The GTA 6 release date is mere weeks away for folks on console, while those of us on PC are left waiting until… well, I don't know when. Rockstar hasn't shared a PC release date just yet, but it's fine. We'll keep tracking updates, details, and even the occasional leak anyway, so we'll be ready for a trip to Vice City on our own rigs.
Latest GTA 6 news: Rockstar just dropped a ton of new GTA 6 screenshots, and a fresh round of interviews included details on the game's Red Dead Redemption 2-style morality system, robust public transportation system, and why it was delayed.
GTA 6 release date
When is the GTA 6 release date?
GTA 6 releases on PlayStation and Xbox on November 19, 2026. There's still no word on an official GTA 6 PC release date, though.
We know it's not a matter of if, but when, for GTA 6 on PC. Historically, Rockstar takes about a year after launch to release games through its own launcher, Steam, and Epic. If you're bummed about the wait, so am I, but according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick we aren't the "core consumer," so we'll have to longingly watch from afar until it's our turn to play cars. I'm just hoping it squeezes in alongside 2027 new releases.
According to Rockstar's support site, GTA 6 will release at midnight local time on November 19 in all regions for players on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. So yes, if you're in New York (EST), your friends in New Zealand will be playing before you.
How much does GTA 6 cost?
The Standard Edition of GTA 6 costs $80/£70, and the Ultimate Edition costs $100/£90. If you pre-order GTA 6, you get the Vintage Vice City Pack, a collection of items inspired by Vice City in the '80s.
Does GTA 6 have preloading?
Yes, console players can start preloading GTA 6 on Tuesday, November 10. It's the same day for both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S users, but with slight differences around timing. You'll also need up to 212 GB of free storage space, so check your SSDs now.
- PlayStation preloading begins November 10 at midnight in your local time
- Xbox preloading begins November 10 at 12 am GMT, at the same time globally
- That's 11 am AET (Sydney), 4 pm PST (Los Angeles), 7 pm EST (New York)
GTA 6 trailers and footage
Here's the GTA 6 launch trailer
Rockstar dropped another GTA 6 trailer in mid-October to hold us over in the wait for launch, and this one is a bit more subdued than the last. Lots of narrative focus, cutscenes, and a few more lovey-dovey moments between Jason and Lucia.
The first GTA 6 trailer, which introduced us to its leading lady Lucia and Vice City's new era of TikTok-style social media.
Rockstar's second GTA 6 trailer honed in on its protagonist couple, Jason and Lucia, but there are plenty of other little details to pick out.
Rockstar surprised us all when it shared almost half an hour of new GTA 6 footage with a Netflix extended look.
GTA 6 story and characters
What do we know about the GTA 6 story?
The GTA 6 story follows dual protagonists Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval as they dabble in some Bonnie & Clyde-style lawbreaking. You'll swap between the two for various Vice City heists, pursuits, and other missions, or even just for moments building their relationship. Things between Lucia and Jason don't have to be romantic, but you can make it that way if you want.
They still look like a good team, no matter the nature of their relationship, and they have plenty in common. Rockstar says the duo has "always known the deck is stacked against them," but they both seem determined to make the most of their circumstances, whatever the cost.
What do we know about GTA 6 characters?
Our GTA 6 characters list provides a proper dossier on Vice City's most wanted, but here's a quick rundown on notable figures:
Grand Theft Auto's first female lead who just finished a stint in prison as GTA 6 begins. Lucia is driven by "the good life her mom has dreamed of since their days in Liberty City," and sees that possibility with Jason.
Part of the former troubled teen-to-Army pipeline, and it seems joining the war machine didn't really improve his circumstances. Rockstar describes his relationship with Lucia as "the best or worst thing to ever happen to him".
- Raul Batista - Seasoned bank robber with a relentless streak
- Brian Heder - Landlord and veteran drug smuggler
- Lori Heder - Brian's third wife who helps with smuggling
- Cal Hampton - Jason's buddy who probably lives on conspiracy subreddits
- Boobie Ike - Vice City businessman investing in local artists
- Dre'Quan Priest - Artist looking to move on from dealing and into music
- Real Dimez - Viral social media duo Bae-Luxe and Roxy
- Valentia - GTA Online's returning character
GTA 6 map
Where does GTA 6 take place?
GTA 6 will take place in modern day Vice City, in the state of Leonida—the GTA universe's parallel reality version of Florida. It's not a direct translation of any real city, but anyone familiar with Miami will spot their shared landmarks and likeness. GTA 6 also adds new destinations to its fictional metropolis, including:
- Mount Kalaga - The go-to for "prime hunting, fishing, and off-road trails"
- Grassrivers - Miles of mangroves and gators
- Leonida Keys - Cousin to the sunny Florida Keys
- Ambrosia - Ground zero for "the battle for health and wealth" in Leonida
- Port Gellhorn - A former hotspot, "Leonida's forgotten coast"
GTA 6 cover art and screenshots
New GTA 6 screenshot gallery
And here's the GTA 6 cover art
The cover art for GTA 6 has a mild synthwave look about it, and I'm here for it. The rest looks pretty bog standard for a GTA game: a fancy car, motorbike, boat, a gun if you can believe it, and this generation's "GTA girl". Oh, and an alligator missing a few teeth. Times are tough in Florida, even for the wildlife.
GTA 6 PC release
Will GTA 6 release on PC?
It's a pretty safe bet that, yes, GTA 6 will release on PC. Even though PC players aren't GTA 6's "core" audience, according to Strauss Zelnick. Despite himself admitting that PC can account for half a game's sales these days.
