GTA 6 trailer and gameplay leaked as release info about Rockstar game emerges
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New details have emerged of the most highly-anticipated video game of the decade – maybe even the century – following the official release of of the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6.
The GTA 6 trailer reveals ultra-realistic graphics, new storylines and a female lead character – though still no exact release date.
All Rockstar Games divulged is that the sequel to 2013’s GTA 5 is “coming 2025”.
The game will see players return to Vice City, a fictional version of Miami that was last portrayed in Rockstar’s GTA: Vice City Stories in 2006.
Rockstar was forced to release the GTA 6 trailer 13 hours early on 4 December after it was leaked on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. Unverified clips of the new game have also appeared on TikTok, while 90 minutes of gameplay also appears to have made it into the wild.
You can find all the latest updates and leaks below.
GTA 6 live
Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of GTA 6 following the official release of the trailer – 13 hours ahead of schedule.
If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, you can watch it below.
An unofficial version of the trailer originally appeared on X on Monday, once again proving that Rockstar Games is as leaky as Liza’s bucket.
It contained loads of new info about the next Grand Theft Auto, as well as a few clues about what to expect for the most hyped game of the last decade.
GTA 6 live
The official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI has already racked up more than 56 million views and close to 7 million likes on YouTube since it dropped less than 12 hours ago.
Reactions have so far mostly been overwhelming positive, with the only real concerns being about whether gaming systems will be able to handle the ultra-realistic game.
But despite the excitement surrounding Rockstar’s forthcoming game – it is the number one trend on X (Twitter) in both the UK and US – people already appear to be searching for news on its sequel.
There have been thousands of posts about GTA 7, which judging by Rockstar’s current release rate won’t be with us until some point in 2037.
GTA 6 live - trailer leaves fans ‘speechless'
One of the biggest revelations from the new GTA 6 trailer is Rockstar Games’ decision to include a female protagonist for the first time in the franchise’s history.
“I am speechless,” one fan wrote on X (Twitter). “I have no words to describe how happy I am about GTA 6 trailer like WTF. Goosebumps.”
Another wrote: “Wow! Congrats to everyone on the GTA 6 dev team @RockstarGames! The game looks incredible. Unfortunate that the trailer got leaked ahead of time to ruin the moment a bit but the trailer looks absolutely stunning! 2025 cant come soon enough! [sic]”
Others have lamented at how long they will have to wait for that release date.
“GTA VI coming out in 2025? That’s like 10 years away,” one person wrote on X, while another did some arithmetic to work out that they probably “only have about three GTAs left” in their lifetime, given the current release rate.
You can read more about fans’ reactions to the trailer here.
GTA 6 live - Analysis reveals Vice City map’s secrets
The map for Vice City in GTA 6 will be the largest criminal sandbox in the entire series, and may even be bigger than Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2.
It’ll be based on a fictionalised version of Miami, Florida, and fans have already uncovered some game secrets by analysing leaks from the game.
Reddit user u/Positive-Sir1930 found evidence that neighbouring states will also feature, mainly Georgia. Cities and towns beyond Vice City that feature include Port Gellhorn, Homestead, Yorktown, Ambrosia, Keys and Sundown. There also appears to be Rockstar’s take on the Bermuda Triangle off the coast of Vice City, as well as a version of Disneyland called Fairyland.
You can read more about what the GTA 6 map might look like here:
GTA 6 Vice City map's massive secrets revealed after in-depth analysis
The highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 will be one of the biggest gaming releases of all time - and fans are licking their lips after the reveal.It'll be bigger in every way, more fans will be playing, it'll possibly cost more than GTA 5 did on release, it certainly cost more to produce, and of c...
GTA 6 live - Sequel gives ‘cause for concern'
Ever since publicist and child sex offender Max Clifford conjured up claims that the original GTA would corrupt the minds of impressionable young people, the game has been surrounded by controversy.
Multiple studies have refuted the idea that video games are responsible for causing violent or antisocial behaviour, but there may still be good reason for concern about GTA’s gameplay, according to The Independent’s Louis Chilton
He writes that “if we are to scrutinise GTA as a work of art – entertainment first and foremost, but art nonetheless – then the ethics of allowing players to simulate depraved behaviours can’t be dismissed out of hand... Just because GTA does not reward or necessitate evil actions does not mean that it should escape scrutiny for allowing players to participate in it.”
