockstar hasn’t announced a GTA 6 online mode.
Sources: Edge / GamesRadar+, “Grand Theft Auto VI exclusive: The state that never sleeps” (Simon Parkin, October 29, 2026); IGN (two reports, October 29, 2026); Insider Gaming; Rockstar Games GTA VI site; PlayStation Store and Xbox Store listings.
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Featured image: Rockstar Games
