Over the last two days, multiple videos of what appears to be gameplay from Grand Theft Auto 6 have leaked online via someone (or someones) known as Cyberleek. And the most recent video showing a character flying over part of Vice City has me and many online more excited than ever about the sheer scale and density of Rockstar’s upcoming game.
After a few years of drip-feed marketing from Rockstar Games and just two trailers, I’ll admit that even I, a longtime fan of the Grand Theft Auto series, had started to feel a bit down on GTA 6. One can only maintain their excitement for a game, movie, or book for so long before it naturally starts to wane. But these recent leaks, which are still not confirmed to be real by Rockstar Games but which seem to be legit for various reasons, have reinvigorated my hype, as the kids say, for GTA 6 ahead of its November launch. And the most recent clip release has me really going wild over here because it just looks so damn impressive.
In the clip, shared by Cyberleek earlier today, we see what appears to be Jason flying a crop-dusting prop plane over the outskirts of Vice City and then eventually across and over the city itself. And the sheer scale on display here is hard to wrap my head around. I can’t share the clip or screenshots here for legal reasons, but you can still find uploads of it online, and it’s wild to look at.
At times in the recent leak, it looks like I’m watching a real video of a plane flying near Miami, Florida. Off in the distance, far away from the player, you can still see cars driving around, boats moving about, video ads on buildings, and individual trees and bushes. It’s comparable to recent versions of Microsoft Flight Sim, but keep in mind the player can, at any point, jump out of the plane, likely parachute down to the ground below, steal a car, drive to some of these buildings, and then start shooting at police or playing basketball.
Some online have tried to use the previously leaked map of GTA 6 to try to mark out the path seen in the video, and while it’s not a perfect science, it does seem to indicate that the digital world Rockstar has created this time is not only extremely detailed, realistic, and gorgeous, but also huge.
Over on Reddit, I’ve seen numerous people praising the size and quality of the map, or exclaiming that this has got them hyped back up for the game and excited to play it after a lack of updates from Rockstar.
“After seeing the plane clip, my excitement has shot back up,” posted one GTA fan. “November could not come soon enough.”
“The one that came out today with Jason flying,” posted another user. “There’s another version of the vid that’s zoomed in to show ads on the buildings. And Jesus Christ, man, it looks like real downtown Miami.”
Rockstar Games is the king of these kinds of big games. The studio’s open-world playgrounds are the best of the best and stand far above what Ubisoft and other studios have created. And getting a new Rockstar-created world to explore that’s designed to run on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S was already exciting. But seeing a snippet of the scale and detail we can expect via this new leak has me salivating.
I don’t need games to be massive and realistic. I love me some smaller games with unique art styles or lo-fi visuals. But I can’t deny I get a thrill out of exploring Rockstar’s virtual worlds. And GTA 6’s Vice City is looking to be the company’s biggest and best yet. I don’t want to write about it. Instead, I want to cruise around this world for hours, taking in the vibes and seeing the sights. After seeing this leaked footage of a plane, I agree with that Reddit poster: November 19 can’t come soon enough.