Revision 18

Overview

Grand Theft Auto VI has a redesigned combat system. What is known about it comes from the official trailers, the August 2026 Extended Look showcase and previews around it. The changes affect how weapons are carried, selected and noticed by bystanders, and how players engage with enemies in vehicles, on foot, and in stealth, with an emphasis on more tactical, grounded confrontations.

The combat system is closely integrated with other gameplay mechanics, including the wanted system, character switching and the interaction system. Non-lethal options sit inside ordinary gunfights: shooting an enemy in the arm or leg can take them out of a fight without killing them.

Weapon Wheel and Inventory

The Extended Look showed the weapon wheel flipping over to a second wheel of clothing and items, used on screen to put on a mask before a store robbery.

Carry Limits

GTA VI limits how many weapons players can have on their person at any given time. Rockstar North's Rob Nelson has reportedly said players can carry two handguns and two long guns at once. The handguns are carried concealed, while the long guns are visible, one in hand and one on the back, and pedestrians and police react to a weapon that is on show; a concealment animation plays before entering a store. Additional weapons are not lost; instead, they are stored in the player's vehicle trunk and can be swapped at any time by returning to the vehicle.

The carry limit encourages players to think strategically about their loadout before entering a mission or confrontation, rather than having immediate access to an entire arsenal at all times.

Shooting Mechanics

The core shooting mechanics have been refined with improved weapon handling, recoil patterns, and hit feedback. Each weapon category has distinct characteristics that affect accuracy, rate of fire, and recoil behavior.

Vehicle Combat

Vehicle combat has been substantially expanded. The improvements affect both the player's ability to fight from vehicles and the variety of combat scenarios involving cars, trucks, and boats.

Shooting from Vehicles

Trailer 2 shows Jason firing a pistol out of a car window, Lucia firing a grenade launcher from the back of a moving bus at pursuing police vehicles, and Lucia shooting at a police helicopter from a speedboat.

Vehicle Combat Features

Stealth and Non-Lethal Options

Players can crouch to reduce their visibility and noise profile, allowing them to approach enemies or bypass encounters without triggering full combat. The Extended Look added non-lethal takedowns inside gunfights: a limb shot can take an enemy out of the fight, and the aiming reticle shows red for a kill and yellow otherwise, giving a live readout of lethality.

Mechanics Not Confirmed

Several mechanics often listed among the game's combat features trace to leaked 2022 development footage rather than to Rockstar's official material: zip-tie restraints, using NPCs as human shields, surrendering to the police, a prone stance, switching the firing hand, dedicated weapon pickup animations, carrying or looting bodies, firing while swimming, a tabbed weapon wheel cycled with the shoulder buttons, standing up to shoot through a car window, and firing from a pickup truck's bed. This wiki does not treat them as confirmed. The non-lethal options shown in official material are the limb shots and reticle feedback described above.

Focus

The Extended Look showed a single Focus meter that drives a slow-motion state during gunfights, with vitals highlighting that marks a killshot in red and a disarming shot in yellow. Outside gunfights, Focus also reveals nearby objects and pursuing police. Rockstar has not said whether Focus works differently for Jason and Lucia.

Shown in the Extended Look

The August 2026 showcase put several combat details on screen for the first time.

• Weapons carry manufacturer brands and model numbers rather than generic class names; a Moreland 850 Shotgun is named on screen when Jason picks it up off the floor.

• Some close-quarters struggles resolve through an on-screen choice between two buttons, including an escape for Lucia that ends with a heel to an assailant's face.

• Walls break under force: during the police raid, one of Raymond's associates drives an officer through a wall.

• No first-person mode was shown; first-person framing appears only down a weapon scope.

Stealth Mechanics Summary

Key Facts