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GTAVI: An exclusive deep dive into the video game of the decade
www.dazeddigital.com
On par with a wonder of the modern world, the pressure on Grand Theft Auto VI to deliver the holy grail of gaming is enormous – we talk to Rockstar's epic team of creative talents to uncover its secrets
This story is featured in the Dazed autumn 2026 issue that goes on sale worldwide starting September 10th. You can pre-order the magazine here.
Two lovers on the run from the sweltering Leonida Keys watch the sun dip below the water's surface and toast to a fresh start, sweat glistening smoothly on their skin. Wind blows through their hair, and you can almost feel the water droplets falling from the cold beer bottle gripped in their hands. In the background, locals gather at a weathered dock, but they pay no attention to the story unfolding between these fugitives. Miles to the north, toned bodies of all shapes and sizes crowd the sandy beaches of Vice Beach. Further north, locals are caked in mud kicked up from off-road bike wheels or splashed onto star-spangled bikinis. And when night falls and you return to Vice City, sweat-soaked crowds pour from clubs into neon-lit streets, moving to hip-hop beats that make your ears ring.
It has been 13 years since Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto V, one of the most critically acclaimed yet controversial video games in history. And nearly the same amount of time has passed since work began on its sequel, Grand Theft Auto VI. This installment shifts the setting from San Andreas (a region deeply inspired by Southern California) to Leonida (a region based on Florida). This means more than a decade of anticipation, and it also means there is unparalleled pressure for the sequel to live up to expectations. Rob Nelson, head of development at Rockstar North and co-studio head, told Dazed in an interview: "But no external pressure can compare to the pressure we put on ourselves as a team."
If one acknowledges video games as an art form, then Rockstar Games has created two of the most important works of the 21st century so far: GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2, a Western-era adventure game. The numbers prove it. In 2013, the former earned 1 billion dollars in just 3 days, breaking the fastest-selling entertainment product record of all time—a figure faster and higher than any book or Hollywood film. Five years later, RDR2 took second place. However, the latter also brought a shift in gear. While GTA satirized modern life with quirky characters, high-octane car chases, and explosive gunfights, RDR2 was praised as one of the most realistic and immersive games to date, with a slower and more emotional tone suited to its storyline.
Lucia wore all of Stock 305's outfits and glasses. Jason wore all of Vice City's outfits and glasses, and he sported a Peruzzi Tucci watch.
GTA VI promises something in between these two titles. This open-world game is set in the same fictionalized United States that serves as the backdrop for the rest of the series' games, and it features all the weapons and supercars you expect, but its world is more grounded and reactive than before. The days of strolling through cities like a god are over. Now, your actions have consequences. If you walk down the street with a rifle, the city will react to it.
The game is becoming increasingly realistic, and non-player characters (NPCs) are... well, less NPC-like than ever before. While some gamers fear that GTA VI might lose the chaos and mayhem that has been part of the series' DNA from the beginning in favor of immersion, Rockstar's goal is to create a world where your choices have more realistic consequences than ever before.
"We look back at our previous games with a critical eye and identify areas where we felt limited by time, resources, or technological capabilities, or perhaps even cases where we didn't fully consider certain aspects," Nelson says. "A lot of what we do is very iterative. We adjust a lot based on feeling, depending on what works and what doesn't."
Bubby Ike wore a Blauguera shirt.
Lucia wore a Peruzzi Tucci archive dress.
The story has also evolved, featuring higher stakes and characters deeply rooted in the world they inhabit. Players will step into the shoes of Jason "Two Toes" Michaels, a former soldier turned drug runner, and Lucia Cammino, fresh out of prison and ready to fight. You can choose to play as the couple together or independently, wreaking havoc on your own terms. This marks the first time in GTA history that a playable couple takes center stage, creating unique scenarios. For example, on your way to a heist, you could drive down the highway as Jason, then switch to Lucia in the passenger seat and scroll through her in-game smartphone (yes, there's a fully functional social media feed – could a satire of 2020s America be complete without it?). If things go south and a car chase ensues, this flexible system allows you to seamlessly transition from gripping the wheel one moment to firing at pursuers from the passenger window the next. And once the dust settles, you can cruise along on a jet ski with your lover's arm around your waist, enjoying the sunset over Leonida's seascape and leaping dolphins.
