GTA 6 Gameplay: Everything Shown in An Extended Look

What An Extended Look is

Rockstar released An Extended Look on August 27, 2026. It runs 26 minutes 48 seconds, and Rockstar says it was “captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5.” It mixes cutscenes with gameplay and has no narration or captions explaining the systems on screen. Where to watch it is covered in the trailers guide.

This page lists what the footage shows. Unless noted, each item was reported by at least two of the outlets listed under Sources. Seeing something on screen shows how a moment looks; it does not confirm how a system works in the finished game. Nothing here comes from the clips that leaked before the showing.

Playing as Jason and Lucia

• Switching between the two leads happens several times: during an escape through a window, in the middle of a car chase (from Jason shooting to Lucia driving), and from a BASE jump by Lucia to Jason on a couch, with the camera sweeping across the city between them.
• Two portraits sit in the bottom-right corner when both leads are active.
• The partner fights alongside you. In shootouts the other lead moves and takes cover with you.
• What the footage establishes: the switches above occur within mission sequences. The video alone does not establish every condition for switching.
• Separate preview reporting: IGN reports switching at almost any point and the option to roam together. This describes a preview build, not complete rules published by Rockstar; see the attributed account in GTA 6 gameplay mechanics.

More on the leads: Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos.

Wanted level and police

• Six stars are back. GTA 5 capped the wanted level at five.
• Icons under the stars show what the police know: whether you were caught on CCTV, the clothes you are wearing, whether they have a description, whether you were seen as a couple, your vehicle and your weapon.
• Losing the car helps. When Jason and Lucia swap their getaway car for a van, the vehicle icon clears and police drive straight past.
• Police retain what they have learned. Rob Nelson said officers have a more persistent memory than in earlier games. Losing the active wanted level does not necessarily erase known clues such as your clothes or vehicle. During a chase, police are not automatically plotted on the minimap; Nelson said Focus reveals them instead (GamesRadar report).
• Shooting out tyres sends pursuing cars rolling.

Combat

• Cover shooting with both leads.
• A slow-motion aiming mode with its own meter under the health bar, and highlighted points on targets while it is active. How this Focus meter works is covered in GTA 6 gameplay mechanics explained.
• Freeze-frame kill shots, and a one-handed shotgun reload while carrying a bag.
• Close combat with button prompts to break out of a grapple, and a fight that ends with someone thrown through a wall.
• Named weapons include the Moreland 850 shotgun.

Robberies

• Stick-ups at a diner, a gas station and a food mart, with Jason and Lucia in bandanas.
• A weapon held out of sight before a robbery starts, and a getaway pickup afterwards.
• No large heist was shown.

Driving and vehicles

• Car theft uses a slim jim with a button prompt; smashing the window is the other option.
• On screen: Jason’s red Sentinel convertible, a Gruppe Sechs armoured truck, an airboat, a jet ski, a kayak and e-scooters.
• Parachuting and BASE jumping.
• Nothing about vehicle customisation was shown.

Phone, social media and TV

• A livestream with a chat feed down the side of the screen.
• Text messages that appear on screen, and phone calls while driving.
• TV adverts and a television network called Megamundo.

People and animals

• A small interaction menu appears near people and animals. With a dog, the options are Pet, Scold and Study.
• Jason and Lucia can hold hands; at home, the fridge opens onto a menu of drinks.
• Crowds are dense and varied, from packed nightclubs to beach crowds.
• Different bodies share actions more naturally. According to a report of Nelson’s IGN interview, NPCs have a wider range of heights and builds, while a real-time animation-retargeting system adjusts actions to their proportions during fights, vehicle entry and other interactions (ITHome report).
• Wildlife: dogs, dolphins and manatees, among others.

Activities

The footage shows or passes through: basketball, scuba diving, weightlifting, a circuit race, an off-road dirt bike race, street racing, a shooting range, nightclubs, a strip club, fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, airboat rides and dives off a pier. Whether each one is a full activity or a single scene is not clear from the video.

Outfits and the HUD

• A second wheel next to the weapon wheel holds masks, hats, eyewear and outfits. Wigs and disguises also appear.
• The minimap shows buildings in 3D.

Places shown

The footage stays mostly in and around Vice City: the beaches, an area outlets identify as Bayside, a rooftop bar called Effluvia, the new Megamundo headquarters, and swamp scenes that resemble the Everglades. It moves between day and night. The six regions Rockstar has named are on the GTA 6 map page.

