A Comprehensive Guide To New ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ Rumors & Leaks

I know what this looks like, but don’t click away.

After over a decade of anticipation, Grand Theft Auto VI is currently slated to release on Nov. 19, 2026. Over the years, there have naturally been a plethora of rumors and “leaks” about the game. This will be a comprehensive list of all the most recent ones, mainly cited from a Reddit post by user “KekanKok” on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours page. Without further ado, let’s drive right in.

The World Gets Only Bigger

Dedicated fans have begun mapping out GTA VI‘s upcoming world and found it to be approximately 2.7 times larger than GTA V‘s previous map. VI is expected to be set in the state of Leonida, which encompasses regions such as Vice City, the Leonida Keys, and Mount Kalaga National Park.

Male Strippers

Another win for inclusion!

While strippers have been featured in the franchise before, they have only been female. GTA VI rejects that kind of narrow-mindedness and is allegedly welcoming male strippers into the fray. The power of customization is now truly in the player’s hands.

Double the Number of Protagonists

GTA VI has been officially marketed as featuring two protagonists: Jason and Lucia. However, leakers have suggested that players will not only be able to switch between the couple, taking control of them individually at separate times, but will also have the option to play as both simultaneously.

This will allegedly be true in the story and in the open-world. How will this work? We don’t know. What we do know is that this feature would be pushing the envelope for the series and for gaming, in general.

700 Buildings to Explore

Open-world games typically have many un-enterable buildings, due to the sheer amount of time and effort it would take to create the interiors of every single building generated in the world. However, it has been reported that GTA VI will feature over 700 buildings with fully rendered interiors you can walk into and explore.

For reference, GTA V only had about 100 of these venues you could enter.

It is implied that the in-game locations will include skyscrapers, shops and malls with a variety of stores for players to discover.

Underwater Free-Roam

Pushing the new boundaries of this enormous open-world map even further, it is also rumored that there will be expansive underwater regions that will be able to be explored.

From the clearly Florida-esque state of Leonida, to the fan-made map of GTA VI‘s world, to the trailers themselves depicting a large presence of water, it can be easily theorized that there will be many chances for the player to be in water. The trailers also showcase visuals of speed boats, jets, yachts and even hovercrafts, so aquatic missions should come as no surprise to fans.

Beach settings and swamp environments could be present in this game alongside unique underwater biomes. There may be sunken treasures and hidden secrets, as well as a specific mission where you have to hunt down a shark with a speargun.

A Story Told in Chapters

Leaks indicate that the story mode for GTA VI will abandon the previously established “story missions” format and instead opt for “chapters.” This would make sense, as it would emulate the story structure of Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Games’s previous smash hit.

While Red Dead Redemption 2 had eight chapters, a leak states that GTA VI will have five in its story, with the possibility of prologues and epilogues to bookend them.

More Spoof Brands

Every GTA game follows the series tradition of parodying existing companies and brands with knock-off names; past brand names have included Weazel News, iFruit, Maibatsu and LifeInvader.

A leak posted by gtaforums.com may give fans their first glance at some of the new parody brands they could expect from GTA VI. Reportedly, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, has registered the website domains: “RydeMe”, “What-Up”, “Buck-Me” and “Hookers-Galore.”

Only time will tell exactly what these fake brands are parodying, but off the names alone, the audience can get a fairly good idea.

Realistic Bodily Side Effects

GTA VI seems to be bringing back its absurdly realistic weight and muscle system.

These mechanics meant that the lifestyle choices the player made for their characters, such as diet and exercise, would eventually affect their appearance.

This feature was pioneered in GTA: San Andreas, where the game’s protagonist, CJ, grew or shrank based on the player’s activity. This system returned in Red Dead Redemption 2, so Rockstar Games could yet again take a page from its past and include this mechanic in GTA VI.

Body-Building Mission

In the same vein of altering bodies, there is another rumor that the game will feature a segment where Lucia goes undercover in a bodybuilding gang.

If the weight mechanics do return, this mission would be a perfect complement to that system.

Other rumored missions include a cop-betrayal story and an opening in which players must follow a Russian drug plane.

