GTAVI: An unique deep dive into the online game of the last decade

This story is taken from the autumn 2026 problem of Dazed, which is on sale internationally from September 10. Pre-order a replica of the journal here.

On the sweltering Leonida Keys, sweat slicks the pores and skin of two lovers on the run as they toast new beginnings, watching the solar set over the water. A breeze blows by their hair, and you may nearly really feel the condensation dripping from the chilly beer bottles of their palms; within the background, locals collect on the weatherbeaten dock, detached to the story unfolding between the outlaws. Elsewhere, a couple of miles north, tanned our bodies of all styles and sizes swarm the sand on Vice Beach. Further north nonetheless, locals are caked in mud, kicked up from the again of a mud bike or spattered on a stars-and-stripes bikini. And as evening falls again in Vice City, sweaty crowds surge to deafening hip-hop beats, spilling out from golf equipment on to the neon-lit streets.

It’s been 13 years since Rockstar Games launched Grand Theft Auto V, one of the acclaimed – and controversial – video video games of all time. And it’s been roughly the identical period of time since work started on its sequel, Grand Theft Auto VI, which transports the motion from San Andreas (intently impressed by real-life southern California) to Leonida (based mostly on Florida). That’s greater than a decade of anticipation, that means there’s “unprecedented pressure” on the follow-up to fulfill expectations, as Rob Nelson, head of growth and co-studio head at Rockstar North, tells Dazed: “However, I don’t know that any amount of external pressure could compare with the pressure we put on ourselves as a team.”

If you settle for that video video games are an artform, then Rockstar Games has produced two of essentially the most important works of the twenty first century up to now: GTAV and the western-themed journey Red Dead Redemption 2. The numbers communicate for themselves: in 2013, the previous broke the report for the fastest-selling leisure product of all time, incomes a billion {dollars} in simply three days – greater than any e-book or Hollywood movie. Five years later, RDR2 took the second spot. But the latter additionally got here with a gear shift. While GTA satirised trendy life with wacky characters, high-octane automotive chases and explosive gunfights, RDR2 was hailed as one of the lifelike and immersive video games to this point, with a slower, extra emotional tone suited to its storyline.

GTAVI guarantees one thing in between the 2. The open-world sport is about in the identical fictionalised US that serves because the backdrop for the remainder of the collection, with all of the weapons and supercars you’d anticipate, however the world is extra grounded and reactive than earlier than – gone are the times when you might traverse the town like a god. Now, gamers’ actions have penalties. Walk down the road with a rifle, and the town may have one thing to say about it. More and extra, the video games are converging on actual life, and non-player characters (NPCs) are performing… effectively, much less like NPCs than ever. For some avid gamers, there’s a concern that what GTAVI positive factors in immersion, it loses within the chaos and anarchy which were a part of the collection’ DNA for the reason that outset, however for Rockstar, the purpose is to create a world of complete immersion, which reacts extra realistically than ever to what you select to make of it.

“We look back at our previous games with a critical eye and see where we want to evolve based on what we didn’t do as well as we would have liked to, either because we didn’t have the time, resources or technological capabilities, or in some cases things we just didn’t do as well or consider as fully as we could have,” says Nelson. “A lot of what we do is very iterative – we adjust a lot of things by feel based on what is working and what isn’t.”

The story has advanced, too, with larger stakes and characters grounded in all features of the world they inhabit. Players step into the sneakers of Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos – an ex-military drug runner and a fighter contemporary out of jail, respectively – and may select to both play as a pair, or go off and trigger chaos independently. This marks the primary time {that a} GTA sport has featured a playable couple within the lead position, which makes for some distinctive eventualities: on the best way to a job, for instance, gamers can cruise alongside the freeway as Jason, or swap to Lucia within the passenger seat to scroll on the in-game telephone. (Yes, there are working social media feeds – what satirical tackle 2020s America can be full with out them?) When the job inevitably goes incorrect and spirals right into a automotive chase, the fluid system permits gamers to take the wheel in a single second, then fireplace on pursuers out of the passenger window the subsequent. And afterwards, when it’s all blown over, they’ll skim throughout the waves on a jetski, admiring the Leonida seascape and leaping dolphins with their arms wrapped round their companion’s waist.

True romance like Jason and Lucia’s often takes a again seat in GTA video games, which, relating to issues of affection and intercourse, are extra generally related to strip golf equipment and underground intercourse work. But GTAVI could be very consciously staged as “a Bonnie and Clyde-type narrative”, says Rupert Humphries, senior vp of narrative at Rockstar. The trailers alone function a slew of intimate cutscenes from Jason and Lucia’s personal fugitive story, which showcase the particular consideration that Rockstar’s artwork and know-how groups have paid to how our bodies appear and feel – a hand on a ribcage, hips swinging on a packed dancefloor. For some avid gamers, the story may even function one among their earliest encounters with a romantic (albeit crime-ridden) relationship, the place their decisions can have repercussions that minimize a lot deeper than Rockstar’s earlier titles or “honour” methods that reward conscientious sport taking part in.

