Yet another look at GTA 6 has come our way, which means it’s time to get forensic; we’ve gone through the new trailer with a fine-tooth comb to pick out all of the interesting details hidden within. From peeks at what’s in store for some of its most explosive missions, further insights into Jason’s military past, and more than one visit to a steamy shower, there’s plenty of new things to take a look at.
Let’s not waste any more time. Here are the 33 details we spotted in the GTA 6 launch trailer.
Multiple shots offer a closer look at Jason and paint a pretty clear picture of the kind of man we’ll be taking control of. We already knew that he was ex-military, but midway through the trailer we see him wearing a U.S. Army T-shirt that offers more details on his service.
1. Firstly, the combat training school Jason seemingly trained at is located in North Fort Law. Longtime fans will recognise this as the military base from the very first Grand Theft Auto game. In that original game, it was located in the state of New Guernsey, but it’s more likely that the one Jason attended is in the State of Alderney, the HD universe’s take on New Jersey. We know that Lucia is from Liberty City, which is located in the neighboring State of Liberty – perhaps they met when Jason was stationed at the base?
2. More prominent than that small print is the word “Marauder,” which matches the skull-and-parachute tattoo on Jason’s arm that we’ve seen in previous videos. The Marauders are presumably the unit he served in, and may be a reference to the real-life Merrill's Marauders, a 1940s special forces group. Its modern-day equivalent is the 75th Ranger Regiment, and so it’s likely that Jason was a ranger.
3. It seems like Jason has fallen on tough times since he left the forces. “I got in some trouble in the army, didn’t leave on the best of terms,” he says in the trailer’s opening. “They don’t give loans, anything, to people like me.” With a situation like that, it’s no wonder Jason has resorted to crime. The cost of living is only going up!
4. Thankfully, it seems like Jason’s experience in the Marauders has equipped him with all the tools for a very fruitful life of crime. We see him wading through water dressed in special forces-like infiltration gear, a pair of night-vision goggles on his head and a silenced assault rifle in his hands. He’s accompanied by two other men, and the trio seem to have disembarked from a boat. While the blush night sky certainly looks very Floridian (or should we say Leonidan), an odd reptile to the left of the scene appears to be a komodo dragon, which is native to Indonesia. Is this a flashback to a mission from Jason’s army days? Or is the reptile simply a native of Leonida’s wetlands, and Jason has perhaps called on some former squadmates to help with some kind of job?
5. Much of the criminal work we see committed across this trailer has something of a military feel to it. We later see Jason on a helicopter, dressed in a bulletproof vest and demonstrating a very professional demeanor. He’s joined by a dog, potentially pointing to not just Jason having a pet, but also being able to use them as some kind of working dog. Later shots also show Jason confidently disembarking a chopper and checking the chambered round in his rifle – all small details, but ones that help paint the picture of a deeply competent professional.
6. Lucia may not have Jason’s highly trained background, but it looks like she’ll eventually adopt at least some of his tactics. A minute into the trailer, we can see her dressed in special forced black and equipped with a Shrewsbury rotary grenade launcher, popping explosives into pursuing police vehicles.
7. She’s demolishing those cars from on high, hanging from the side of some kind of cargo net. A few seconds later, we see a helicopter carrying a giant load in a very similar cargo net – it seems likely that these shots are taken from the same mission, and that Lucia will hang from the net before or after it’s been dragged through the side of a skyscraper.
8. The damage caused by the crash is more detailed than anything we’ve seen in prior GTA games, with hundreds of shards of glass erupting from the side of the building. While this shot alone is far from confirmation that the game will feature Battlefield-like destruction tech, it is a flashy insight into just how detailed Rockstar is able to make environmental demolition.
9. That kind of collateral damage is to be expected from crime on the scale that GTA typically depicts, and it seems like this game has no intention of being smaller than GTA 5’s biggest moments. We can see Lucia leaping off a car onto a commercial liner, suggesting something on the same scale as some of Trevor’s airborne antics. This shot is likely the precursor to the scene in the second trailer that shows Lucia fighting in a plane’s hold as its landing gear deploys.
