Rockstar Games released a nearly 30-minute gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 on Thursday, premiering on Netflix before being posted to YouTube. The extended look gave fans their first substantial look at gameplay from the long-awaited sequel, which is set for a November release on PS5 and Xbox.
The reveal invited comparisons to earlier entries in the series. Because GTA 6 returns to Vice City, Rockstar's fictionalized version of Miami previously seen in 2002's GTA Vice City, outlets compared similar scenes across the games, including a rundown trailer park, a crowded dance club, and a police chase, noting the dramatic increase in visual fidelity since the PS2 era. It was also noted that Vice City took about a year to develop, while GTA 6 has taken nearly a decade.
The trailer also revisited a diner called Hank's Waffles, a location that first appeared in leaked, unfinished GTA 6 footage that spread online in 2022. The near-final version of the same robbery scene shown in the new trailer looks far more detailed than the early leaked clip, which one outlet suggested may be an intentional nod from Rockstar showing how far the game has come since footage leaked. Separately, unofficial leaks tied to a hacker using the alias CyberLeek had been circulating in the weeks before the reveal, though the hacker reportedly cashed out of a memecoin used to promote the leaked clips, potentially ending further leaks.
The trailer also confirmed GTA 6's first known returning character from a previous Grand Theft Auto game: a coordinator referred to as Valentina, or "Val"/"Tina." In the trailer, protagonists Jason and Lucia take jobs as bodyguards arranged by Valentina for a wealthy young man at a event tied to a fictional network called Megamundo. Fans identified her as the same character introduced in GTA Online's 2025 Money Fronts update, where she appeared briefly introducing players to a character named Mr. Faber before leaving the game's setting after 24 hours. Evidence cited includes her name, fancy clothing, a golden necklace, and matching facial moles, though her appearance in GTA 6 is markedly more detailed than her GTA Online model, which was built on older technology.
Reports noted that a character resembling Phil Cassidy, from the earlier 3D-era GTA titles, also appears briefly in the new trailer, but this does not count as a returning character under Rockstar's internal continuity rules, which treat characters across different GTA "universes" (2D-era, 3D-era, and HD-era) as separate people who may share names or appearances. It was suggested that additional characters from GTA 4 or GTA 5 could still appear in GTA 6, following past examples like Packie and Brucie appearing in both GTA 5 and GTA Online.
Additional details confirmed alongside the trailer include that GTA 6 will run at 30 frames per second, with Rockstar uncertain whether a 60fps mode will be ready by launch. The game will not include microtransactions or AI-generated materials, and its map, called Leonida, is reportedly three times the size of Red Dead Redemption 2's map.