“The thing we love about this medium is the way these characters aren’t empty avatars that you can do whatever you want with… Their story becomes a journey you share with them” – Rob Nelson, head of growth and co-studio head at Rockstar North

Lucia can be the primary absolutely fleshed-out feminine lead in a mainline GTA sport. Before her, it’s male protagonists all the best way down, courting again to 1999. (Grand Theft Auto’s 1997 debut featured a 50-50 break up of female and male protagonists.) Previous instalments, together with GTAV, drew criticism for misogynistic themes and underdeveloped feminine characters, however the collection has advanced, and hopes to draw extra feminine avid gamers to its beforehand male-heavy participant base. In Lucia and Jason, they’ve created characters with wealthy, complicated identities, whereas nonetheless leaving ample room for gamers to make them their very own. “The thing we love about this medium is the way these characters aren’t empty avatars that you can do whatever you want with,” says Nelson. “Their story becomes a journey you share with them.”

The pleasure of GTA is as a lot about what gamers do with the moments in between story beats, although. And Rockstar affords what has been – up till now – as near true freedom as you’re going to get throughout the confines of a digital world. “We want to enable as much self-expression as possible,” says Nelson, “without losing the essence of the characters.” Take GTAV’s model of 2010s Los Angeles, for instance: you might rampage by the streets with an assault rifle or a tank, cruise by the Pacific in an open-top automotive blasting Frank Ocean, and even calm down with a spherical of golf. RDR2 pushed issues additional: between shootouts, the player-controlled protagonist Arthur Morgan may retreat into the wild to fish, hunt massive sport and make a campfire beneath the geographically correct stars, or lose time ingesting and playing in distant frontier cities. Come down out of the mountains a couple of in-game weeks later, and he’d have grown a protracted beard and a mane of hair, and visibly misplaced some weight (or gained it, relying in your talent with a bow and arrow). Bar fights, in the meantime, would go away him bruised and scarred.

GTAVI marks the return, and growth, of those interactive methods that alter the protagonists’ our bodies. Food impacts Jason and Lucia’s weight, whereas exercising visibly builds and tones their muscular tissues. And, if you find yourself spending a very long time away out of your mattress, on the run from police or on a multi-day bender, their options are going to pay the worth for that as effectively. The impact is a bit like The Picture of Dorian Gray – solely, as a substitute of your soul being recorded on a spooky portray within the attic, your habits and sins are written on to the faces and our bodies of the sport’s avatars. This type of interactivity is exclusive to video video games, shaping the digital world and the participant’s responses to it in flip. Between visible suggestions mechanisms, deep relationship mechanics and the heightened realism of the world they inhabit, folks may even assume twice about occurring the arcade-style rampages of GTA video games passed by, as soon as they land in Leonida.

“We will meet with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential who’ll take our calls. We hang out, get a feeling for the place, listen to the stories…” – Jamie-Lee Lloyd, senior artwork director for characters

Vice City, the center of GTAVI’s Leonida, relies on Miami. This means gamers can anticipate encounters with digital iterations of Florida Man, the cultural archetype-turned-meme identified IRL for wrangling alligators, drunken antics and literal grand theft auto. But these outsized characters are only one weird side of a world constructed with “an open mind, a genuine appreciation and a deep curiosity” in the direction of the tradition it’s based mostly on, says GTAVI sport author Michael Wiafe. “It’s easy to go in with a cynical view and say, ‘Well that’s weird, put it in the game,’ but we couldn’t just stop there. We have to bring a sense of discovery to the players too, not just repeat cliches that already exist.” To do this requires years of on-the-ground exploration: numerous teams of Rockstar staff have visited Miami and its surrounding areas during the last decade, and there’s a devoted analysis workforce embedded within the metropolis. “That firsthand context helped us understand the visual markers and nuances that define the identities we wanted to represent,” explains Jamie-Lee Lloyd, senior artwork director for characters, “while filtering them through the unique lens of GTA and the stories we wanted to tell.”

Humphries agrees that these experiences are important, noting {that a} majority of the sport’s characters are born out of this analysis, which incorporates assembly actual individuals who name the state dwelling. “We will meet with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential who’ll take our calls,” he provides. “We hang out, get a feeling for the place, listen to the stories, cross-reference that with books and journalism, and try to get to the heart of which characters will bring the city we are creating to life.” 

