Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to launch later this year, but there are few official details available, as Rockstar Games has been completely silent about the game since the trailer was released in December 2023. However, the developer will likely share more information about the game in the coming months as the fall 2025 release window approaches. The first trailer reveals one of Grand Theft Auto 6’s two protagonists, confirms the game’s Florida-inspired Vice City setting, and shows players what to expect when the game launches on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.
While the trailer hinted at some improvements for GTA 6, there are a lot of improvements that players can expect to see in the game when it finally releases. Considering what we saw in GTA 5 and Rockstar’s improvements to open-world interaction in Red Dead Redemption 2, GTA 6 may exceed lofty expectations and become the best game of this generation. Here are some improvements we’d like to see in Grand Theft Auto 6.
better story
GTA 5 excels on so many levels that it’s easy to forgive its mediocre, confusing story. The game has an interesting premise with three different playable characters, but Rockstar fails to build it into an interesting, weaving narrative with satisfying arcs for each protagonist. The game relies on its large set pieces to deliver spectacle – and they do – but the story inevitably takes a back seat.
That’s not the case with Red Dead Redemption 2. The Western action-adventure game has plenty of blockbuster moments, but the story of Arthur Morgan and his desperate attempts to keep the Dutch Van der Linde gang alive while writing his own personal redemption script may not have been surpassed in triple-A video games yet. Red Dead Redemption 2 has some of the most beautiful game environments in the medium; it has some of the best music ever written for a video game; it has one of the best, most interactive video game open worlds ever created; but the game’s story and characters are over the top.
In GTA 6, we hope Rockstar puts the same care and attention into the narrative. The story will focus on the adventures of Lucia and Jason (whose name has yet to be confirmed), a Bonnie and Clyde-inspired crime couple trying to make it in Vice City. GTA 6’s technical improvements would be much better if the game told a touching story.
GTA 6’s dual protagonists inspired by Bonnie and Clyde
Image source: Rockstar Games
A more interactive open world
Although GTA 5 has a vast open world, it generally does not allow players to participate in this world. There are very few accessible buildings in the game, and the vast swaths of land outside the city offer little to no player interaction. In contrast, the open world of Red Dead Redemption 2 feels more alive. You can interact with every NPC in the game, which makes the game world full of life.
Rockstar promises to “push the limits of highly immersive, story-driven open world experiences” with GTA 6. Players will reportedly be able to enter more buildings, participate in heists and heists in stores and restaurants, and interact with the open world in new ways. If Rockstar can deliver on its promises, Vice City and the larger Miami-inspired state of Leonidas could end up being the developer’s most immersive open world ever.
GTA 6 is set in Miami-style Leonidas
Image source: Rockstar Games
More role-playing options
Grand Theft Auto games have always allowed players to customize their characters to their liking, but Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas goes beyond other games in the series by letting players shape their protagonist, CJ. You can hit the gym to build muscles, learn new combat moves, and get better at driving, biking, swimming, shooting, and pretty much everything else. Or you might be a sloppy person who overeats and gains weight.
Since then, Rockstar has never given players this kind of freedom and role-playing options in a GTA game. However, in GTA 6 we’d like to see players have more control over their character’s stats. Adding the ability to upgrade skills will be a meaningful upgrade to GTA 5 over time.
GTA 6 may allow players to participate in heists and heists
Image source: Rockstar Games
better police system
The police system in the GTA games has remained largely unchanged across several games. Depending on the severity of your crime, you will receive a wanted level expressed in the number of stars. A one or two star wanted level will have several police cars following you and you can easily escape. The five-star wanted level means you have to face the full force of the police and survival becomes a challenge. Once caught or “wasted,” you lose a small amount of money and are released with virtually no consequences for your actions.
Red Dead Redemption 2 implements wanted levels in a different way, with a more sophisticated system of witnesses reporting your crimes and bounty hunters pursuing you. In GTA 6, we hope to see some evolution of the existing police systems in the series. Perhaps if you are caught committing a more serious crime, the consequences may be more severe. The first trailer showed Lucia in prison, and the game’s key art showed her wearing an ankle monitor. Perhaps once released after being arrested for a crime, your character might have an ankle monitor to limit their movements. Integrating these new systems into the game will make crime, which is the core of GTA games, even more exciting.
Lucia appears in prison in first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6
Image source: Rockstar Games
More flexible tasks
Rockstar Games has long been criticized for the extremely strict mission design in its games. Whether it’s Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar games always deliver a nail-biting experience where players are forced to complete objectives the way the developers want them to. It’s all about map markers and waypoints and following directions, and if you stray even slightly off the designated path, you can fail the mission.
In GTA 6, Rockstar must bring more flexibility to its mission design. The freedom players find in GTA’s open-world sandbox should also extend to the game’s missions. Of course, a Grand Theft Auto game can’t have the fluid mission structure of an immersive simulation game, but players must be afforded a certain level of choice. In GTA 5, heists introduced the option to choose between two ways of working, but these were mostly simple. GTA 6 must be deeper and give players more freedom.
More side activities in the open world
There’s always a lot to do in a GTA game besides the main missions. You can go on a date, go bowling, play golf, play tennis, watch TV, go to auto racing, go to a strip club. In “Red Dead Redemption 2”, players can watch theatrical stage performances and even engage in interactive experiences.
It would be nice if Rockstar could add more side activities to Leonia and add a little more complexity to the activities themselves. These activities bring the GTA game world to life and are an important part of creating immersion. The next step for Grand Theft Auto games should be to incorporate side activities into the game that require meaningful player participation and interaction.
