GTA 6 Complete Guide: Release Date, Map, Cast, Price

This GTA 6 complete guide is the entry point for everything we've confirmed about Grand Theft Auto VI, Rockstar's next mainline entry and the most-watched game announcement of the decade. This site went years without covering it: GTA and Rockstar Games sat on our AAA blacklist because generic keywords in this space are already owned by dedicated fan mega-sites and every major outlet on earth. That's still true for "release date" and "map" searches. It's a deliberate exception for one reason: once the game ships on November 19, there's a real window for specific, well-researched guides before the giants' own long-tail coverage catches up. This hub is the anchor page for that plan, kept current as real news breaks rather than padded with speculation.

TL;DR: GTA 6 releases November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (no PC date yet), set in Leonida/Vice City with protagonists Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval. Standard Edition is $79.99, Ultimate Edition $99.99. Two official trailers and a 26-minute gameplay "Extended Look" are out; heist gameplay and character-switching are confirmed, but Rockstar hasn't detailed a full mission or progression system yet.

Key takeaways

• Release date confirmed: November 19, 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. No PC date has been announced.
• Setting: Leonida, a fictional Florida analog, built around Vice City. Rockstar has called it the studio's largest and most detailed world to date.
• Protagonists: Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval, playable individually or with character-switching during missions and heists.
• Price: $79.99 Standard Edition, $99.99 Ultimate Edition, per official PlayStation Store and Xbox listings.
• What's confirmed vs. rumored: heists, character switching, and seat-swapping while driving are confirmed via official trailers. Full mission structure, DLC plans, and online mode details are not yet detailed by Rockstar.

Current status: September 2026

As of this hub's last update, GTA 6 is roughly eight weeks from launch. Pre-orders are live on both the PlayStation Store and Xbox, and Rockstar's official GTA VI site (rockstargames.com/VI) has posted a fresh batch of screenshots and wallpapers alongside the Extended Look gameplay reveal that aired via Netflix. No delay has been announced since the November 19 date was set, and reporting across major outlets describes the date as locked in. This section will be the first thing updated if that changes, so check the updatedAt date above before treating anything here as current if you're reading this close to launch.

This is the same discipline this site already applies to its other large, fast-moving clusters. Our Valheim complete guide hub and Palworld complete guide hub both work the same way: one anchor page kept current, with leaf guides added only once a claim can be verified rather than guessed at.

What is GTA 6? (quick answer)

GTA 6 is Rockstar Games' next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, an open-world crime game following two protagonists, Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval, across the fictional state of Leonida. It releases November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Like every mainline GTA game, it centers on a large open world, a mix of story missions and heists, and side activities layered on top of a living city and countryside.

Leonida and Vice City: the map

Leonida is Rockstar's fictional stand-in for Florida, and the series' returning setting of Vice City sits at its center as a modern take on the Miami the studio first built for the original Vice City in 2002. Rockstar's own marketing describes the map as spanning multiple counties beyond the city itself, mixing dense urban blocks with coastline, swampland, and smaller towns. Official screenshots released alongside the game's downloads page show a neon-lit Vice City skyline, a beachfront amusement pier, and a mix of high-rise condos and strip-mall sprawl consistent with a modern Florida setting rather than a direct GTA V retread.

Beyond Vice City itself, official trailers and promotional material have shown several other named regions within Leonida: Leonida Keys (a chain of islands with visible marine life like sea turtles), Grassrivers (a wetland area with swamps, mangroves, airboats, and alligators, clearly modeled on Florida's Everglades), Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kal. Footage across both trailers also shows a dynamic weather system with storm fronts and dramatic lighting shifts, consistent with Florida's own weather patterns rather than the more static skies of GTA V's Los Santos.

A precise map size hasn't come from Rockstar directly. Outlets that have compared trailer footage and promotional screenshots against GTA V's known map dimensions have estimated Leonida at roughly 2.4 to 2.7 times larger, but that's an analysis by third parties, not a number Rockstar has published, and this hub treats it accordingly. Exact county boundaries and a full location-by-location breakdown aren't something Rockstar has detailed in a form we can verify yet. Any specific claim beyond what's listed above is coming from unofficial leaks or fan reconstructions, not an official source, and won't be stated as fact on this site until Rockstar confirms it directly.

