It’s finally here! The preview for that extended look at a crime sim currently without a PC release date! GTA 6, or in the immortal words of Jack Nance, “Grand Theft Auto” [6]. After a long drought of anything actual concrete, we’ve now been flooded with details, like how it’s up to you as to whether protagonists Lucia and Jason stay together or not. But as it turns out, there’s some changes coming to the series’ namesake: stealing cars.
You know how stealing a car in a GTA works. You waltz up to it, and you press a button. Doesn’t matter what car it is, where it is, who owns it, you can just hop in and take it for a joyride. But according to an interview Rockstar co-founder Rob Nelson with The IGN, you can expect certain cars to be a bit of a tougher nut to crack. “We have put some layers of stratification into the vehicles,” Nelson explains.
“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.” Cars can have different security systems you have to crack now, with varying values to them too, and there’s a new system you can use to figure all this out before trying to break into one.
“We also now have this scanner as a part of the phone,” Nelson says of an app called WAINK. Charming! By scanning a car with this app, you can learn some tidbits about the car. “For example, it tells me this car is locked, it’s got an alarm, and has no tracker. It also tells me how much it’s worth if I go to take it to a Pay n’ Spray or a specialty car fence, and how much it would cost for me to register it for myself. So, for example, this car needs a key cloner. This other car will just need a Slim Jim. So we’ve added a lot of fun little tools you need or mechanics you need to perform these formerly binary actions.”
With many cars using electronic keys now, you may have to find yourself a digital key cloning device just to unlock certain doors, which comes at a cost to get in the first place. Having access to all this tech isn’t a guarantee win either though, as some cars might feature secret trackers, with some versions even showing your location to the cops if you drive too slow.
Don’t expect the act of driving itself to be an easy experience either, as Nelson explains, “The streets in this game are narrower, and more realistic in terms of scale. Which, in addition to all the density of the traffic on the roads, makes driving slightly more challenging and requires a bit of skill.”
I’d also like to remind you that, following the firing of 34 Rockstar staffers last year and in the lead-up to a trial involving the studio and said developers coming next month, these former workers are asking you to support their legal fund as opposed to boycotting the game. And to be honest, if you can afford that $80 video game, I imagine you can chip in too!