10. The aforementioned chopper mission is probably a heist, but what’s definitely a heist is the bank job we see. This is actually the vault we previously saw in a screenshot we exclusively debuted back in August, complete with the burning bank notes and Lucia with her hair in a ponytail.
11. For that shot, Lucia is joined not by Jason but by another anonymous character. We can’t see their face, but whoever they are, it looks like we won’t be alone when conducting heists. In a later shot we see Lucia accompanied by gunmen disguised as construction workers, suggesting we’ll often be joined by crews of criminals. But will these be supporting characters introduced as part of the story, or NPCs hired to help, akin to how heist crews worked in GTA 5?
12. While stealing physical money is a tried and tested form of securing dosh, there’s a chance that GTA 6 will toy with a more decentralised approach, too. We see a bi-plane flying over Vice City’s beach, its side emblazoned with the logo for “DacityCoin.” That’s presumably some kind of Bitcoin parody, but why is it so prominent in the trailer? Why is there a guy hanging onto the plane’s wing and deploying a bright pink smoke flare? Our theory is that Jason and Lucia will take part in some kind of scam, and this is a stunt to advertise a bogus cryptocurrency.
13. Planes aren’t the only high-speed thrills on show. A little later we see street racing, a side activity we first saw in August’s extended look.
14. Of course, most of GTA’s high-speed driving tends to be a race against the cops. A short car chase sequence sees one of our protagonists behind the wheel of a lime green supercar, fleeing police that arrive from all angles. It seems like every new trailer shows off new cars, and we get a very quick peek at the new Invetero Coquette, which can be glimpsed for a split second – look out for its turquoise-and-pink synthwave paint job.
15. For those who prefer waves to asphalt, you might find more joy in the Shasa, which appears to be a new model of boat for GTA 6. We can see Jason and his buddy Cal working on one, buffing out the paintwork. This seems to be Jason’s reality at the start of the story – with his army days behind him, he’s working as a laborer at Brian’s Marina.
16. Brian’s business looks pretty busy – the rental racks are full of boats and jet skis – but the state of Leonida is home to much bigger companies than local traders. In the background of an early shot we can see a Globe Oil truck. We’ve seen Globe Oil in a couple of other games – you may recognise them from GTA 4, or even Chinatown Wars, in which we used the company’s oil to make fiery molotov cocktails.
17. Talking of fiery, there’s definitely a flame burning between Lucia and Jason, who can be seen on an apartment balcony with a beach view. This is a different safehouse compared to the more humble home we saw in the extended look, suggesting that we’ll be moving up in the world as well as around it.
18. “Are we gonna be okay?” asks Lucia. “We stuck together through everything. We just gotta get through it,” Jason replies, emphasising the on-the-run nature of the couple’s story. They won’t be alone, though, with plenty of other characters here to help them.
19. Hopefully Cal won’t be the sharpest mind on their side. Whenever we’ve seen him in the trailers so far, he’s always presented as a bit of a fool. We get to see him play with a pet snake, offering its forked tongue a peck on the lips.
20. Speaking of reptiles, an iguana can be spotted crossing the road, further reinforcing the variety in wildlife across the state of Leonida. GTA 6 will have an animal spotting system, allowing us to find and catalogue them all.
21. We get another quick look at the rap duo, Real Dimez, made up of Roxy and Bae-Luxe. We don’t yet know too much about them. Could they be friends or foes? We know they are signed to Only Raw Records, club mogul Boobie Ike’s company, but he remains much of a mystery to us, too.
22. Someone we know we won’t want to get on the wrong side of is Mendez, a Vice City Police Department officer, who can be briefly glimpsed in a single shot. He certainly feels like he’ll be one of GTA 6’s major antagonists, cutting a figure similar to Samuel L. Jackson’s Officer Tenpenny in San Andreas.
