GTA 6 is coming, it's official, it's happening. Which means a whole new story to lose ourselves in, a whole new open-world sandbox to explore, a whole new yardstick to compare the third-person-shooter-meets-crime simulator genre against, and a whole new shopping list of virtual crimes to commit in chaotic and explosive style.
The first GTA 6 trailer offered a scant glimpse at all of the above throughout its modest 91-second runtime, and while there's already loads to speculate about, we're sure to have more questions (and hopefully some answers) with whatever Rockstar decides to show us next in the coming weeks and months.
With the longer-term, bigger picture in mind, however, there are some key areas from the existing Grand Theft Auto universe – across GTA 5 and GTA Online – that I'd love to see recharged and reinvigorated with the next long-awaited and much-anticipated installment. To this end, here are three in-game communities that I'd love to see given a new lease of life whenever GTA 6 rolls around in 2025.
The in-game stunt scene
Welcome to Grand Theft Advent – a month-long celebration of Rockstar's enduring crime sim series. Be sure to check in on our GTA 6 coverage hub for more every day throughout December.
Away from the chaos and carnage of the average GTA Online session, one thing that's thoroughly impressed me over the years is the Grand Theft Auto stunting community. Over the last decade, these adventurous adrenaline addicts see the Los Santos sprawl differently from you and me. Where we see a ramp, they see a springboard. Where we see an archway, they see a challenge. Where we see tarmac and airspace, they see a blank canvas upon which to work their magic – the best stunt performers in GTA 5 and GTA Online really are artistic magicians. If you're familiar with my ramblings here at GamesRadar+, you may already know my favorite GTA stunt performer is Ash Skyqueen – a skydiving expert whose airborne acrobatics never fail to stun and amaze.
With the promise of a new playground, filled with platforms and pitfalls ripe for pushing the laws of physics to their limit, I can't wait to see what GTA 6 holds for the Grand Theft Auto stunt scene; and I hope some of those who've retired along the way return to remind us how it's done.
The RP community
By acquiring the one-time fan-run project FiveM, Rockstar has already officially committed itself to GTA's roleplaying community, but how that shapes up in practice moving forward remains to be seen. Much of the game's RP community is hosted on PC (not least FiveM), and so with the news that GTA 6 will launch on consoles and not desktops initially, the wait for something solid in the RP space will almost certainly be extended. I love GTA RP, so I'm personally more than happy to wait, but I also hope Rockstar at least teases something regarding what we might expect at some point pre-2025. Between times, Rockstar and Twitch have announced an official GTA RP Week (with the latter billing the collaboration of its biggest sub-gifting drive ever) – all of which surely bodes well for GTA 6 RP.
The Chain Game
Admittedly, I discovered the GTA community's Chain Game by accident when browsing old GTANet forum posts one rainy Sunday afternoon in late 2021 – but I fell in love with it instantly. In essence, the Chain Game is a pass-the-pad dealio where players share and pick up saves in a bid to 100% complete whatever game they're playing. You can meet the GTA 3 players who've spent a decade playing pass-the-pad to 100% the game, a conversation within which I spoke to GTA Chain Game chief, GTAKid. And while our conversation was centered on Grand Theft Auto 3, various other chain games are still in operation today across the wider GTA series, within which milestones are marked by fun in-game activities, such as modded easter egg hunts. I suspect the Chain Game community will play GTA 6 for fun during its first runthrough, but after that I'm sure the GTA 6 Chain Game will kick off in earnest. I hope it does!
Have we put the best GTA games in the correct order?