You can read his full piece here:
I’m no prude, but GTA 6 should give us cause for concern
The ‘Grand Theft Auto’ franchise has always been dogged by moral panic. No, this forthcoming sequel won’t turn children into killers, writes Louis Chilton – but let’s not pretend the game isn’t without its problems
GTA 6 live - Elon Musk can’t play GTA
He may be the world’s richest person – a quick calculation shows he could afford more than 3 billion copies of the game – but Elon Musk won’t be playing GTA 6 when it comes out.
Despite being a keen gamer, often touting his love of everything from Elden Ring to Polytopia, Musk doesn’t like some of the more violent aspects of the game.
“Tried [GTA], but didn’t like doing crime,” he wrote on X in response to a user saying they had never played the game. “GTA 5 required shooting police officers in the opening scene. Just couldn’t do it.”
One person described it as “one of the most pathetic and funniest reply chains I’ve ever seen”.
GTA 6 live - Rockstar reciprocates Musk’s boycott
With Elon Musk apparently refusing to play GTA, Rock Star games appears to be carrying out a semi-boycott of the tech billionaire’s platform X (Twitter).
“Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube,” the company wrote, while failing to post the video to X.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino tried to encourage Rockstar Games to post it to X, reposting screenshots showing the number of views the X post got compared to the YouTube views.
It seems she spoke to soon though, as Rockstar’s X post is currently on 69 million, while the YouTube video has received 70 million views.
Even without Rockstar putting the trailer up on X, the game is still top of trends in dozens of countries. (Where I am in France, it’s the top three trends.)
GTA 6 live - What we learned from the trailer
The 90-second trailer for GTA 6 gave fans an idea of what to expect in terms of gameplay, characters and story lines. It also helped debunk a few fan theories in the process, though some rumours remain a mystery.
One intriguing aspect of the trailer was that some of the in-game events appear to take inspiration from the real world. Set in Vice City – which itself is a fictionalised version of Miami – some of the secondary characters that appear to be based off the Florida Man meme. One shot from the trailer shows an alligator crawl menacingly into a grocery shop, which viewers matched with a real 2018 incident in which a man took a live alligator into a 7-11 while making a “beer run”.
The Independent’s Louis Chilton has a complete rundown of everything we learnt from the latest trailer, as well as all the things we’re yet to find out. You can read it here:
What GTA 6 fan theories have survived the trailer launch
A 90-second trailer gave fans a taste of what to expect from the fervantly anticipated video game sequel. Louis Chilton looks at everything we learned from the first look at ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’
GTA 6 live - Soundtrack for trailer is perfect for game’s long-awaited return
Rockstar Games is known for picking great songs to feature in its GTA franchise, with the newly-released trailer no exception.
Tom Petty’s “Love is a Long Road” plays over the clips of police chases, robberies and raids in the 90-second teaser, with the song originally released in 1989 as the B-sed to the hit single “Free Fallin’”.
The Independent’s Roisin O’Connor describes why this is the “apt soundtrack” to the long-awaited game:
Co-written by guitarist Mike Campbell and co-produced with Jeff Lynne, the song was apparently inspired by Campbell’s motorcycle. ‘I was really into that frame of mind,’ he told Rolling Stone, who ranked it at No 38 in their list of Petty’s top 50 songs. ‘This feels like a motorcycle shifting gears.’
He and Petty recorded a demo for the song that the late musician described as ‘chaotic with a lot of drum fills’. Lynne enlisted LA session musician Jim Keltner to help polish it up, resulting in a finished track that Rolling Stone said rivalled the ‘sleek energy’ of Petty’s ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’.
In a strange coincidence, Petty last performed the song live in 2013, the same year that the most recent GTA game, Grand Theft Auto V, was released.
You can read the full story here:
Tom Petty song is the apt soundtrack to long-awaited GTA 6
Leaked trailer features late musician’s 1989 song, inspired by his guitarist’s motorbike
GTA 6 trailer smashes YouTube record
Rockstar Games has just smashed the record for the most views gained by a non-music video in 24 hours on YouTube, beating the previous record held by YouTuber MrBeast.
The GTA 6 trailer has received more than 84 million views at the time of writing, just 21 hours after first being uploaded.
If you include other videos that just ripped Rockstar’s official trailer, that figure is way above 100 million.
MrBeast reacted with a wide-mouthed emoji posted to X, together with the words: “The GTA 6 trailer just broke our record for most views on YouTube in 24 hours.”
There’s still a long way before it gets close to the most viewed video of all time, which is the 13-billion-view monster ‘Baby Shark Dance’.
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