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Trailers
April 5, 2026 at 07:52 AM
Added Trailer 1/2 breakdowns, view count records, confirmed songs table, and awards section
As of early 2026, Rockstar Games has released two official trailers for Grand Theft Auto VI. Both generated record-breaking viewership and revealed significant details about the game's setting, characters, and tone.
The first trailer was scheduled for December 4, 2023, but leaked on December 4, prompting Rockstar to release it officially the same day. It runs approximately 90 seconds and is set to "Love Is a Long Road" by Tom Petty. The song saw a roughly 37,000% increase in Spotify streams within 24 hours of the trailer's release.
The trailer became the most-viewed non-music video on YouTube in its first 24 hours, surpassing 90 million views in that period. It marked the first official reveal of GTA VI's gameplay footage, setting, and protagonists.
Reveal | Details |
|---|---|
Setting | The state of Leonida, a fictional Florida, with Vice City (fictional Miami) as the primary urban hub. |
Dual protagonists | A man and a woman, later confirmed as Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos. Lucia was shown behind bars and later free, suggesting a prison backstory. |
Modern-day time period | Contemporary cars, smartphones, social media apps, and modern fashion confirm a present-day setting. |
Social media culture | NPCs were shown filming events on their phones, posting to in-game social media platforms. |
Alligators roaming through suburban neighborhoods and swimming pools. | |
Vice City's neon nightlife | Sweeping aerial shots of a neon-lit Art Deco cityscape. |
The second trailer was released on May 6, 2025, five days after Rockstar announced the first delay (pushing the game from Fall 2025 to May 26, 2026). It runs nearly three minutes and is set to "Hot Together" by The Pointer Sisters, with additional music including "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" by Wang Chung. For the full soundtrack details, see that article.
Rockstar confirmed that all footage in Trailer 2 was "Captured on PS5." The trailer received over 475 million views across all platforms within its first 24 hours, surpassing the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer as the biggest cross-platform video launch of all time.
Reveal | Details |
|---|---|
Full character names | Rockstar's accompanying website update confirmed "Jason Duval" and "Lucia Caminos" with written backstories. |
Supporting cast | Profiles for Brian Heder, Cal Hampton, Boobie Ike, Raul Bautista, Dre'Quan Priest, Bae-Luxe, and Roxy (Real Dimez) were published. |
Corrupt cop | An unnamed police officer conducting backroom deals, delivering the line "Us cops gotta stick together." |
Vice City in detail | Extended footage of city districts, nightlife, beaches, and commercial areas. |
TheLeonida Keys | Jason's starting location, showing island living with boats and bars. |
Gameplay details | Weapon carrying limits visible (weapons stored in vehicle trunks), MMA cage fighting, gym workouts, kayaking, fishing, and diving. |
Vehicleinteriors | Detailed dashboards with working mirrors and instruments. |
70 screenshots | Released alongside the trailer on the official website. |
The first trailer, released on December 5, 2023, runs approximately ninety seconds and is set to Tom Petty's 1989 track "Love Is a Long Road" from the album Full Moon Fever. The trailer opens with social media-style footage of Vice City life, including beachgoers, nightclub scenes, and street activity, before introducing protagonists Lucia and Jason in a montage of criminal activity, car chases, and intimate moments. Key scenes include Lucia's release from Leonida Penitentiary, a highway chase along Interstate 404, racing dirt bikes in traffic, speedboat sequences in the Leonida Keys, and the pair sharing a quiet moment overlooking the Vice City skyline.
The song's opening lyric, "There was a girl I knew," directly parallels the trailer's introduction of Lucia as the franchise's first female protagonist. Tom Petty's track saw a 36,979% increase on Spotify streams following the trailer's release, nearly 250,000 Shazam searches, and reached second place on the worldwide iTunes chart.
Trailer 1 set the Guinness World Record for the most-viewed video game trailer in 24 hours, accumulating 90,421,491 YouTube views within the first day. This record-breaking performance shattered three separate Guinness records simultaneously. The trailer was leaked approximately 16 hours before its scheduled release, yet still achieved record numbers once the official version went live.