23. We can see more police as multiple cop cars take the off-road approach to chase their suspect. These belong to Mariana County, a part of the map where the Leonida Keys are found.
24. When not hunting Jason and Lucia, it looks like the police still have plenty on their hands across the state. We get a close-up of what look like heavily tattooed gang members riding in a green car. One of them is sporting ink that reads “EW”; could it be a clue to what this gang is called? Take your guesses now.
25. And are the people sporting balaclavas and dancing around a stockpile of golden AKs part of some odd gang? They’ve either watched Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers too many times or are just modeling the guns. The camera is peering at them through a digital lens, so maybe this could be a photoshoot or music video for one of Only Raw’s artists?
26. Back on the protagonist’s side, we get to see expert bank robber and a seeming accomplice of Jason and Lucia, Raul Bautista, threatening a man at a construction site. This area looks like it belongs to Schlott Construction, if this sign in the background is anything to go by. That company has appeared on vehicle liveries in GTA Online as part of the Import/Export update, but it looks like it will have more of a physical presence in the world of Leonida.
27. Raul appears to be enjoying his bullying, chomping on some chicken as he stomps on a man. Could this be a bucket from Cluckin’ Bell? If so, they’ve changed the design of their packaging considerably since the GTA San Andreas days, with a look borrowed from their real-life counterpart, KFC, seen here. I’m not sure about the quality of that chicken, though. There doesn’t look like there’s much meat on that drumstick.
28. Jason is clearly more of a thigh man. He can be seen with his love, Lucia, as they help each other get clean in the shower. Nothing else to see here but two people who really care about each other’s hygiene. Such is his commitment to cleanliness that he even wipes the shower down with his hand as Lucia gives him a thank you kiss for helping out. Once more, a little later in the trailer, we get a look at them looking after each other. Lucia is on her tiptoes, presumably so she can reach high enough to wash Jason’s hair for him. Incredibly helpful. I hope her ankle tag is waterproof, otherwise this could all end in disaster.
29. Showering seems like a great idea, because GTA 6 looks like it will be a particularly sweaty game. We’ve heard about Rockstar’s absurdly detailed sweat tech, and now we get to see it in action thanks to a man flexing for us at the gym. I hope we don’t have to fight him.
30. If we do, though, then bringing along some knuckle dusters might be a smart move. We can see Jason popping some on. This melee weapon has appeared in numerous GTAs, but was known as Brass Knuckles back in Vice City when we visited in the 1980s.
31. To take down enemies more than a few feet away, Jason will need different weaponry. We see him holding a sniper rifle, and in the scope’s reflection we can spot a helicopter, ready to be taken down. In an earlier shot in the trailer, we could be witnessing the aftermath of Jason pulling the trigger, as he walks away with a helicopter crashing into a ball of flames behind him. As we know, cool guys don’t look at explosions. We can also spot an earpiece in - you’ll never guess it - his ear. Who’s speaking to him? Presumably not the pilot. Not anymore, at least.
32. While we’re trying to piece bits of story together, the gold dress that Lucia is wearing at the end of this trailer is the same one prominently shown in Trailer 2. It looks like this could all be part of one big mission that starts on a yacht, heads to the Nine1Nine club, where at some point Jason and Lucia have to jump from the roof into its pool. Why do they need to escape? We’ll all get to find out very soon on November 19.
33. Soundtracking the whole trailer is a new single recorded just for the game from French electronic duo Justice, who are also composing the game’s original score. “Flower in a Hurricane” also features the Australian psychedelic touch of Tame Impala, fellow Aussie rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and American singer-songwriter SZA. We’re yet to see an actual hurricane in all of our looks at GTA 6 so far, but we do know that extreme weather will play a part in the game.
So, that’s what we found. Spot anything we may have missed? Let us know in the comments below. If you’ve missed any of our other trailer breakdowns or deep dives into the world of GTA 6, you can check them out here. Not long to go now. We’re almost there.