GTA 6 must include 8 features that fans are desperate to see

With Rockstar Games lining up the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon (far horizon) and a trailer coming up very soon in December, gamers are licking their lips at the thought of the abundance of new features dropping with the new game.

December's trailer may reveal a fair bit about the features of Grand Theft Auto 6 if the it ends up being anything more than a vague teaser of the game's rumoured Miami/Vice City setting.

In the meantime, it's a waiting game - but that hasn't stopped fans putting together their GTA 6 wishlists together, full of the gameplay features that they'd love to see in the GTA 5 successor.

We've trawled the internet - Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Reddit and forums - to put together a big list of the most-requested features. Buckle in, because its a lot.

Here's the features that fans want to see from GTA 6.

Single Player DLC

GTA 4 nailed extended content by releasing two prestige releases that expanded the world of Liberty City. The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were well-received by fans who were hungry for more.

It was expected that GTA 5 would follow in this vein to deliver an extension to the world of Los Santos, continuing the adventures of Franklin, Michael and Trevor - but after 10 years, it never, ever came.

Gamers that waited patiently for this, while GTA Online was fed constant and never-ending updates, were left disappointed.

There's room for balance between the online growth of GTA 6 and the prestige expansions of GTA 4, and if GTA 6 nails this, it will keep fans happy.

RPG Elements

The Grand Theft Auto series has flirted with role-playing elements for a long time.

In GTA 5, the ability to switch between specific characters with different abilities that can be slightly honed (Franklin's car driving, Trevor's rampaging shooting), and all the playable characters have stats that can be improved, like swimming & shooting. The game also had the massively popular GTA Online mode tacked onto it - an online RPG-lite with progression, roles and customisation.

GTA: San Andreas featured fairly in-depth RPG mechanics, including fitness (which changed player characters Carl Johnson's weight) and skills.

Of course, the GTA series is no RPG in the vein of Baldur's Gate 3, or even a Fallout/Skyrim, but it has regularly featured RPG elements.

Fans want that to continue in this new instalment:

The hope of fans is that GTA 6 could take the realistic hair growth from Red Dead Redemption 2, customisable weapons & cars and extend on the weight/fitness mechanics established in GTA: San Andreas.

Female Characters

The frank truth of GTA as a gaming series that rose during the 'vulgar wave' of mainstream media is that it was heavily orientated to a young, male audience. An effect of this is that women have played bit-part roles in the series so far.

While there are memorable characters like Tanisha, Maude and Mercedes - the series' most impactful female character was the main antagonist of GTA 3, Catalina.

That game came out in 2001. 22 years ago.

It's not 'woke' to say that women have mostly existed in the majority of GTA games as sex objects for the likes of Tommy Vercetti, CJ and Niko Bellic to interact with, or more specifically, use.

Leaks may prove that the upcoming GTA 6 will be a turning point for representation in the franchise, taking over from Red Dead Redemption's stronger line of female characters, to the delight of fans.

These leaks suggest that a female protagonist, Lucia, will take the reigns from Franklin, Trevor and Michael in a first for the series as one of two playable characters who have a 'Bonnie-and-Clyde-like relationship'. Not only that but Lucia will have a child who features in cutscenes.

Nemesis System

For the bigger picture features, fans got to dreaming about a 'Nemesis System' in the style of the Shadow of Mordor games.

That Lord of the Rings sister series features recurring NPC villains, who can survive your attacks and come back stronger - hinting at their previous defeat. NPCs who defeat your immortal character in battle will also be promoted to the role of a 'nemesis'. My own experience with this system is losing constantly to an Orc who was immune to arrow fire and over-powered execution moves, who beat me so many times he upgraded and became immune to most things - fire and poison included. This damn-near unbeatable baddie would show up and taunt me at the most worst-possible moments. Unluckily for him, he fell off a high-ledge (my gaming ability didn't defeat him). Unluckily for me, the Nemesis System can prevent death - 'dead' characters can return through surgery (Orcs with prosthetics and metal plated limbs) and witchcraft - so a few hours after his death, he was back with a reduced personality and a lot of clear wizardry going on behind his eyes to keep him alive.

This mechanic led to a game-within-the-game, killing enemies and establishing vendettas against a growing army of rivals who grew with you as the game progressed.

As it turns out, fans would really like to see a similar system established in GTA 6.

