GTA 6 leak: working build surfaces online, aerial view of Vice City stuns fans

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It’s been a rough week for Rockstar Games. It appears that a working build of Grand Theft Auto 6 is out in the wild, with a seemingly endless stream of gameplay footage being leaked.

Already everywhere across social media channels, the first I learned of all this was a deluge of clips showing up in my personal Instagram feed.

Leaks of this magnitude are the last thing any developer would want — let alone the team behind one of the most anticipated games of all time. We’re just a week or so away from the official extended look reveal video launching too, and I can’t help but feel that the leakers have stolen Rockstar’s thunder.

So what exactly can we learn from all of this new footage? Well, GTA 6 certainly looks like a GTA game. Key mechanics like the wanted level system return (albeit with an extra star level and the ability for the police to remember your outfit or vehicle), along with various open-world activities ranging from racing challenges to tossing basketballs into hoops.

Beating heart

(Image credit: Rockstar Games) I’ve also seen speculation that some systems similar to those in Red Dead Redemption 2 will be featured. Namely, the idea that there’s a karma meter to measure the morality of your actions, as well as icons suggesting that the dual protagonists Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval’s abilities will level up as you play.

It all looks about what I would have expected from a new GTA in 2026. If you’d asked me to speculate on what GTA 6 would be like this time last year, I’d have said that it would look like an upgraded version of GTA 5 that incorporates some Red Dead Redemption 2 elements: in short, a classic sequel that builds on the previous release while also bringing in what worked from the developer’s other recent games.

I wasn’t truly blown away until I saw the latest clip.

(Image credit: Rockstar Games ) The minute or so of footage shows the leaker flying a small plane into a city, presumably Vice City, though it is a little hard to tell. All of the other videos I’ve seen take place on the ground, which makes it hard to really tell the scale of the map. Here, it’s plain to see, and let me tell you, GTA 6 looks immense.

The first thing I noticed was the render distance. As the camera pans around, you can see the world stretching off into the horizon. Even the most distant roads are bustling with traffic. Of course, there’s no guarantee that the finished product will look this good (we don’t know how old this build is, or what kind of specs it’s running on), but if Rockstar can achieve anything like what’s shown here on consoles, then it’s going to be a stunner.

Our pilot then turns the view towards the city itself, which is simply breathtaking in its own right.

I’m a bit of a sicko for city design in games, and I pay close attention to how roads are laid out and districts are arranged. I think it’s probably the result of hundreds of hours playing SimCity and Cities: Skylines , not to mention consuming endless content about city design in those games. It’s given me a good eye for scale, particularly when things don’t make sense.

From what I’ve seen of GTA 6 ’s urban environments in these leaks, I’m beginning to think it could deliver some of the most authentic and grounded ever. There’s a believable level of urban sprawl on the approach, with patches of commercial and residential buildings stretching for miles.

(Image credit: Rockstar) They’re separated from the city center by a busy raised highway that realistically splits off into arteries to direct traffic towards large roads and eventually trickle down into smaller streets. The skyscrapers become denser and more modern as you home in on the city centre, and looking closely reveals countless smaller apartment blocks and department stores nestled in between them.

The city runs along a coast, and there are glimpses of seedier boroughs inland, with low-lying houses and parking lots. Out near the waterfront, in contrast, it is clearly prime real estate and dominated by leafy green streets and a smattering of holiday resorts.

It all just looks so real, and appears so much more intricate than the comparatively sparse Los Santos in GTA 5 . It’s certainly taken my excitement up a level, and I now can’t wait to immerse myself in Vice City’s detailed streets. Hopefully the upcoming extended look video highlights the world design and reveals even more.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is set to launch for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S on November 19, 2026.