The top 6 highlights from the trailer

Last night’s GTA VI leak prompted Rockstar to push back the announced first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, the next big installment in the open-world crime series expected in 2025, by almost a full day. For many, this marks the beginning of a new era in video games, and perhaps in the way we consume them. A minute and a half. Ninety seconds. 30 frames per second, and we ran through them all in 4K.

1. Vice City, good to see you again

The first images we have of this current version of Vice City already show us that we are at the beginning of something big. The sunrise scenes on the highway and behind the prison gates indicate that a new world is opening up for the new co-star of the series: Lucia, a Latina robber about to rejoin society. On the side of the truck read the beer brand Patriot, which has also been a common classic American vehicle since GTA III.

The next scene after the conversation with the probation officer is a sequence of Washington Beach, where Tommy Vercetti’s adventure in GTA: Vice City also began. The plane flying over the beaches refers to a dating app called Nine1Nine, which will presumably be for same-sex users. “Why do a 69 when you can do a nine-nine?”.

Besides towering residential buildings, the counterpart of this new map is the vast open space of Rockstar’s fictional Florida swamps. Local wildlife (alligators appear at various points in the trailer), flashy mangrove hovercrafts, flamingos and herons…. And even a pet iguana – did you find it?

2. The era of Tiktok and sharing everything on the net

We’ve all seen it, at least in movies or on TV, the beaches of Miami…. I mean, Vice City, is full of sculpted bodies and is full of people playing sports, having fun with friends and, in general, recording something (possibly someone’s butt) with a mobile screen in front of them.

Crazy Monday parties at the strip club, workshops for the Lowriders, racing down the highway towards Kelly County… even parking our Cheetah sports car and visit the Ocean View Hotel where we stayed with Tommy. And all these activities can then be viewed on a kind of social network similar to Tiktok. But if you want visibility, be sure to use the hashtag #have.a.vice.day.

3. What great hair

The woman twerking on the car should go viral, but for the incredible hair animation in the scene. We knew that GTA 6 would set the bar new high in many technical aspects, but the first time you see something like that is etched in your memory. And it doesn’t stop with that scene, as the girl in the rooftop pool repeats the feat by posing for the photo. Good gesture, Rockstar.

4. Vice City and beyond

I’ve said before that the world of GTA VI will be much larger than Vice City. And that’s because we have at least a few more areas (although one of them is unclear whether it’s a neighborhood or a suburb on the outskirts. We are talking about Leonida, where crime seems to have taken more of a hold than elsewhere. There will also be a neighborhood called Hamlet, where that lady with two hammers appears. It doesn’t look like you’ll be bored any time soon.

There is also the rural area of Kelly County, where we come by Highway 404 to follow from the west exit. Presumably this will be the swampy, muddy car racing area of the Thrillbilly Mud Club that appears toward the end of the trailer. But there is so much to explore that I’m sure they saved the best for future trailers.

5. An unhealthy attention to detail

Back to hair. Or rather, attention to detail. Previous Rockstar titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2 or GTA V already had a level of detail that bordered on insanity (yes, the testicles shrink on the horse as we go through the snow), but here even on the signs and posters we can see things like Apple Pay being accepted for payments (good product placement) to the stickers and logos of companies such as Rideout Customs.

As well as the not-so-subtle criticisms of American society, such as the overconsumption of antidepressants and opioids eating away at the lower strata of society, which we see here in the big drug posters like Angstipan.

6. Lucia and Jason, the new Bonny & Clyde

What we have curiously seen less of is the story’s leading duo. Lucia and Jason are a pair of criminals in the style of the legendary bandits of the 1930s, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. A true story of love, jealousy, greed and a tragic ending of which we can feel some details in this first trailer for GTA 6, but which will certainly have some interesting plot twists that will be saved for future videos. For now, it looks like Lucia will be the one pulling the strings, and she will be an amazingly strong woman.