Gang leaders rising through the ranks as you dispatch leaders and gain territory? Turf wars growing so large and reckless that they suck your time away from the main storyline as you chase down enemies who are growing in power and personality with your defeat? Count us in.

Interactive NPCs

Technology has come a long way since GTA 4, GTA 5 and even 2018's Red Dead Redemption and between each game we've seen huge leaps with how the non-playable characters interact with the player character and the world of each instalment.

GTA 4's Euphoria Engine changed the game for physics and NPCs, with characters reacting realistically to wounds - something which continued improving until Red Dead Redemption 2.

GTA 4 also showed that NPCs could interact with characters, which improved in GTA 5 before reaching a summit with a full response system in RDR2.

Fans will be looking for more realism and interaction than ever before in GTA 6. With a complex physics engine serving as a foundation to a response and possible dialogue system building on RDR2, GTA 6 could see extremely polished NPCs fill out the world of the game, adding more depth and finish to GTA 6.

Think of NPCs reacting to your clothing, your attitude, talking about world events, and engaging in conversations with the PC that are more than just YES/NO or positive/negative responses.

Also imagine how this would affect the world of GTA 6. Police putting more presence in violent areas where NPC shootouts are common (or pulling away to protect wealthier in-game areas or gated neighbourhoods).

Fans want more from the world they play in, not just window-dressing. GTA 6 could deliver something special here.

Custom Music Playlists

What makes a GTA game? An open world? Great characters? Over-the-top satire that is constantly in danger of drowning itself, South Park style?

All of these things play a part, but they are glued together by setting - and more importantly - music.

Music absolutely defined Vice City and San Andreas by rooting players in the 80s and 90s setting via the in-game radio. Tommy Vercetti's exploits were underscored by Michael Jackson, Foreigner, TOTO, Rick James, Bryan Adams, Twisted Sister, Iron Maiden, Kim Wilde, and Spandau Ballet. CJ's bops included tunes by N.W.A, Guns N' Roses, Depeche Mode, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.

GTA 4 and GTA 5 were defined by the 'present', or 00's New York and 10's Los Angeles respectively - and owed much more to present day music bar a few exceptions. That doesn't mean they were without bangers, and Kanye West, The Descendents, Lil Wayne, The Chemical Brothers, Kendrick Lamar, Popcaan, Black Flag and Kenny Loggins defined a new generation of GTA.

GTA 6 won't miss with the soundtrack, that's for certain - but a missing feature is the reliance on the in-game radio for music. With the game likely being set in the present day, or at least after the Spotify/mobile listening revolution, in-game custom playlists should be on the cards.

That being said, fans won't mind Rockstar cultivating the music too much. We've gotten this far loving it.

Better Crime/Robbery Mechanics

Stating the obvious here, but crime is a big part of the GTA series - and it hasn't always been utilised well as a gameplay mechanic. While it isn't necessary, or perhaps tasteful for GTA to be a crime simulator, it's an important part of the gameplay. Always has been, always will be.

Crimes are easy to commit, there is little reward and little risk to them, the major ones are reserved for storyline interactions and there's very little depth in the day-to-day. It's clear that players want more.

Obviously, there's levels of taste that come into play here, but robberies define the series - it's named after one.

There needs to be more depth and interaction with those in GTA 6, because they were disappointing in GTA 5. There is nothing dynamic or fun about them.

GTA 6 leaks do herald a change here, and it seems that robberies and dynamic crime will be a bigger feature of the gameplay to earn in-game money, rather than waiting for the story to give you a chance.

More Map Depth

A point of pride for Rockstar Games so far has been map size. San Andreas, Los Santos, and the near entirety of a fictional United States in RDR2 have paved the way for a MASSIVE GTA 6.

But when there's scale, there's usually a lack of depth. Grand Theft Auto 6 is rumoured to have a larger map than GTA 5 and RDR2, and ideally it will increase the level of depth players feel when exploring the map.

There should be more buildings that a player can enter in GTA 6, and these should be multi-level. NPCs should differ from street to street. You should be able to initiate a robbery or crime in most buildings. If real estate is a feature in the game, you should be able to enter your purchased buildings - or perhaps mess up the ones you're about to close on for a discount?

GTA 6 fans are buzzing about the map size, but for as big as a map is, it needs to be full of activities, lore, and excitement. GTA 6 needs to have this depth.

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