In GTAVI, this solid consists of numerous criminals, from old-school drug runner Brian Heder and his conspiracy-obsessed affiliate, Cal Hampton, to suave financial institution robber Raul Bautista. Elsewhere, the traces are blurrier. Vice City legend Boobie Ike oversees a personal empire together with the Jack of Hearts strip membership (a GTA staple) and a music studio, overseen by the younger, opportunistic Dre’Quan Priest. “We love Miami music, particularly Miami bass, going through to more recent Miami artists like Kodak Black and Sexyy Red,” says Humphries. “We were also really interested in how the hip-hop scene in Miami exists in house parties in Overtown, clubs like Booby Trap on the River, and then high-end places on South Beach where bottles can cost thousands of dollars. We needed characters who could take us through those worlds.” In the years for the reason that launch of the final sport, the music trade has witnessed a shift in focus in the direction of feminine artists, as represented within the sport’s rising stars Real Dimez, whose journey might be traced through in-game viral social media posts.

“[GTA VI’s] brands reflect the aspirations, aesthetics and lifestyles of the people that inhabit our world’s spaces” – Stu Petri, vp of 2D/UI design

With characters like these, anchored in a selected place and time, is there a threat of tipping again into reductive Miami parodies, particularly given the sport’s lengthy lifespan? If right now we glance again on GTAV’s hipsters and geeky tech bros as a type of 2010s time capsule, what sorts of cultural archetypes will we glance again on once we revisit GTAVI in one other 13 years, and can they continue to be true to how we expertise them within the current day? The artists, writers and builders at Rockstar are acutely aware of the tightrope they’re strolling. Take Stu Petri, vp of 2D/UI design, who has overseen a lot of the cautious world-building in GTAVI, together with the various in-game merchandise, manufacturers, retailers and campaigns that bear greater than a passing resemblance to their real-life counterparts. “Our vision is to build a vibrant, believable culture,” he says, that means that each model, from trend label to automotive firm, has to really feel like greater than only a one-off joke, as if it really exists and serves an actual goal in Leonida’s cultural ecosystem. “These brands reflect the aspirations, aesthetics and lifestyles of the people that inhabit our world’s spaces.” Drop into the sport as Jason or Lucia, and so they come to replicate your inside life as effectively, lending an additional layer of that means to every haircut or outfit selection.

The potential to discover a range of cultures and existence is partly why the collection ended up circling again to Vice City and the state of Leonida within the first place, Nelson suggests: “Florida and Miami have perhaps one of the most diverse and interesting populations in the world.” Few know this higher than Miami-based stylist Jillian Carr, who has labored with Rockstar since 2023, designing an in-game “fashion ecosystem” that goals to replicate all of the nuances of “taste, lifestyle, affluence and individuality” which are displayed within the metropolis, and in America as a complete. “Vice City is built around vanity,” says Carr. “Between social media, celebrity culture and a constant flow of tourists, appearances carry significant weight, and trend cycles turn over quickly.” This brings us again to the background NPCs. Young and previous, tall or brief, tattooed, pierced or modified with cosmetic surgery, carrying throwback Hawaiian shirts, sharp fits, luxurious trend or muddy fight gear, the our bodies and garments of the digital plenty are additionally way more various than in earlier video games, and extra tailor-made to their native environments, from Vice City’s Little Cuba to the wilderness of Mount Kalaga nationwide park.

“To bring that diversity to life in-game, we developed new tools and pipelines that enabled us to build the most detailed and varied character population we’ve ever created,” says Lloyd. But finally, he provides, making that inhabitants really feel genuine comes from greater than look alone. “It’s the combination of how a character looks, moves, interacts and expresses themselves, brought together through collaboration across multiple teams.” Wiafe hopes that each one of those methods working collectively ship “a landscape that players feel they’ve been dropped into and are made to endlessly roam around in.”

“Vice City is built around vanity. Between social media, celebrity culture and a constant flow of tourists, appearances carry significant weight, and trend cycles turn over quickly” – Jillian Carr, stylist

To pull off the technical and cultural feats required to construct a world of the size, depth and interactivity of GTAVI, the Rockstar workforce has greater than doubled in dimension for the reason that launch of Red Dead Redemption 2. It has workplaces around the globe, with one department in LA devoted nearly solely to the world of in-game pedestrians (NPCs). More than 50 actual road artists had been introduced in to design murals in locations like Vice City’s Stockyard (based mostly on Wynwood, Miami). The workforce that offers with automobile dealing with is made up of literal race-car drivers.

Again, all of it provides as much as a number of stress, and never solely as a result of the funding of time, cash and energy is on a par with a number of wonders of the world – on the time of writing, there’s an internet hearsay that the sport price extra to construct than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. But additionally as a result of, if all goes effectively, this can be a murals that individuals may spend the subsequent decade with… no less than. “It is a lot of pressure internally and externally, but that pressure is ultimately a privilege we know we are fortunate to have,” says Nelson. “All we want to do is deliver for our audience.”

This story is taken from the autumn 2026 problem of Dazed, which is on sale internationally from September 10. Pre-order a replica of the journal here. Grand Theft Auto VI is out on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.