But if there is one thing to remember, it is perhaps the way Rockstar seems to have succeeded where hundreds of fans and filmmakers failed before them: absorbing an author’s influence without giving the impression of simply copying him.
GTA, a reservoir of influences
We have long known the importance of cinema in GTA’s DNA, from Michael Mann to Brian De Palma, via Walter Hill, Peter Yates and many others. This time, however, another influence stands out. In the way the characters speak, move, look at each other, abruptly switch from everyday life to violence and seem to exist outside the missions themselves, there is something deeply “Tarantino-esque.”
Everything, or almost everything, seems permeated by this spirit. Of course, Miami Vice, Die Hard or Mann’s cinema continue to hover in the images. But it is above all the soul of Quentin Tarantino, filmmaker as much as screenwriter, that GTA VI seems to have managed to capture and then digest.
More Tarantino than many films that have tried to resemble him
And that is precisely where Rockstar joins the Tarantino method. The Pulp Fiction director has never hidden his borrowings, his passions and his references. He absorbs them, transforms them and ends up making them immediately recognizable as his own. True Romance, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction or Jackie Brown are fed by dozens of earlier films, but none truly resembles what existed before them.
Rockstar now seems to be doing exactly the same thing with Tarantino. Taking his sense of dialogue, his taste for peripheral characters, tonal shifts, dry violence, absurd humor and that way of turning an ordinary conversation into a scene from a film, then passing the whole thing through the GTA filter.
To the point that the movement becomes almost ironic. After influencing several generations of video games and filmmakers, Tarantino seems in turn to be absorbed by a work that recycles his language to make something new from it. What goes around comes around.
Just watching this mega trailer with Tarantino in mind is enough for it to leap out at you. For that reason alone, these 26 minutes already seem more Tarantino-esque than many films that have tried to copy the filmmaker for the past thirty years.
What does GTA VI have in store for us?
For the rest, the vertigo continues. Captured on a standard PS5, the demo begins with a drug deal that goes wrong, before showing much more ordinary moments, notably Jason and Lucia in their apartment, where Jason is seen taking something from the refrigerator.
The video then reveals several driving sequences and events spontaneously occurring in the city, while illustrating the instant switch from one character to another. Missions can be played with Jason or Lucia and completed together, or separately.
According to several reports that surfaced shortly afterward, the main story would offer about 80 hours of gameplay excluding side missions. GTA VI would also feature twice as many animations as Red Dead Redemption 2 and more than ten times as many as GTA V.
• Players will be able to pilot a hovercraft through swamps inspired by Florida’s Everglades, kayak in the open sea, take part in off-road motorcycle races, play mini golf, scuba dive or even perform base jumps from buildings
• Heists can also be organized by two people, with one character robbing a store while the other waits behind the wheel of the getaway vehicle. It will even be possible to change clothes before committing a crime in order to reduce one’s wanted level
• Exercise will visibly change the characters’ musculature, while their diet will influence their weight. Going several days without sleep will also have consequences. It will even be possible to compulsively scroll through social networks
• A dynamic romance system will allow text messages and different activities to influence the relationship between Jason and Lucia. Strengthening their romantic relationship will not, however, provide any particular gameplay advantage. Romance will therefore remain entirely optional
• It will also be necessary to earn money to advance the main storyline, notably through heists or car theft
At launch on November 19, 2026, GTA VI is expected to run at 30 frames per second on all consoles. No details have yet been communicated regarding any modes prioritizing resolution or performance.
