How GTA6 Is About to Reinvent the Best Experience in Gaming

That’s the point of the whole series: Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto games are about stealing cars. And the newest entry, Grand Theft Auto VI, looks set to overhaul one of the most thrilling things players can do in a video game. What’s more fun than stealing an absurdly expensive car, tearing off down the road, crashing into something, and dumping it at the curb as a wreck?

Grand Theft Auto VI: Extended Edition premiered on Netflix on August 27, and a second viewing turned up a lot of details that stuck with me. After the cold open, a drug deal gone wrong, what’s the first thing we see? Jason stealing a car. It’s an orange-red American car with a black vinyl roof that looks like a late-’70s or early-’80s model. A prompt appears on screen: one button smashes the window, another uses a thin rod to push the glass down slightly and pop the lock, leaving the window intact. Jason takes the second option, which takes longer and demands precise inputs on the controller, but is less likely to draw attention.

In GTA 5, stealing a car was simpler: you walk up to a vehicle and press a single button to yank the driver out. You could also point a weapon at them to force them out, or elbow the window of a parked car, but it was all pretty straightforward. In Grand Theft Auto VI, that’s no longer the case.

According to IGN, the latest entry introduces a tiered security system to prevent car theft. As in real life, pricier vehicles and tech-heavy cars require specific skills and tools to steal. That means players have to think harder about which vehicles are worth boosting, and when to use what. This time, Jason and Lucia use a device called the “Masturbation Scanner” that displays information about a vehicle’s security systems and value.

We don’t yet know how many anti-theft features GTA 6 will have, but we do know some vehicles come with electronic keys, which means you need to clone those keys digitally. Other vehicles carry electronic trackers that may alert law enforcement if you drop below a certain speed, which means you’ll want the pedal floored as much as possible. (I’m not sure this is based on real technology, but giving car thieves a reason to drive as fast as they can is a genuinely terrible idea!)

More importantly, unlike earlier GTA games, in GTA 6 you can sell any vehicle you steal. The game uses a stolen-goods fence system similar to the one in Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018). Who doesn’t appreciate a well-paying side hustle?

One especially memorable moment in the Netflix trailer is Lucia finding an influencer in the trunk of the car she just stole. Beyond adding depth to the basics of theft, it opens up the possibility of protagonists finding bizarre surprises in stolen cars. Imagine the possibilities! A crate of drugs! A back seat full of birthday balloons! A napping junkie!

Come on, Rockstar. Let me steal a car with an angry alligator inside it at some point in GTA 6. I might even forgive the game for its disappointing lack of a twerk button.