Source status

This guide gathers what Rockstar's Rob Nelson and hands-on previewers (The Gamer Guides / TGG, Kinda Funny Games and previewer Dylan) have said about how combat feels in Grand Theft Auto VI — aiming, carrying weapons, melee and movement. It comes from previews of an unreleased build, so systems and defaults can still change before launch. Points that were left open are marked as such rather than presented as confirmed.

Aiming: free-aim first, lock-on turned down

The headline change is how you aim. GTA VI leans toward a free-aim feel with only a little "stickiness," rather than the strong default lock-on of previous games — and, crucially, it is all tuneable in the options menu.

  • Aim assist / stickiness can be dialled up or down; you can push it closer to a traditional lock-on if you prefer.
  • Combat Focus returns — a controllable slow-down you can trigger in a fight.
  • Enemies are not shown on the mini-map or radar by default, which rebalances how encounters play out.

A little bit of stickiness but leaning more on a free-aim feel. All tuneable in options. But definitely less of a default lock-on aim than previous games. With the combat focus, where you can slow it down, it's very controllable, but without having enemies on the radar and the mini-map, and without having the auto-aim as default, you can balance the combat a lot in a way that feels better.

— Rob Nelson, Rockstar Games

One thing that is not fully confirmed: Nelson said lock-on is off by default, but whether it can be turned all the way up to a classic hard lock-on is unclear — TGG could not get a definitive answer on that.

A smaller detail worth flagging: in one section of the footage there is a yellow outline around the edge of the screen, which indicates you can incapacitate enemies with melee — non-lethal takedowns, not just gunfire.

A shootout in Leonida — GTA VI leans on a free-aim feel by default.

Carrying and storing weapons

How you carry guns now matters, both mechanically and to the people around you.

  • You can always carry two concealed handguns.
  • You can carry two long guns, and they are visible — one on your back and one in your hands. You cannot stow both on your back.
  • The world reacts to how you're kitted out.

You can always have two concealed handguns on you whenever you want. You can carry two long guns and they will be visible on your back and in your hand. You can't put both on your back. One goes in your off hand, one on your back if you want to carry two. People will react to you if you are rolling around like that.

— Rob Nelson, Rockstar Games

The NPC reactions are described as far more nuanced than in past games (via Dylan, Nov 19):

It depends. The reactions are much more nuanced than before. So, if you've got a long gun on your back, you should be fine. If you've got one in your hand, people don't like it, and they react and start moving away from you. The more guns you carry and the way you carry them matters.

If police see you carrying, they will give you a warning first. Holding a long gun in both hands, as though you're ready to fire, is what starts to escalate the situation.

Asked why Rockstar went for this more grounded approach, Nelson pointed to how much more believable the world has to be now:

Yeah, you know what, we don't feel that works any longer at this resolution — with the behavioural sophistication we need from our population now. In GTA V you can pull out a shotgun from nowhere in front of people and they don't react. That doesn't work here.

Weapon storage: you can store the long guns you're carrying in any vehicle, but only your personal vehicle holds your entire selected loadout. A temporary (stolen) vehicle isn't persistent, so anything you leave in it can be lost.

Weapon feel, recoil and customization

Guns are described as having noticeably more weight than in GTA V.

  • Weapons have a lot more kick. When Rob Nelson fired an assault rifle in the preview, he had to tap-fire far more to stay on target.
  • There's more impact and force behind each shot compared with Grand Theft Auto V.
  • Quick weapon swapping is returning.
  • In extended gameplay, TGG saw that you can hand a weapon to the other protagonist.
  • Weapon customization: TGG didn't see it directly, but other previewers who went hands-on described it as a step up from Red Dead Redemption 2.

Handgun and ammunition detail — weapons carry more kick and impact than in GTA V.

Hand-to-hand combat

Melee has real defensive depth this time. Per the team at Kinda Funny Games, close-quarters combat includes:

  • A hold block.
  • A timed parry.

Movement: cover, crouch and speed

Traversal borrows heavily from Red Dead Redemption 2's more deliberate controls.

  • Cover is still on R1 / RB.
  • Crouch is effective, and you can strafe while crouched.
  • Shoulder switching returns from Red Dead Redemption 2.
  • Movement speed is customizable — you can set a default walk/jog pace to taste.

That's stuff we're always trying to do. People being pissed off with "slow walking." I think options, options, options. We're trying to offer as many options as we can. You can set your movement speed, normal walk, fast jog, etc. Looking at the setting menu. That can then be your default.

— Rob Nelson, Rockstar Games (via Kinda Funny Games)

The short version

GTA VI's combat is being built around choice and believability: free-aim by default with everything tuneable, weapons you visibly carry (and that people react to), meatier recoil, a proper melee block-and-parry, and movement lifted from RDR2 with adjustable pace. Nothing here forces a single playstyle — the recurring theme from Rockstar is "options, options, options."