GTA 6: five things it should keep, five things it should skip

As we wait with bated breath for the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer that’s coming next month, we’ve been replaying some of the older games and trying to imagine what shape a modern GTA would take. The world has changed irrevocably since GTA V released in 2013: whether you’ve approved of them or not, it’s undeniable that there have been huge social and political changes in the last ten years.

Politicians have almost become immune to scandal. Brands are advertising themselves in ever more outlandish ways. Following the trauma of the pandemic, biting recessions, and various other nonsenses, it often seems like a collective madness has taken hold of the human race. In short, the line between the brash, hyper-exaggerated reality of GTA seems like a tame mockery of the real world now, in much the same way that The Day Today and Brass Eye are now barely distinguishable from what constitutes today’s news media.

Aside from the societal changes it’ll have to navigate, there are a lot of mechanical, gameplay aspects of the older games that kinda suck now, not to mention the horrendous experience that GTA Online has grown exponentially into over the years. So, I sat down with my colleague and fellow lifelong GTA fan Mark Warren to hash out a list of things we think the next GTA should keep, and things it should leave in the past: