The GTA VI extended look has me wanting to play the game right this minute

Meanwhile, the GTA VI extended look has me wanting to play the game right this minute.

Key points

• Mikail Ahmed Shaikh Published September 2, 2026 Updated September 2, 2026 08: 40pm.
• There is a part of me that is genuinely concerned this will be another Cyberpunk 2077.
• Based on what I've seen, I'm genuinely excited and counting down the days till November 19.
• Mikail Ahmed Shaikh is a senior sub-editor on Dawn's online news desk with four years of experience in the field.
• The footage demonstrates the player driving as Jason, before switching to Lucia to shoot at pursuers.

Mikail Ahmed Shaikh Published September 2, 2026 Updated September 2, 2026 08: 40pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

Notably, the much-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI was finally made public early on Friday morning in an extended first look on Netflix, giving gamers their first legitimate look at the gameplay systems in Rockstar's upcoming blockbuster.

After watching the demonstration a number of times, I have some thoughts concerning the game itself, but additionally concerning the shadow of corporate greed that's crept over it.

Since the game is due in November and Rockstar stated in an official note that it isn't finished, so what I've touched on is subject to change, it's additionally worth mentioning that what we saw is not final. But the showcased build had a remarkable degree of polish and introduced the game's systems, story missions and side activities.

One thing that immediately stood out to me was the massive jump in graphical fidelity from the last entry in the series. I'm a sucker for attention to detail in games, so seeing the updated animations and textures was a treat.

Notably, the biggest improvement, and what's doing the heavy lifting, in my opinion, is the lighting. Building off foundations in Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar's lighting system in GTV VI is one of the best I've seen. Objects bathed in natural light, like clothes and skin, look so natural it's uncanny.

As well as items like glasses, an example is a sequence at an open-air restaurant, where shadows are realistically cast onto the table by the game's protagonists, Jason and Lucia. Similarly, skin looks more natural, most probably a mix of the lighting and new textures.

While clothes crease and fold as the characters move, meanwhile, the animation quality is just as good; hair, in particular, moves with a surprising degree of realism. Moreover, non-player characters (NPCs) in the environment have animations for actions like holding a cigar or doomscrolling on a phone. It look organic and fluid.

There are some raw and undercooked animations as well. It will hopefully be addressed and fixed before November. The most noticeable one I picked up was when Jason performs a backflip into the sea off a pier; the backflip animation triggers after Jason is in midair, making it look really awkward.

Considering this is all rendered in real time – that too on a base model PlayStation 5 – I'm genuinely impressed with what we've been presented and would say that this is among the best-looking games I've seen. Again, it's still not out yet, but considering we've seen a compressed video, I'm hopeful that it'll look even better in the final release. You can run, but you can't hide.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is the revamped police system. Rather than the system in GTA V where police would instantly catch the player and move to their exact location if they did anything remotely dodgy, the system in GTA VI seems to be a bit more nuanced.

Underneath the Wanted meter – with six stars this time – a number of icons appear while carrying out criminal activity: an image of a head indicates that your character's physical description has been logged by witnesses; an image of a coat hanger means your outfit has been recognised, among other examples.

So rather than hide in an alley for 20 seconds or so, players will need to mask their identity with, well, masks, or change their outfits to evade the cops. This honestly sounds like so much more fun than simply hiding or outrunning police in a fast vehicle.

As well as switching cars, beyond being more immersive, this system appears to encourage preparation, with the player potentially keeping a spare change of clothes and a mask.

Another interesting feature I picked up on is that switching between characters is making a comeback from GTA V, with the player being able to seamlessly switch between Jason and Lucia. The demo indicated off a couple of things concerning this Bonnie and Clyde-esque couple, such as what appears to be a relationship gauge and being able to have both characters go on heists and open-world activities together.

