GTA 6 is currently running at 30 fps on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series consoles, and Rockstar has not decided whether a 60 fps option will exist at launch or later. That is what Rob Nelson, who runs Rockstar North with Aaron Garbut, told Brazilian outlet Flow Games during a July visit to Edinburgh in which creator Davy Jones watched Nelson play for more than two hours.
As with every preview in this cycle, nobody outside Rockstar held the controller. Flow Games published in Portuguese, and its video interview is Jones reading Nelson’s answers back from his notes, so Nelson’s words here are paraphrased rather than quoted. What follows is the material Flow Games got that the other outlets did not.
30 fps now, 60 fps undecided
Nelson said the console builds currently run at 30 fps, and that he would need to consult Rockstar’s technical team on whether a 60 fps option could come at launch or afterwards. He gave no resolution, ray tracing or PS5 Pro details.
This is a developer describing a summer build, not a launch specification. Rockstar’s only first-party statement on platform is that the Extended Look was “captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5”, which says nothing about frame rate, and Rockstar has not commented on the Flow Games report. The claim is new to the Rumour Ledger and enters at Reported; the ledger’s existing 30 fps row is about the Extended Look footage, which is a different claim.
Related: Nobody played it, and a profile can shatter · What the Extended Look showed · Five more previews: NPCs, robberies, police
No full first-person mode
Flow Games reports that GTA 6 will not have the complete first-person mode GTA V gained on PS4 and Xbox One. First-person remains for aiming certain weapons; Rockstar’s effort went into the third-person animation set, which Rockstar told the New York Times runs to well over 600,000 animations. This is Flow Games’ own summary rather than a Nelson statement, so treat it as reported.
The fuel gauge only appears when the tank is low
We already knew cars need fuel and EVs need charging. Flow Games adds how it behaves. Nelson described stealing a car mid-chase with less than a quarter of a tank and running dry before he shook the police, then said the system is built not to nag: a full tank lasts a long time, and the gauge stays off the screen until fuel is low. EV charging bays are marked with a plug symbol; Jones spotted one in a car park and Nelson confirmed what it was.
No skateboarding, no surfing, and fewer minigames than GTA V
Nelson told Flow Games that skateboarding is not in the game. It was discussed, but the team did not believe it could build a skate mechanic to the standard of the rest of the game in time for launch. Surfing is out too, at least for now. The reasoning, as Nelson put it, is that many of GTA V’s minigames were not up to the level of the rest of that game, and anything that ships in 6 has to be. Basketball is in. Nelson also said there are hundreds of vehicles, but not many the series has never seen, because Rockstar’s car universe already exists; electric scooters and kayaks are among the new ones, and Pay ‘n’ Spray returns.
Heavier cars that stay on their roof
Cars carry more weight than in GTA V and behave differently by model and surface. Jones asked directly whether an overturned car can be rocked back onto its wheels as in GTA V, and Nelson said no. A jumped car still gives you some control in the air, but, in Nelson’s words as Jones relayed them, a little, not as much as GTA V. Nelson framed all of this as a balance: the detail of the world needs things to feel more physical and real, and the studio knows Red Dead Redemption 2’s realism delighted some players and wore on others. A damaged engine changes how the car drives, and damage taken while stealing or delivering a car cuts what a buyer pays for it.
A stolen car worth $21,000, if you get it there intact
Older cars open with a slim jim; high-end cars need key-cloning equipment that arrives through progression. Nelson’s example: a supercar parked in Vice Beach can be taken at any point in the game, because progress is gated by the equipment you own, not by story chapter.
The scanner reads a car’s security before you touch it. One car in the demo had an alarm, needed a key clone and carried an advanced tracker, which starts a timer once the car moves and can call the police if you take too long. A specialist fence would pay about $21,000 for that car. Pay ‘n’ Spray also buys stolen cars, for far less.
Two handguns, two long guns, and the trunk is the armoury
Jason and Lucia carry two small weapons, concealed, and two long guns, visible on the body; Nelson’s point was that a rocket launcher can no longer appear from nowhere. A rifle on your back draws suspicion, a rifle in your hands draws panic, and the New York Times was told that walking down the street with a shotgun out has NPCs calling the police.
Everything else lives in the personal vehicle. The trunk holds spare weapons, equipment and a change of clothes. Weapons you own are never lost, and you can stash guns temporarily in another car before walking into somewhere a long gun would draw attention.
Gore: less than Red Dead Redemption 2, and still being balanced
Asked directly about gore, Nelson said he hoped it would be balanced, that Rockstar would not go as far as Red Dead Redemption 2, and that the team was still tuning the level. Jones’s own read from the police fights he watched was that it sits above GTA V, but that is the viewer’s impression, not Nelson’s line. Hit markers tell you what you did: white for a hit, yellow for incapacitated, red for dead. A shot to a knee, elbow or arm puts someone down without killing them, and those choices feed the Criminal Profile.
Hair does not grow, painkillers wear thin
Hair and beards do not grow over time; you choose a cut and it stays. Food restores health slowly, painkillers restore it faster, and painkillers lose effect the more you lean on them.
As long as Red Dead Redemption 2, give or take
Nelson would not give an hour count. He told Flow Games the campaign is roughly comparable in length to Red Dead Redemption 2 and depends on how much optional content a player touches, which sits alongside his 80-hour February playthrough reported by the New York Times.
Everything here is one developer’s description of a pre-release build to one outlet. What Rockstar has said on its own channels is on the GTA 6 hub.
Sources
Flow Games: “Exclusivo: vimos GTA 6 de perto e o salto é o maior já visto”, “GTA 6 rodará em 30 FPS em todos os consoles”, “GTA 6 terá combustível e recarga de carros elétricos”, “GTA 6 limitará armas e usará porta-malas como arsenal”, “GTA 6 vai ter violência gráfica explícita (gore)?”, “GTA 6 tem nível de realismo entre GTA 5 e Red Dead Redemption 2”, and the Cortes do Flow Games clip “EXCLUSIVE: Will GTA 6 PHYSICS be REALISTIC?!”. The New York Times, “The Grand Ambitions of Grand Theft Auto VI”, 27 August 2026. Rockstar Newswire, “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look”.