True romance, often associated with strip clubs or seedy prostitution in GTA games, has been largely absent. But GTA VI is consciously crafted as a "Bonnie and Clyde-style narrative," according to Rupert Humphries, Rockstar's senior story director. The trailer alone features numerous intimate cutscenes showcasing Jason and Lucia's outlaw love story, highlighting the meticulous work of Rockstar's art and tech teams in capturing how bodies look and feel – from hands resting on ribs to hips swaying on a crowded dance floor.
For some gamers, this storyline could be one of the first opportunities to experience a romantic relationship within the context of crime. The choices made here will have far deeper consequences than the "honor" system in Rockstar's previous titles, which rewarded virtuous play.
Lucia is the first female protagonist to be fully fleshed out in the main GTA series. Before her, all protagonists were male, going back as far as 1999. (The first Grand Theft Auto game in 1997 had a 50/50 split between male and female protagonists.) While previous entries, including GTA V, have been criticized for misogynistic themes and poorly developed female characters, the series has evolved and hopes to attract more female gamers to what was previously a male-dominated player base. Through Lucia and Jason, Rockstar aims to create rich and complex characters while leaving enough room for players to mold them into their own. "What we love about this medium is that these characters aren't blank avatars that you can do anything with," Nelson says. "Their stories become journeys that you share with them."
But the joy of GTA also lies in the moments between the lines of the story, in what the player chooses to do. And Rockstar has always provided something close to true freedom within the confines of its virtual world. "As long as we don't lose the essence of the characters," Nelson says, "we want to allow for as much self-expression as possible." Take GTA V, set in 2010s Los Angeles, as an example. You could tear through the streets with an assault rifle or a tank, cruise along the Pacific coast with Frank Ocean blasting from your open-top car, or take a break and play a round of golf. RDR2 pushed this further. Between shootouts, Arthur Morgan, the protagonist you control, could go fishing in the wilderness, hunt large game, build campfires under geographically accurate starlight, or drink and gamble in remote border towns. After a few weeks of in-game time, he might have grown a long beard and shaggy hair, noticeably lost weight (or gained it depending on his proficiency with bow and arrow), while bar fights would leave him with bruises and scars.
Jason wore a Nolah Archive jacket and glasses, Dis/Dat top, and Caliber custom jewelry.
Bailey-Lux wore a Stock 305 dress and glasses, Caliber custom chain, and Nolah boots.
GTA VI signals the return and expansion of this type of interactive system, where characters' bodies change. Food affects Jason and Lucia's weight, exercise noticeably builds and tones their muscles, and extended periods away from bed – whether evading police or indulging in debauchery for days – will take its toll on their appearance. The effect is like Dorian Gray's portrait, except instead of your soul being recorded in a terrifying painting in the attic, your habits and sins are etched onto the faces and bodies of your in-game avatars. This type of interaction is unique to video games, shaping both the virtual world and the player's response to it. Between visual feedback mechanisms, deep relationship mechanics, and the enhanced realism of the world they inhabit, people might find themselves reconsidering the arcade-style mayhem of past GTA games after stepping foot in Leonida.
Vice City, the heart of Leonida in GTA VI, is based on Miami. This means players can expect to encounter a virtual version of the "Florida Man"—a cultural archetype that has become a meme in the real world for catching alligators, engaging in drunken antics, and literally stealing cars. However, these exaggerated characters are merely one strange facet of a world created with "open-mindedness, genuine appreciation, and deep curiosity" toward the culture that inspired them, according to Michael Wiaperski, the game writer for GTA VI. "It's easy to go in cynically and say 'that's weird, let's put it in the game,' but we couldn't stop there. We needed to do more than just repeat existing clichés; we also needed to give players a sense of discovery." This required years of exploration on the ground. Various groups of Rockstar staff visited Miami and its surrounding areas over the past decade, and there's also a dedicated research team based in the city. "That direct context helped us understand the visual markers and nuances that defined the identity we wanted to express," explains Jamie-Lee Lloyd, senior art director for the character department. "At the same time, we filtered them through GTA's unique lens and the stories we wanted to tell."
Humphries agrees that these experiences were essential and notes that most of the game's characters were born from this research, which included meeting real people who call this state home. "We meet anyone who's influential or infamous enough to take our call—former criminals, law enforcement officials, club promoters, gun dealers," he adds. "We spend time with them, get a feel for the place, listen to their stories, compare them to books and journalism, and try to get to the heart of who the characters are that will bring life to the city we're creating."
Roxxy wears Stock 305 clothing, Feruchio Tucci eyewear, and Caliber's custom-made chains.
In GTA VI, this casting includes a range of criminals—from Brian Hether, an old-school Miami drug runner, and his conspiracy-obsessed partner Carl Hampton, to Raul Bautista, a gentlemanly bank robber. Elsewhere, the lines are blurrier. Bobby Ike, a legend of Vice City, oversees a personal empire that includes Jack of Hearts strip club (a staple of GTA) and a recording studio overseen by Drequan Priest, a young opportunist. "We love Miami music, especially Miami bass and more recent Miami artists like Kodak Black and Sexy Red," Humphries says. "We were also really interested in how Miami's hip-hop scene exists across Overtown house parties, riverside clubs like Bobby Trap, and high-end venues in South Beach where a bottle of champagne costs thousands of dollars. We needed characters who could guide us through those worlds." In the years since the previous game's release, the music industry has seen a shift in focus toward female artists, something tracked through the journey of Rising Star Real Daimes, whose viral social media posts in-game show this progression.
As these characters rooted in specific places and eras emerge, particularly given the game's long lifespan, isn't there a risk of falling back into a one-dimensional Miami parody? Just as we now look back at GTA V's hipsters and nerdy IT bros as a time capsule of the 2010s, what cultural archetypes will we look back on when we revisit GTA VI another thirteen years from now, and will they remain faithful to how we experience them now? Rockstar's artists, writers, and developers are aware they're walking a tightrope. Take Stu Petry, the vice president of 2D/UI design, who has overseen much of GTA VI's meticulous world-building that bears a striking resemblance to real products, brands, stores, and campaigns. "Our vision is to build vibrant, believable culture," he says. Every brand—from fashion labels to car companies—needs to feel like more than a one-off joke; it should feel as though it actually exists and serves a real purpose in Leonida's cultural ecosystem. "These brands reflect the aspirations, aesthetics, and lifestyles of the people inhabiting our world's spaces." When you dive into the game as Jason or Lucia, they reflect your inner world too, adding deeper meaning to each hairstyle and outfit choice.
Raul Bautista wore a stunning vintage shirt by Nolah and glasses from Dis/Dat.
The possibility of exploring diverse cultures and lifestyles is a key reason why this series ultimately returns to Vice City and Liberty City, Nelson suggests. "Florida and Miami might be one of the most diverse and interesting populations in the world," he adds. Few people know this better than Miami-based stylist Jillian Cahan, who has been collaborating with Rockstar since 2023. Together, they've been designing a "fashion ecosystem" within the game that aims to reflect all the subtle differences in "taste, lifestyle, wealth, and personality" found in this city and across America. "Vice City is built on vanity," Cahan says. "With social media, celebrity culture, and a constant influx of tourists, appearance carries significant weight, and trends cycle through quickly." This brings us back to the background NPCs. Young and old, tall and short, people with tattoos or piercings, those who've had cosmetic surgery, wearing vintage Hawaiian shirts, sleek suits, luxury fashion, or mud-caked military uniforms – the virtual populace is far more diverse than in previous games, and their bodies and clothes are tailored to their local environments, from Vice City's Little Havana to the wilderness of Everglades National Park.
"To breathe life into this diversity within the game, we developed new tools and pipelines that allow us to build our most detailed and diverse character population yet," Lloyd says. But ultimately, what makes that population feel real isn't just about appearances, he adds. "It's a combination of how characters look, move, interact, and express themselves, achieved through collaboration across multiple teams."
To build a world with the scale, depth, and interactivity of GTA VI, the Rockstar team has more than doubled in size since the release of Red Dead Redemption 2. With offices worldwide, one LA branch is dedicated almost entirely to the game's pedestrians (NPCs). Over 50 real-life street artists contributed to designing murals for locations like Vice City's Stockyard (based on Miami's Wynwood). The team handling vehicle handling is composed of actual race car drivers.
Again, all this comes with immense pressure, and it's not just because the time, money, and effort invested are on par with some of the world's most awe-inspiring architectural feats. As this article is being written, online rumors suggest that the game's production cost has already surpassed that of Dubai's Burj Khalifa. And if all goes well, this could be a single work of art that people will spend the next decade or more with. "There's a lot of internal and external pressure, but we consider it a privilege to have," Nelson says. "Ultimately, it's about delivering results to the audience we want to reach."
This story is an excerpt from Dazed 2026 Autumn issue, available worldwide from September 10th. Magazine subscriptions can be ordered here. Grand Theft Auto VI will be released on November 19th for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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