He also rejected suggestions that Red Dead Redemption 2 remains Rockstar’s visual high point. “Sorry, guys, you’re wrong. The graphics here beat Red Dead,” he said.
Luke compared the change with the jump from Grand Theft Auto IV to Grand Theft Auto V. Improved hardware and more than a decade of development tools, he argued, should make a substantial upgrade unsurprising.
“The technology has grown by leaps and bounds, so what would make you think it’s not going to be better than those games?” he said. “It’s no diss to those games.”
More than 600,000 animations are doing the work
The numbers support Luke’s focus on movement. Meristation reported that Grand Theft Auto VI contains more than 600,000 animations, compared with roughly 55,000 in GTA V and 300,000 in Red Dead Redemption 2.
Rockstar’s animation system reportedly adapts movement for non-player characters with different heights, weights and body types. That matters in a crowded open world, where hundreds of people moving in exactly the same way would quickly expose the machinery underneath. Vice City apparently intends to hide that machinery with an enormous amount of human work.
AS also reported that Rockstar rejected generative AI for this animation pipeline, relying instead on human-created performances and animation. In an industry currently eager to attach artificial intelligence to almost any production problem, making more than 600,000 animations by hand is not the cheaper or simpler option. It is, however, a fairly direct explanation for why Luke noticed the walking before anything else.
The presentation also showed systems associated with Red Dead Redemption 2, including versions of Dead Eye and the Honor system. Fans have meanwhile examined Vice City for references and believe they have spotted a Dexter Easter egg, because no Rockstar trailer is permitted to remain merely watched.
Technical analysis largely backs Luke’s reaction
Rockstar says the 26-minute presentation was captured entirely in-game on a standard PlayStation 5. Digital Foundry described it as “perhaps the most impressive showcase we’ve ever seen in real-time rendering,” praising its lighting, character detail, crowd density and broader world simulation.
Tom’s Guide similarly found few obvious compromises in the standard-console footage. Digital Foundry estimated that the game was running near 1440p at a largely stable 30 frames per second, with extensive ray-traced effects contributing to the image.
That detail brings the inevitable qualification. Digital Foundry considers 60fps unlikely on current consoles, and believes achieving that performance could also prove genuinely difficult on PC. Rockstar appears to be prioritising dense environments, detailed animation and advanced lighting over a higher frame rate. The city may look remarkably alive, but it will probably not do so at 60 frames per second on launch hardware.
Some viewers remain unconvinced. Reddit users have described the presentation as “GTA 5 Part 2,” argued that its mechanical changes do not look revolutionary, and said the leap from Red Dead Redemption 2 seems smaller than the one between GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. The narrowing gap is understandable. Once games already look highly realistic, improvements tend to appear in lighting, motion and simulation rather than a single dramatic upgrade.
Rockstar has nearly 230 million reasons to be careful
Take-Two Interactive says GTA V has shipped nearly 230 million copies. Its successor therefore carries commercial expectations normally reserved for very few entertainment releases, and perhaps several national economies.
Netflix executive Brandon Riegg called anticipation for Grand Theft Auto VI “unprecedented” when announcing the presentation’s six-hour exclusivity window on the streaming service. The arrangement also showed how far the franchise has expanded beyond ordinary game marketing.
Rockstar currently lists Grand Theft Auto VI for release on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The company has not announced a PC release date or explained its plans for an online mode.
For now, Luke’s case rests less on screenshots than on how Vice City moves. Faces, reflections and palm trees are easy to compare in isolation. Hundreds of individually animated residents behaving like people rather than coordinated mannequins may prove to be the more meaningful generational change.