The second trailer, released on May 6, 2025, runs nearly three minutes and features The Pointer Sisters' 1986 track "Hot Together" as its primary soundtrack. Additional music includes Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island" (1977), Zenglen's "Child Support" (a kompa track reflecting Caribbean rhythms), and Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" playing on an in-game car radio. The inclusion of "Hot Together" triggered a 182,000% increase in Spotify streams for the song.
The trailer showcases significantly more gameplay and story detail than its predecessor. It opens with Jason driving through Leonida, passing road signs for Ambrosia, Downtown, VCI Airport, and Southside. Scenes include Jason lifting weights on a beach (suggesting the return of RPG-style fitness mechanics from GTA San Andreas), the Sahara Arena entertainment complex in Downtown Vice City, and a Phil's Ammu-Nation commercial showcasing a reimagined version of Phil Cassidy. The trailer also revealed the release date of May 26, 2026, alongside 70 official screenshots and character bios published on Rockstar's updated website.
A bearded police officer delivers the line, "Us cops, we gotta protect each other," hinting at a corrupt law enforcement subplot. Other notable details include the Real Dimez rap duo performing, expanded drive-by shooting from multiple vehicle positions, and underwater exploration sequences. The trailer's final moments show Lucia and Jason at different emotional registers, suggesting a relationship under significant strain.
Trailer 2 accumulated over 475 million views across all platforms (YouTube, X/Twitter, and TikTok) within its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-growing video launch in internet history. On X alone, the trailer registered 78.7 million views, while YouTube accounted for approximately 58 million in the first day. Within two hours of release, it had already broken multiple YouTube engagement records, reaching 19 million views, 312,000 comments, and 3 million likes in just four hours.
On YouTube specifically, Trailer 2's 24-hour total of roughly 69 million views fell short of the 90.4 million record set by Trailer 1. Analysts attribute this to the multi-platform fragmentation of viewership, with X and TikTok absorbing a larger share in 2025 than in 2023. Despite this, the combined cross-platform total far exceeded any previous entertainment trailer debut. As of mid-2025, Trailer 2's total YouTube views surpassed the entire 13-year lifetime view count of the first GTA V trailer.
Song | Artist | Year | Trailer | Streaming Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Love Is a Long Road | Tom Petty | 1989 | Trailer 1 | 36,979% Spotify increase; #2 worldwide iTunes |
Hot Together | The Pointer Sisters | 1986 | Trailer 2 (main) | 182,000% Spotify increase |
Thunder Island | Jay Ferguson | 1977 | Trailer 2 | Significant streaming boost |
Child Support | Zenglen | N/A | Trailer 2 | Introduced to wider audience |
Everybody Have Fun Tonight | Wang Chung | 1986 | Trailer 2 (car radio) | Renewed streaming interest |
The trailers have earned GTA VI significant pre-release recognition. The game won Most Anticipated Game at The Game Awards in both 2024 and 2025, making it one of only a handful of titles to win the award in consecutive years. At the 2024 ceremony, it beat Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yotei, Metroid Prime 4, and Monster Hunter Wilds.
At the Golden Joystick Awards 2025, GTA VI earned two prizes: Most Wanted Game (for the second consecutive year) and Best Game Trailer for Trailer 2. The Most Wanted vote was remarkably close, with GTA VI holding just a two-percent lead over The Witcher 4 out of more than 21 million total votes. Rockstar joined an exclusive group alongside Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 as the only games to win Most Wanted at the Golden Joysticks in back-to-back years. Notably, no Rockstar representative attended either ceremony to accept the awards.
Detail | Trailer 1 | Trailer 2 |
|---|---|---|
Release date | December 4, 2023 | May 6, 2025 |
Length | ~90 seconds | ~3 minutes |
Music | Tom Petty, "Love Is a Long Road" | Pointer Sisters, "Hot Together"; Wang Chung |
24-hour views | 90+ million | 475+ million |
Platform shown | Not specified | Confirmed PS5 footage |
Character names | Not named | |
Accompanying materials | None | 70 screenshots, character profiles |
