We’ve got some new details about Rockstar’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 courtesy of a new Game Informer preview that went live on Tuesday. According to Rockstar Games, GTA 6 is going to feature an incredibly advanced weather system that models wind and rain more accurately than ever before. And yes, Rockstar’s version of Florida will not only be filled with critters, but will also get hit by hurricanes and large tropical storms.
On September 29, Game Informer published a big 14-page preview all about GTA 6. While we knew a lot of the details included in the preview already via leaks, official trailers, screenshots, and previous interviews, there were still some interesting and exciting tidbits about the upcoming game included in GI’s big cover story. Perhaps the most exciting new detail is the confirmation that Rockstar’s version of Miami will indeed suffer through hurricanes and tropical storms.
“Heavy clouds, strong winds, dense atmospherics, and a lot of rain combine so that everything is dripping wet, water is gushing off roof edges and lampposts, thunder rumbles, and flashes of lightning light up the clouds dramatically,” said Owen Shepard, vice president of art for lighting and rendering at Rockstar Games.
But it’s not just big, nasty hurricanes that are accurately rendered and simulated in GTA 6. Rockstar also confirmed that even tiny details, like summer breezes and the way wind moves around buildings, will be accurately represented in the game.
“[Expect] offshore breezes after sunset, convectional updrafts, and occlusion from buildings,” said Shepard. “Hair and debris will swirl around on rooftops; gusts of wind will blow ripples over the water surface and bend the grass in swamps.”
“We have re-engineered our weather system to make everything much more localized and persistent, and really wanted the world to feel dynamically solid and achieve a sense of scale we haven’t felt before. The world features new fully dynamic cloudscapes that roll across the map; these give us a broad spectrum of weather, from the clear blue skies of a Miami winter to the vertiginous cumulonimbus clouds with sporadic lightning that you see most afternoons in the Floridian summer and autumn.”
GTA 6 will include legendary animals to find
Also included in Rockstar’s version of Florida: a whole lot of animals. Game Informer’s preview says there are over 170 animal species that players can find across the large map, the biggest in GTA’s history, according to Rockstar. This includes over 60 types of birds and 30+ land mammals, as well as various kinds of sharks, reptiles, fish, and more. And these animals are, like the weather, ridiculously detailed and complex. The studio also includes non-native, invasive animals, too, such as monkeys and armadillos, which, yes, you can find in Florida.
Players will be able to interact with many of these animals, too. Rockstar says that feathers, bioluminescence features, and more will all be rendered accurately on each animal. Fur in particular will react to “human-to-animal interaction,” and the studio is also simulating “dirt matting and clumping in environmental contexts, including getting wet, as well as color and coat variations.”
For players hoping for very rare animals, Rockstar also revealed that Red Dead Redemption 2‘s animal rarity system returns, as will Legendary creatures that will be hard to find. We don’t know what those animals will be, but I can’t wait to go explore the swamps of Leonida to find out when GTA 6 arrives on November 19 on PS5, Xbox, and PC.