Lucia and Jason: the protagonists

Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval are GTA 6's dual protagonists, a couple whose relationship and criminal partnership drive the story. Rockstar's second official trailer expanded on both characters: Lucia was shown in a prison-release opening sequence, while Jason's introduction leaned into a more volatile, on-the-run tone. The two live together in a Vice City apartment according to official trailer breakdowns of confirmed story beats.

Lucia Caminos in an official Rockstar screenshot, one of the quieter, in-between moments shown alongside the game's more action-heavy trailer footage.

Jason Duval mid-standoff in an official Rockstar screenshot, consistent with the volatile, on-the-run tone of his introduction in Trailer 2.

Gameplay-wise, Rockstar has confirmed players can switch between Jason and Lucia during missions and heists, including mid-mission, whether parachuting into an objective or robbing a location. When one character isn't under direct control, they act autonomously as an AI partner during robberies and shootouts. The pair can also call or text each other for support and swap seats while driving together, based on details Rockstar has shown across its official trailers.

GODEEPER: Looking for other games built around co-op heists and character-switching play? Best Co-op Games to Play Right Now (September 2026) →

Confirmed features and mechanics

The clearest gameplay confirmation so far is a full bank heist at a location Rockstar's trailer identifies as Sinfrontera National Bank in downtown Vice City, shown with both Jason and Lucia participating. Beyond that specific sequence, Rockstar has not detailed how heists function as a system: whether there's a planning phase, crew hiring, approach selection, or anything resembling the heist structure from GTA Online. Treat any specific claim about heist mechanics beyond "Jason and Lucia can pull off heists together, with character-switching" as unconfirmed until Rockstar says otherwise.

Other confirmed details drawn directly from official trailers and the Extended Look gameplay reveal:

• Character switching works during missions and heists, not just in free roam.
• An AI-controlled partner acts independently in combat and robbery scenarios when you're not switched to them.
• Jason and Lucia can call or text each other, and swap driver/passenger seats mid-drive.
• The world includes wildlife and weather systems consistent with a modern Rockstar open world, shown across both trailers' Florida-swampland and coastal footage.

What hasn't been confirmed: the online/multiplayer structure for this entry, DLC or expansion plans, a full mission count, or any specifics on customization, property ownership, or progression systems. Guides claiming exact numbers for any of these before Rockstar publishes them are guessing, not reporting. If character-switching heists are the specific hook that's got you interested, our best indie co-op games roundup covers smaller titles built around the same kind of team-based crime and heist play while you wait for launch.

Price, editions, and platforms

GTA 6 launches at $79.99 for the Standard Edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition, per official PlayStation Store and Xbox storefront listings. Both editions are available for pre-order now and ship day-and-date on November 19, 2026. The launch platforms are PS5 and Xbox Series X|S exclusively; Rockstar has not announced a PC version. Every prior mainline Rockstar release (GTA V, Red Dead Redemption 2) eventually reached PC after a console-exclusive window, which is why most reporting expects the same pattern here, but that's an inference from history, not a confirmed date, and this hub won't treat it as one.

GODEEPER: If you're building out a launch-week watchlist beyond GTA 6, see how this site has covered another massive, fast-moving launch from day one through its post-release patches. WARDOGS Complete Guide →

The trailers so far: what each one actually revealed

Two official trailers and one extended gameplay reveal are out as of this update, and each one broke its own viewership record on release, which is part of why GTA 6 coverage is so hard to separate from hype. Here's what each one specifically showed, not just how big the numbers got.

Trailer 1 (December 4, 2023): originally scheduled for December 5, Rockstar moved the release up a day after a low-quality leaked version started circulating roughly 16 hours early. The official cut ran 1 minute 31 seconds, was posted YouTube-exclusive, and introduced Leonida, Vice City, and Lucia Caminos for the first time, alongside a broad "2025" release window. It hit around 93 million views in its first 24 hours, at the time the most-watched non-music video in YouTube's history.

Trailer 2 (May 6, 2025): released less than a week after Rockstar confirmed a delay that pushed the release date from the original 2025 window to May 26, 2026 (itself later than what eventually became the current, locked-in November 19, 2026 date). Trailer 2 expanded on both protagonists, showed the Sinfrontera National Bank heist sequence, and pulled in roughly 475 million views across platforms in 24 hours, which Rockstar itself described as the biggest video launch of all time by first-day views, gaming or otherwise.

