GTA V released all the way back in 2013 and there has still been no official announcement for GTA 6.
But, that doesn't mean that information isn't out there.
Here is everything we know so far!
Latest News - GTA 6 NPCs Will Be Self Aware
Rockstars Games has applied to patent a new technology called "System and Method for Virtual Navigation in a Gaming Environment".
The patent describes a new system that will allow for NPCs to act intelligently and react to situations and hazards in real-time.
This is explained in the patent, with it stating that,
"As an additional drawback, conventional systems relied almost entirely on local traffic avoidance for NPCs to avoid collisions. This involves, each frame, checking the local environment for any potential obstructions (vehicles, pedestrians, objects), building up a view of that obstruction from the local vehicle (creating a `front facing` polygon which is a list of points/lines that the vehicle will need to avoid in order to not hit the obstruction), generating information about the road the vehicle is on so they can avoid going off-road into buildings and finally generating and detecting the best steering angle to avoid all the obstructions. This is done every frame for each entity and no knowledge of the previous frame is used. This can result in very late detection of potential issues and no high level knowledge of `this road is blocked;` instead, the system only indicates that there's something in my way to be avoided. Vehicles cannot plan accordingly, for example, if there is any type of road blockage."
But this new system will allow the NPCs to react to situations in real-time and plan new routes if their current one is blocked.
The NPC could also decide to avoid the highway altogether if the player is going on a 5-star rampage with a rocket launcher.
Will Star A Female Protagonist
It is being reported that, for the first time since 1997, the Grand Theft Auto series will see a female protagonist in the upcoming GTA 6.
GTA games have always had male protagonists, such as CJ from San Andreas and Trevor from GTA V.
The only other time that a female protagonist has been in the game is the original GTA 1 from 1997.
On the PC version of the game the player has the option to choose between 8 characters, 4 male and 4 female.
However, since GTA 1 is very basic in its presentation, the character choice has no impact on the game, it just changes the hair colour, skin tone, and clothing colour.
Since then, as the series went 3D, we have always seen the main character be male.
According TomHenderson, the next GTA title will have both a male and female protagonist, and they will both be playable, much like how GTA V had 3 different main characters.
Tom Henderson is a trusted Call of Duty leaker, so although he isn't known for GTA leaks, he is trusted enough in the community for this to have some weight to it.
However, until GTA 6 is officially announced by Rockstar, this will remain a rumour, but one that definitely seems like it could happen.
GTA 6 Name Leaked
The GTA series has seen numerous variations when it comes to its naming structure.
From the regular Grand Theft Auto with a number, to the more spin-off variant like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
It has been suggested that the next entry in the series will combine both of them, with a clever play on words.
It has been rumoured that the next title in the series will called Grand Theft Auto VI(CE) CITY.
By looking at the map for the "Height Of Society" from GTA Online's recent racing DLC, it does show a potential hint of the next game being focused around Florida and Mexico.
This could hint at the next location for GTA 6 since Vice City is based on Miami.
Release Date
So far there has been no official release date given, in fact there hasn't been an official announcement of its existence.
But, with GTA V launching back in 2013 it is very safe to say that GTA 6 is in development
Job Listing Hints At GTA 6
A job listing was posted on Monster looking for an environment artist to "Join our team to create next-generation worlds".
It is fair to assume this is referring to upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X games.
In the listing it states one of the responsibilities as "creating and texturing environment assets for the biggest and best open-world environment in the industry".
When players think of the best open-world games, Grand Theft Auto is always top of that list, as well as Red Dead Redemption.
But with Red Dead Redemption 2 launching in 2018, it is very likely referring to a new GTA game.
A 2023 Release?
According to Venture Beat, Take-Two Interactive (the parent company of Rockstar) are looking to spend a massive $89 million in marketing during 2023/2024.
This would indicate that the company will be looking to promote a massive game, such as Grand Theft Auto.
With a decade passing since the release of GTA V, that sounds entirely plausible.
Platforms
With a potential 2023 release window, we will be right in the middle of the next generation lifecycle, meaning that is is extremely unlikely we will see the game release on either the PS4 or Xbox One.
Instead it will release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
GTA V didn't release on PC for two years after the console release, but with the popularity of the PC version of GTA V it is likely we will see a launch of GTA 6 on PC from day 1, or at least fairly close to it.
GTA V Next Gen
The PlayStation 2 saw 3 GTA games released on it, GTA V will have been released on 3 PlayStations by the end of 2021.
GTA V is scheduled to be ported to both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2021, offering upgraded visuals, frame rate, and resolution over the last gen counterparts.
Could this be Rockstar's way of getting used to developing for next generation hardware before officially announcing GTA 6 on the systems?
After all, they wouldn't want a Cyberpunk 2077 on their hands and face backlash if the game released broken.
Map
One aspect of the game that players are eager to find out is where the game will be set.
The game has always centred around Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas.
With those being the three locations in the original GTA game, and also the locations of the three GTA games released on PS2.
Since then we have seen Liberty City return in GTA 4, and San Andreas return in GTA V.
So that just leaves Vice City.
It has long been speculated that GTA 6 will see players head to Vice City, which is based on Miami.
Missions
It has been rumoured that the game will feature a 100 hour story mode, filled to the brim with dozens of missions.
With the size of next gen games, it is very likely we will see an install of around 200GB, so we could definitely see a very large campaign.
100 hours may be a bit much, but definitely 50-70 hours.
Online
GTA Online is a huge part of Rockstar's portfolio, generating over $700 million per year in revenue.
This could also be part of the reason why they haven't rushed to release GTA 6, because they are generating huge amounts of money with the online side of the game.
The mode recently saw its first map change since the game launched, a sign that more changes could happen in the future.
With the release of GTA 6 it is unlikely the online side will stay in Los Santos, instead transferring over to the new map.
Rockstar could also be using the online part to test features, such as the single player heists in the Cayo Perico expansion.
