It’s hard to believe, but after years of waiting, we’re less than a week away from the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. Tons of people are planning to take time off from work or school in order to sink their teeth into Rockstar’s newest adventure. Many of them will be diving headfirst into Jason and Lucia’s story, taking on high-stakes robberies to see how the couple’s ascent through Vice City’s underworld plays out. But for me, the “grand theft auto” of GTA 6 is actually the least intriguing element of 2026’s most anticipated game. I couldn’t care less about shooting people and stealing cars. I’m far more excited to explore the vast, glorious sandbox Rockstar has created.
One of the major draws of Sega’s Yakuza series is that it provides a fantastic virtual tourism experience. When I visited Tokyo for the first time, I walked out of Shinjuku Station and knew exactly where I was, having spent so much time as Kiryu running around the streets of Kamurocho. I’m hoping for a similar kind of experience with GTA 6. I’ve never been to Miami, but I’d like to go someday. Now I can check out all those cool Art Deco buildings and take a fan boat through a swamp without spending IRL money on bottle service. Pound for pound, video games are the cheapest form of vacation out there, and this one’s shaping up to be a doozy.
I’m also looking forward to meeting all the wonderful weirdos Rockstar has crafted to inhabit this dazzling sandbox. One of my favorite elements of Red Dead Redemption 2 was simply talking to people and watching their reactions. If you kick off a fistfight in Valentine’s saloon and get thrown in jail for the night, passerby will scold you and warn you not to “cause trouble” the next few times you visit. My favorite memories of that game have little to do with hunting O’Driscolls — it’s all the dumb shenanigans I bumbled into while ignoring the main campaign, like doing an oopsie and shooting a man when I just wanted to steal his sick raccoon-skin cap, then getting run out of town by multiple lawmen and racking up a hefty bounty as a result of my thieving ways.
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