Rockstar's past with PC versions has been a bit erratic, but the immense popularity of both GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC is a great reason for Rockstar to take the platform seriously this time.
And it seems like Rockstar feels the same, considering it released the Rockstar Games Launcher on PC in 2019. It's hard to believe the studio would release its own games launcher if it didn't plan on hosting its future games there, including GTA 6. That said, we can probably expect a big gap between the release of GTA 6 on consoles and PC. It took GTA 5 a year and a half to come to PC, and RDR2's gap was almost a year as well.
The ShinyHunters hack of Rockstar and subsequent leaked GTA and Red Dead Redemption financial details did shed some light as to why the PC version of Rockstar games are always delayed, though. The short version? Rockstar doesn't make a lot of money from PC players. The Xbox One even beats PC for both weekly active users and weekly sales in GTA Online. I choose to believe this just means we're more discerning with our money on PC... but we might just all be broke from those relentless Steam sales.
GTA 6 Online
Will there be a GTA 6 online?
Almost certainly, even if GTA 6 is a "single-player experience" at launch. While GTA 5's online Los Santos has yet to run out of gas, with Rockstar still regularly adding new activities, content, and events to its big multiplayer world, it's hard to imagine GTA 6 would skimp on a multiplayer offering. Given that GTA 4, GTA 5, and both Red Dead Redemption games have had online servers, it feels like a must-have for GTA 6.
More specifically, some GTA 6 rumors around its online mode claim it's currently working with 64-player servers behind the scenes. That's double what regular GTA Online hosts today—with the alleged goal being to push that number to 96 on release.
Even if that turns out to be false, assuming GTA Online 2.0 wants to pack in more players per server than the current version seems like a safe bet. This is thanks to Rockstar's official acquisition of FiveM a couple of years back, a tool that allows for customized dedicated servers with hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of players.
When will GTA 6 online release?
Without official confirmation that GTA 6 online is even a thing, we've only got speculation and the knowledge that Rockstar would presumably like to continue making a flotilla-sized boatload of cash to go on. So, no, there's no solid information on when GTA 6 online will release. But, insider TheGhostOfHope (who's had some success with Call of Duty leaks in particular) claims that "the current plan for GTA 6 is to launch online within a month after the release of the game."
GTA 6 leaks
Cyberleek
The most ongoing GTA 6 leaks have been from a person called Cyberleak, but we can't link you to 'em, sorry. There have been a handful of videos strewn out over a couple weeks showing driving and combat. We've been rounding up details we've learned from the leaks as they happen:
- 15 details from the new GTA 6 leaks, including a possible morality system and stamina meter
- More GTA 6 leaks reveal new details: Cloning keys, combat changes, random bird deaths
- GTA 6 cars need gas? OK, I'm finally on board
- Cyberleek's still at it: Another GTA 6 leak shows 2 full minutes of high speed driving, surprisingly few crashes
- Still more GTA 6 details from the latest leaked video: traffic cameras, car trackers, and drivers that put up a fight
- GTA6 leaker Cyberleek shows off gas station rampage, refueling, promises strip club gameplay if people juice his cryptocurrency enough
- Latest GTA 6 leak confirms full dong
ShinyHunters hack
To save you some time looking for new information: there were no GTA 6 details in the ShinyHunters hack on Rockstar. All that was released after Rockstar refused to pay a ransom to the hacker group was some financial details. Very interesting financial details on GTA Online and its PC income in particular, but nothing about GTA 6 at all.
Animator's demo reel
The next "leak" came from a poor Rockstar animator who posted a demo reel of their work that just so happened to include some clips of GTA 6. There's not much to pick apart from the flashes at the start of the reel, but here's what can be seen, for those curious:
- A male character removing, then returning, a bicycle from a rental rack
- A female character resembling Lucia clambering down from a truck bed, then hopping down from the truck roof to the truck bed, and then out to the ground
- There were a few buildings shown in the background
So, yeah, not much to see here, especially because the footage seemed to be showing off animations from early footage. Possibly even earlier than the footage from the game's big 2022 leak.
First leak
That big dump of leaked footage from GTA 6's first major leak may still be floating around, but unless you're extremely interested in picking apart debug footage you aren't missing much. Based on what we'd seen: yup, this sure is a GTA game in the works. It's all older footage and is absolutely internal development stuff, not some sneaky peak at a final, polished product.
No matter how likely they do seem, all the other features we can glean from the footage—Lucia committing a robbery at a waffle joint, dialogue options for playable characters, a character seen moving and crawling while prone, the messaging system called "WhatUp!"—should be taken as subject to change until we see a more representative gameplay showcase from Rockstar closer to GTA 6's release.
Other GTA 6 details
There's even more to dissect on the upcoming march to release day, so here's a summary of everything else we know about GTA 6:
- Even though Strauss Zelnick denied it, turns out PPE.pl was right when it claimed that GTA 6 might not get a physical release at launch to avoid leaks. As we now know the game is getting a boxed release, but it only includes a digital download code. Which sounds like a pretty terrible anti-consumer move to me.
- It's in-game websites were accidentally leaked by Take-Two itself, with some notable ones being: what-up.app, hookers-galore.com, buckme.app, and (the most disturbing of all) myboyhasacreepycorndog.com.
- HipHopGamer claims that there's a "special side mission" in GTA 6 featuring "a major rapper that left CM Punk bloody by accident." Which might be Freddie Gibbs, as he previously said he accidentally wounded CM Punk while the two were filming a scene for their 2025 horror film, Night Patrol.
