Ever since the first game launched back in 1997, Grand Theft Auto’s titular crime has been a fairly simple process: tap one button and someone else’s car is now yours. Almost 30 years later, GTA 6 is set to change that completely, introducing a tiered vehicle security system, a varied set of tools to steal them with, and new ways to profit from each theft directly. Let’s look at the details of how it all works in Rockstar’s latest, as well as theorise about what it could all mean for other styles of robbery, including liquor store hold-ups and big bank heists.
Long-term GTA fans will be more than familiar with how stealing a car has worked in the series thus far. You walk up to your desired wheels and simply press a button to open a door left carelessly unlocked, or smash through the window with your elbow to enter better secured vehicles. That simplicity won’t be going away completely in GTA 6, it appears, with older, less desirable vehicles still vulnerable to swift methods of entry, such as a quick slim jim forced into the window gap and under the lock. But other, much more high-end motors will come packed with added security layers that introduce new gameplay challenges, asking players to flex unfamiliar muscles when it comes to jacking cars.
“We have put some layers of stratification into the vehicles,” explains Rob Nelson, co-studio head of Rockstar North. “Previously, you could just press triangle to automatically hotwire and steal any vehicle that you wanted and take off. We felt like that left a lot of potential gameplay on the table, in terms of progression and decision-making for players. I think it gives all the vehicles more meaning, and you need to pay attention to what you’re doing a bit more.”
But how will you know which cars will be harder to crack than others? Well, apart from passing a quick eye test of being able to distinguish a rusty old white van from a straight off the production line Grotti sports car, you’ll need to take advantage of a new bit of GTA 6 tech: the WAINK scanner.
Get within range of any vehicle that takes your fancy, and you’ll be able to hold your device up to get all of the relevant information. Chief among these details are its security system and value. We don’t yet know how many car security tiers there’ll be, but what we do know is that some will be protected digitally, as GTA catches up with the modern age of electronic keys. That means you’ll need a digital key cloning device in order to unlock some car doors, but that piece of kit will come at a cost, with it needing to be acquired first. Some tools will only unlock after a certain point in the story, and it’s a clear sign that GTA 6 is aiming to evolve its gameplay opportunities over the course of the game. It’s all in service of adding levels of complexity to binary actions.
But technology can also work against you. Even if you manage to get behind the wheel of your chosen target, that car may be fitted with a tracker — some advanced versions of which reveal your location to law enforcement if you drive below a certain speed, meaning you need to put your foot down to avoid hearing sirens. Not only will it draw police attention your way if the car is reported as stolen, but, in theory, any prospective buyer worth its name in salt would want it removed before you cash in. This ties into another layer of GTA 6’s enhanced simulation – you’ll be able to visit a fence and sell any vehicle you’ve stolen. Yes, Rockstar is borrowing from its previous game, Red Dead Redemption 2, albeit you’ll be hunting metal beasts rather than taking down meaty big bucks for big bucks. And Arthur Morgan never had to worry about GPS trackers ruining the value of his finds.
Even if you manage to get behind the wheel of your chosen target, that car may be fitted with a tracker.“
But perhaps you aren’t stealing a car with pure profit foremost in mind, but instead just fancy making it your own. Well, the WAINK scanner (yes, it’s really called that and I have no idea what that acronym stands for right now) also tells you how much it will cost to register that car as your own. GTA 6 will allow Jason and Lucia to each own multiple personal vehicles, provided you have the cash and garage space.
Both of these new systems — tiered security and fencing — open up a whole new world of possibilities when it comes to mission design in GTA 6. Don’t be surprised to see more organic, emergent solutions to mission objectives appear as you play. For example, the simple fact that many cars can’t be instantly broken into and commandeered makes the act of escape an altogether more frantic endeavor. You might get lucky and slide into an unsecured sedan on the first try, but with the police at your back, you’re realistically not going to have the time to stop and scan the area for the perfect getaway vehicle. It all builds into Rockstar’s intention for you to spend more time scurrying away on foot or changing methods of transport on the fly, with the narrower Leonida streets helping generate exciting desperation and unexpected thrills.
“The streets in this game are narrower, and more realistic in terms of scale”, Nelson explains. “Which, in addition to all the density of the traffic on the roads, makes driving slightly more challenging and requires a bit of skill.”
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That more organic approach to moment-to-moment action could extend to specific styles of mission, too. Not an insignificant amount of time in both GTA 5 and GTA Online is spent reclaiming cars for Simeon, Franklin’s original employer. These primarily serve as simple, introductory quests to the world of San Andreas and its gameplay fundamentals, but in GTA 6, the framework of similar jobs could become a lot more rewarding with these additional layers of complexity.
Rather than simply placing a marker on your map to drive to and demanding you deliver a predetermined vehicle back to whoever requires it, the possibilities have now opened up, thanks to the WAINK scanner. In theory, you could be asked to find a specific brand of car around the world, or one of a specific value, and use this newfound technology to go on a miniature treasure hunt. Doing so would embed us further into GTA 6’s world and allow us to spend less time following markers and traced lines along roads on a mini map. Being able to take this newly procured car to any fence on the map would also help mix things up, rather than the tedium that zooming along the same few streets back to Simeon’s in Los Santos could become.
But perhaps most exciting is how these systems could translate into GTA 6’s bigger, high-stakes missions. In theory, the back rooms of small stores could be easily broken into, with the minimal spoils waiting there, yours to take. But what about big banks or heavily guarded facilities? Surely some more advanced tech will need to be employed here to crack safes or bypass locked doors. If you don’t have the right tools for the job, such as the aforementioned key cloning device, then does that limit what you’ll take away from a score, or potentially make missions branch in interesting ways? These are all choices that will seemingly add up over the course of GTA 6, and the repercussions could range from short-term problems such as an increased wanted level, to permanently damaging Jason and Lucia’s relationship.
Stealing cars has been at the core of Grand Theft Auto for almost three decades now, but this fundamental change to how it all works is as exciting a change as Rockstar has made in that time. I can’t wait to get my hands on it and see for myself just how much it opens up its world and the possibilities within it.
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Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.