Rockstar Games Reveals Big Changes to Cops in GTA 6

The police in GTA 6, compared to GTA 5, have been completely overhauled, which needed to happen. The police and wanted system in GTA 5 is classic, but it’s also dated. This makes sense because GTA 5 itself is dated. We got a taste of what a GTA 6 wanted system could look and be like via Red Dead Redemption 2, but even that is eight years old and less integral to the experience compared to a GTA game. Unsurprisingly, even compared to RDR2, the law enforcement and wanted system is hugely upgraded in GTA 6.

We knew this was coming, but now we have the details. What we now know is there are four different types of wanted stars: solid white, flashing white, hollow, and red. The solid white appears when the police have a direct line of sight on you and are in active pursuit. Flashing white, meanwhile, indicates that the police are actively pursuing you, but you have broken the line of sight. To this end, you are potentially in the process of losing them.

Then there are red stars, which indicate to the player that the cops have been lost, but you are still in the active “heat zone,” the general area where the crime was committed, aka where the police are searching for you. If you manage to get all the way up to six stars, this heat zone is literally the entire map. Lastly, there are hollow stars, which means a crime has been reported, but the police have not identified you as responsible for it.

More Details

There’s more. This is just the stars. There will now also be icons underneath the stars with more information. As of right now, we know of five icons: a gun icon, an identity icon, a clothing icon, a couple icon, and a camera icon. The gun icon, when present, tells the player the police have identified the weapon used. The identity icon lets the player know they have identified you as the criminal. The clothing icon means they have identified the clothing of the suspect. The couple icon means they have identified both protagonists. And the camera icon means you have been spotted by a CCTV camera. Players will need to deal with these icons. How they will go about this remains to be seen.

The icons, in particular, sound complex. On face value, it sounds like it’s going to be harder for the police to identify you as the suspect, but harder to lose them if they do. Not too dissimilar from RDR2, and more importantly, much more like real life. And Rockstar Games loves its immersion and realism far more than when it made GTA 5. Speaking of GTA 5, Rockstar Games has confirmed one thing that is returning from the previous game: and that’s a specific character.

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