Story scenes (spoilers)

The showing follows Jason and Lucia through several jobs in order: a drug pickup for Boobie Ike that turns into a police raid; a meeting with Brian and Lori Heder at the Effluvia rooftop bar; a getaway with Raul Bautista that ends with the car set alight; and a bodyguard job connected to Megamundo. It closes on a montage.

What Rockstar’s developers have said

Rob Nelson, co-studio head at Rockstar North, explained several of these systems in interviews published the day the video came out. These are his words as reported, not published rules.

• On the video itself: it “showcases three pretty action-heavy missions intercut with loads of other things you can do,” and its robberies represent “a huge amount of what you can and need to be doing in this game in between story missions” (IGN interview).
• Two separate systems: “There is a system that tracks what sort of criminal you are. And then there is also a relationship system.” The relationship between Jason and Lucia grows by spending time together, for example playing pool or mini golf, kayaking, or robbing stores together.
• The Criminal Profile: “There isn’t a right or wrong way to play this game, but consistent actions may have an impact in terms of how the world reacts to you and how the narrative plays out” (IGN preview).
• The wanted level: “The Wanted system in GTA 6 requires that someone witness the crime, or an alarm needs to be set off for it to be reported to the law.”
• Stealing cars: some parked cars stay out of reach “until you get a bit further along with the story and you acquire certain tools to get into them, but you can always carjack any driver you see.” A scanner on the phone shows what a car is worth.
• Safehouses are “probably closer to the camps in RDR2 than they are to safehouses in any GTA game before,” and people react to you more: “You were the only one with an invisible arsenal hidden away… This world in GTA 6 is not like that.” The streets are also “narrower and more realistic in terms of scale” (IGN preview).
• Money: “You have a bank account and cash now. And so if I get wasted, and I don’t deposit it, it’s gone” (Trois Couleurs).
• Structure: the game “is set over chapters.” It starts in the Leonida Keys, “and then the game just opens and you can go anywhere, anytime,” and “you can enter a lot of buildings.”

Songs in An Extended Look

IGN and Kotaku both list these 14 tracks. Whether they play on in-game radio or were chosen for the video has not been said.

Song	Artist
Pop Bottles	Birdman and Lil Wayne
Pound Town	Sexyy Red and Tay Keith
Let Your Love Flow	The Bellamy Brothers
Devil Woman	Cliff Richard
People Are People	Depeche Mode
Skrilla	Kodak Black
Love Bites	Def Leppard
But I Think It’s a Dream	Captain and Tennille
Cars and Girls	Prefab Sprout
Se Me Nota	Chimbala x Omega
Off the Grid	!!! feat. Meah Pace
Mine O’ Mine	Aluna and Jayda G
Inner Light	Elderbrook and Bob Moses
Against All Odds	Phil Collins

The separate soundtrack album is covered in the album news.

More on An Extended Look

• How the systems work: Criminal Profile, wanted-star states, Focus, car theft and cash, as explained to IGN and to the YouTuber TGG at Rockstar North. See GTA 6 gameplay mechanics explained.
• How it looks: Digital Foundry’s analysis of hair, skin, ray-traced lighting and image quality on PS5. See GTA 6 graphics.

What it does not show

• GTA Online, a PC version, or the full map.
• Every condition and restriction on character switching in the released game. The IGN preview account above is not a complete rule set.
• Hunting, buying property, or car customisation. Rockstar’s introduction to Mount Kalaga does mention hunting, fishing and off-road trails.

How the footage runs on PS5 is covered in GTA 6 frame rate.

Sources

• Rockstar Newswire: An Extended Look now playing
• IGN: 99 details from the GTA 6 Extended Look (August 28, 2026)
• Eurogamer: everything announced in the Extended Look (August 27, 2026)
• Eurogamer: live report from the premiere (August 27, 2026)
• VGC: everything shown at the Netflix special (August 27, 2026)
• PC Gamer: gameplay reveal breakdown (August 27, 2026)
• Kotaku: 15 details from the reveal (August 27, 2026)
• GamesRadar+: live coverage of the showcase (August 27, 2026)
• BBC: An Extended Look coverage (August 27, 2026)
• Kotaku: the songs in the Extended Look (August 29, 2026)
• IGN: interview with Rob Nelson (August 27, 2026)
• IGN: exclusive preview (August 27, 2026)
• Trois Couleurs: preview and interview (August 2026)
• Rockstar: Only in Leonida