Ball Up

Another feature that could potentially be returning from GTA: San Andreas is the ability to play basketball. San Andreas contains a basketball mini-game, so perhaps this could work the same way, or perhaps the GTA VI version of basketball will be much more expansive and detailed, with all its new technology.

Slow-Down Abilities

GTA V protagonist Michael De Santa exhibits the relatively common game mechanic of slowing down time to shoot with more precision. Franklin also has a form of this ability in GTA V, but for driving.

Once again, this feature can be seen in the Red Dead Redemption series, with “Dead Eye Targeting,” which lets players slow time and shoot multiple times while in that state.

You can see where this is going.

GTA VI is allegedly giving its protagonists another installment in this ability genre. Lucia will be able to slow time and get a shot out, and Jason will be able to shoot multiple times during this slowed-down state.

Bloody Gory

In yet another instance of GTA VI taking inspiration from Red Dead Redemption 2, apparently VI will be implementing realistic blood splatters, the ability to shoot off limbs and more brutality of that nature.

The Grand Theft Auto franchise has never shied away from being mature, yet if this leak is accurate, the sixth mainline installment could be the goriest one we’ve seen.

Six in VI

GTA‘s most iconic trademark probably has to be its wanted stars that appear in the corner of the screen. The number of stars represents the player’s Wanted Level, which indicates how persecuted they will be by police and even the military. The more crimes a player commits, the more stars they will have.

Players used to be able to earn up to six stars, but ironically, that number was cut to five in GTA V.

According to reports, however, players will be able to obtain that delicious sixth star again in GTA VI.

How fitting.

If true, this will most likely encourage fans to become quite the menaces to society in this newest game, and we can only imagine the repercussions that will come with that.

Greet Versus Antagonize

It might be easier to make a list of features from Red Dead Redemption 2 that aren’t rumored to appear in GTA VI.

RDR2 premiered the Greet/Antagonize system, which spices up NPC interactions by letting players choose whether they offer a nice greeting or antagonize them instead.

This gave birth to the “greet, greet, antagonize” model, which would guarantee players some of the game’s funniest dialogues.

Rumor has it that this model will be implemented once more in GTA VI, as the game will have its own Greet/Antagonize system. Who knows what exchanges will take place across Leonida if this rumor proves to be true?

Six’s Soundtrack

Some of the most reliable predictions have to be about the game’s soundtrack.

Firstly, long-time series contributor Neon Indian all but confirmed in a Spotify interview that they will have new music in GTA VI. The electronic band made music for GTA V, so it makes a lot of sense that they would return for the sequel.

Secondly, in a quickly-deleted post on X, Australian electronic band Panama claimed that “Back to Life,” a song they made in collaboration with fellow band Poolside, will also be used in the game.

Prep Time Headquarters

GTA V heavily emphasized the importance of mission planning. If you’re gonna do something, you gotta do it right.

However, a lot of these brainstorming spots were less than ideal, i.e. the Vanilla Unicorn strip club and Lester’s garment factory.

If the whispers are right, not only will the planning aspect return in GTA VI, but the new headquarters for it will be a nightclub.

Weapon Inventory

There will be no more hammer space in GTA VI, according to this rumor. Hammer space is a trope in animation in which characters can pull out any item imaginable from thin air, prompting audiences to suspend disbelief about where they store these items.

GTA V operates like this, where players can pull out any weapon they want at any time, no matter how insane it is.

Apparently, GTA VI will be removing some of that whimsy, and players will be subjected to a limited inventory for weapons.

You might have to stash your weapons in the trunk of your car.

Once again, this addition would be akin to Red Dead Redemption 2‘s weapon storage system.

Hidden Police

We thought that sneaky cop cars hiding on the side of the road were only something we had to worry about in the real world. Turns out, WhatCulture has reported that there will also be unmarked police cars in GTA VI.

Undercover cop cars can allegedly even be seen in one of the game’s official trailers.

NPCs Are Evolving

Back in my day, NPCs used to be simple renders made to populate a given world.

Now, the people are hearing leaks that the NPCs of GTA VI will be way more complex and varied, being able to react to the player in a way they haven’t been able to before. Allegedly, they will now be able to call for help, fight back, and even call the police on you.

As long as the people of Leonidas don’t become Karens, this should be alright.