Extended Look (2026): a roughly 26-minute gameplay reveal captured on PS5, aired via Netflix rather than a standard YouTube premiere. This is the source for most of the specific gameplay confirmations in this hub: character switching during missions, AI partner behavior, and the seat-swapping and call/text systems between Jason and Lucia.

Each of these has moved the release date conversation in a different direction, first delaying it, then eventually settling on the current date. If a fourth reveal lands before November 19, this section is the first place it'll be added.

Release countdown and what's still unconfirmed

With roughly eight weeks left before launch, expect Rockstar's marketing cadence to pick up: more screenshots, a likely third trailer or extended gameplay segment, and eventually a season pass or edition-comparison breakdown if one exists. This site's plan for the run-up to launch is to update this hub on a tight schedule as real news lands, rather than publish speculative "everything we know" content that dozens of dedicated GTA sites already cover in more depth than we can add value to.

What we're explicitly not going to do before November 19: publish a mission list, a full map breakdown, a weapon or vehicle roster, or an achievement guide. None of that can be verified from trailers, and inventing it to fill a page would be exactly the kind of fabrication this site's own research standards exist to prevent. Once the game is out and those systems can be checked directly, that's where the real content plan for this cluster begins, covering the same kind of specific, high-effort guides this site already builds for its other large clusters.

All GTA 6 guides on this site

This is the first article in the GTA 6 cluster. As launch-week and post-launch guides publish, they'll be linked here by topic: map and location guides, heist and mission walkthroughs, character and story guides, and anything else that clears this site's usual fact-verification bar for a game that's actually out and playable.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does GTA 6 release? November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar has not announced a PC release date; most reporting expects it roughly a year after the console launch, based on past Rockstar release patterns, not an official confirmation.

What is GTA 6 called and where is it set? Grand Theft Auto VI is set in Leonida, a fictional analog of Florida, centered on Vice City (Miami). Rockstar has described it as the largest and most detailed map the studio has built.

Who are the main characters in GTA 6? Dual protagonists Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval, a couple pulled into Florida's criminal underworld together. Players can switch between them during missions and heists, including AI-controlled partner behavior when playing solo.

How much does GTA 6 cost? The Standard Edition is $79.99 and the Ultimate Edition is $99.99, per official PlayStation Store and Xbox listings. Both editions launch day-and-date on November 19, 2026.

Is GTA 6 coming to PC? Not at launch. The November 19, 2026 release covers PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only. Rockstar hasn't announced a PC version or date; every past Rockstar console-first release has eventually come to PC, but that pattern isn't a confirmation.

Can you play as both Jason and Lucia in the same heist? Yes. Rockstar's second trailer showed both protagonists together in a bank heist at Sinfrontera National Bank, with players able to swap characters mid-mission. When one is AI-controlled, they act autonomously during robberies and shootouts.

Related Reading

• Best Co-op Games to Play Right Now (September 2026): for readers who want character-switching, heist-style co-op play before GTA 6 ships.
• Best Indie Co-op Games (Steam Summer Sale 2026): smaller team-based crime and heist games with a similar hook.
• WARDOGS Complete Guide: another large-scale, launch-heavy game this site tracks closely from day one through post-launch patches.
• Valheim Complete Guide Hub: an example of this site's anchor-hub-plus-leaf-guides model applied to a long-running live game.
• Palworld Complete Guide Hub: another major launch this site built a full guide cluster around once the game was actually out.
• Mortal Shell II Complete Guide Hub: a smaller-scale example of the same hub-first approach applied right from a game's first week.
• Slay the Spire 2 Complete Guide Hub: another cluster built the same way, from a single anchor page outward as real content gets researched.
• Sunderfolk Complete Guide Hub: a co-op-focused hub with the same structure, useful if you're comparing how this site handles different genres.
• Abiotic Factor Complete Guide Hub: one more example of this site building a cluster around real gameplay data rather than pre-launch guesswork.

References

• Grand Theft Auto VI official site (Rockstar Games)
• GTA VI downloads and media kit (Rockstar Games)
• GTA 6 Trailer 2 (official Rockstar Games YouTube channel)