In practice, the footage demonstrates the player driving as Jason, before switching to Lucia to shoot at pursuers. This might support with the aforementioned heists and it is highly cinematic, so I'm hoping the driver AI is good enough to keep the chase going.

Additionally, I can't recall if players could do something similar in GTA V, so maybe this is an old feature being redressed as something new. But then I additionally can't recall that numerous instances where that game's three playable characters were ever together outside of missions, aside from calling them to hang out. Maybe something to test before November?

Otherwise, Rockstar has confirmed that the player can choose to maintain the romance between both protagonists through texting and performing activities together, ranging from heists and robberies to racing and kayaking. Hopefully it'll be deeper than GTA IV's "let's go bowling" phone calls.

It additionally opens the door to maintaining friendships or potential romances with other characters in the game. It would be highly cool and add to the immersion.

In practice, the best part of GTA is that the game isn't all regarding crime – well, it is as much as you produce of it – but there's plenty of other activities shown in the demo to keep you occupied in Vice City and the State of Leonida.

As well as fishing and riding airboats, we're shown track and motocross racing. Jason is even shown playing basketball with a hoop outside (I think) his house. I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as in-game activities go, and it'll be a beautiful open world to do these in, with a dense city, a bayou and (hopefully) other biomes.

One thing that's bothering me, though, is that a lot of content in the game will be paywalled behind the Ultimate Edition, such as exclusive vehicles, weapons, workshops, clothing boutiques, salons and other stuff that, really, should be included with the rose $80 rate tag. Aside from putting a wedge between players, this stinks of corporate greed. Something that Rockstar is particularly well versed in. And speaking of corporate greed. This didn't need to be a Netflix exclusive.

I don't understand what the accord was having the demo footage exclusive to Netflix for six hours. In the grand scheme, it's not a long period of time, but I'm still not a fan. While it wasn't a major agreement for me (or anyone else) with a Netflix subscription, it just didn't feel fair for individuals without one.

It seems like Rockstar is bent on nickel-and-diming the consumers who obtained them where they are to commence with; first with predatory microtransactions in GTA Online, then no physical disc (we haven't forgotten), an rose rate tag and content locked behind a $20 upgrade.

There is a part of me that is genuinely concerned this will be another Cyberpunk 2077. We saw the phenomenal gameplay footage and demos. It looked like a true evolution in open-world design. And what did we obtain in December 2020? For context, a buggy, unplayable mess that was seemingly coded with alphabet spaghetti.

While it had an amazing story and superb world-building – which is how I dragged myself through it – it took a number of years and a lot of community backlash to secure that game where it is today, and it's one of the best games ever created in my opinion.

But individuals won't be as forgiving with GTA VI, I don't think. Cyberpunk 2077 was cheaper, came out in a better economy and took less time to develop and fix. Since it's digital only, us lot here in Pakistan are going to be paying far more for it at launch, especially if we purchase the Ultimate Edition. It needs to be worth that, and by that I mean it needs to be technically perfect.

Meanwhile, the hype around GTA is massive, and people's expectations are through the roof. We've waited for 13 years for a follow-up to one of the best games of the 2010s. There is more than enough room for Rockstar and parent firm Take Two Interactive to produce a mess of something. I need this right now.

Vice City and its surrounding areas look like a truly promising next step in open world game design, in terms of both scale and immersion. I can see where a hefty chunk of the documented $1 billion budget went: into refining animations, lighting, physics and mechanics.

We were presented with a particularly solid build here, and while it was not perfect, I'm hoping the matters with animations can be sorted out by the time November rolls around. Given what we'll be paying, it had better be.

Even with my reservations, I'm excited. November 19 can't come shortly enough.

Mikail Ahmed Shaikh is a senior sub-editor on Dawn's online news desk with four years of experience in the field. His reporting focuses on defence, security, and terrorism, and he additionally reviews video games for the publication. He can be discovered on X at @MikailAhmedShaikh.

In short, the GTA VI extended look has me wanting to play the game is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.