GTA 6 Marketing Reveals New Radio Stations as Major Gameplay Details Emerge Ahead of Potential Leaks

The excitement for Grand Theft Auto 6 continues to build as Rockstar Games intensifies its real-life marketing campaign and more details about the upcoming open-world game come to light. Miami is starting to look like Vise City in real life, with ads, digital billboards, and colorful decorations popping up all over the city. 

The marketing campaign has reportedly spread beyond Miami, with promotional material also appearing in Chicago and starting to appear in Los Angeles. Colors associated with Vise City and GTA 6 have been added to the pillars of the metro station in Miami, while in-game vehicles, cosmetics, locations, Burger Shot, and different clubs are now featured in digital advertisements. 

The real-world advertising blitz is set to continue through the rest of October and into early November.

As more promotional material is released, players might get to learn more about the locations, activities, and other features Rockstar is cooking up for its next big release. The latest ads have already given fans a taste of what to expect from the game’s radio stations, another reason to keep an eye on the ongoing campaign.

Two newly spotted digital billboards have revealed radio stations that the game's promotional material had not previously confirmed. According to reporting from Miami, the advertisements confirm the return of Vice City FM and V-Rock FM. Vice City FM previously appeared in Grand Theft Auto 4, while V-Rock FM originated in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

The return of these stations is just one of a growing list of musical details. Rockstar has already shared this information through its official posts and music announcements. For years, radio stations have been a big part of the Grand Theft Auto experience, setting the tone of each game’s location and providing a soundtrack to cruising around the map. 

Beyond the marketing campaign, additional information has emerged from Bloomberg's cover story on GTA 6. More details regarding his conversations with Rockstar staff have been shared by journalist Jason Schreier, offering an in-depth look at the world, development, and systems that are involved in the game. 

One of the biggest reveals is the number of buildings players will be able to enter and explore.

Rob Nelson, the head of development for GTA 6, told Schreier that players can enter hundreds of interiors during free roam. By comparison, GTA 5 is said to have only about 50 buildings to enter on the entire map, showing that Rockstar has really ramped up the chances for players to get out and explore locations other than just the streets.

The exact number of interiors has not been specified, and it is not known whether the total is 200, 300, 400, or even 500. However, the confirmation suggests that entering buildings will be a much more substantial part of the experience than it was in the previous mainline entry. Earlier information also indicated that buildings featuring helicopter landing pads on their rooftops would be fully accessible, alongside various other structures throughout the map.

These interiors will reportedly include different types of buildings, ranging from smaller locations to larger structures in downtown areas and buildings along the coastline. The variety could make exploration more engaging by giving players additional places to visit while traveling through Vice City and the surrounding areas. 

Another interesting detail concerns the weapon selection system. Schreier's reporting reveals that Rockstar had experimented with an entirely different approach to replacing the traditional weapon wheel but ultimately opted to keep the established system. The decision appears to have been driven by the game’s more grounded approach to weapon carrying, which differs from the massive arsenals players could carry in GTA 5.

In the last game, you could carry multiple rifles, submachine guns, and rocket launchers simultaneously without much thought to how those weapons would be stored in real life. GTA 6 is apparently going to be a bit more conservative, with characters having a rifle and a pistol instead of an essentially infinite arsenal of guns at their disposal. 

The developers apparently solved this issue by allowing other items like masks to take up spots in the weapon wheel in addition to firearms. This method keeps the interface familiar while adding a meaning that goes beyond weapon selection. It also showcases Rockstar’s attempts to find a middle ground between realism and the gameplay conventions players have come to expect from prior entries in the franchise.

Much work has also been done on the roads and environments surrounding the game.

Previous footage showed the streets to be narrower with more traffic, and apparently the developers at Rockstar said these changes were more work on the areas beside the streets. Wider roads mean more room between vehicles and what’s around them, while narrower roads demand denser environments with more detail along sidewalks, buildings, and other roadside areas.

That added density could have a noticeable effect on driving, racing, and police chases. More traffic and buildings competing for space nearby could mean players will need to pay more attention to their surroundings rather than just racing through open roads. Along with bigger interiors and more locations, these environmental details suggest that Rockstar is putting a lot of emphasis into making the world feel more involved during normal gameplay.

The development process, however, has not been without its difficulties. Schreier reported that between 2019 and 2022 Rockstar faced creative battles as the team tried to balance the realism of Red Dead Redemption 2 with the more satirical tone of the Grand Theft Auto series. 

These discussions seem to have influenced the lengthy development timeline, with reports indicating that progress picked up in 2022 and 2023. Although work on the game and its art had been underway for years, many of the major elements reportedly began coming together more recently than some players might expect. 

Art production has also increased dramatically. As Schreier’s reporting points out, GTA 5 had a team of roughly five or six people working on that art production, while GTA 6 has about 65 people in that area. It’s been more than 11 years since some artists started work on the new game, which shows just how long it takes to build its world and visual details.

Rockstar has also reportedly given its artists room to add smaller details without every decision needing to come directly from senior management. Individual developers are able to add features and interactions they think will improve the experience, so unexpected ideas can make it into the final game. 

That creativity could make the launch especially engaging as players start exploring the world themselves.

With so many developers contributing individual ideas, there may be interactions, environmental details, and unusual encounters that have not been highlighted in official marketing. As a player, finding those moments for yourself might make exploration more rewarding, especially if some of the details remain unknown even to people who have worked on the game for years.

But another key development could clarify things before launch. GTA 6 is reportedly nearing gold status, which means the game has a final build ready for release and is prepared for the manufacturing and distribution process. When that happens, the risk of information leaking through achievement and trophy lists becomes more pronounced.

The discussion mentions GTA 5 as an example of how such leaks can happen. About a month before the game’s launch, the Xbox 360 achievements for the game were allegedly leaked, disclosing information that players hadn’t yet learned through official announcements. If something similar happens with GTA 6, its achievement and trophy lists could give clues as to story events, gameplay activities, and other features tied to specific objectives.

Review copies are also reportedly expected to be distributed before the end of October. Schreier's reporting and information attributed to gaming industry sources have brought attention to the possibility that review distribution and the gold milestone could occur around the same period. 

Nevertheless, the possibility of leaks remains speculative, and the information discussed has not confirmed any specific achievement or trophy leak.

Players should therefore treat predictions about potential story revelations as possibilities rather than facts. Even so, the combination of the expected gold milestone and review copies means that achievement lists could become an important source of information before launch.

For now, Rockstar's expanding marketing campaign and the latest development details offer plenty for players to examine. The return of Vice City FM and V-Rock FM provides a nostalgic connection to previous games, while the hundreds of explorable interiors and adjustments to weapon selection suggest meaningful changes to the way the world will function. 

As October winds down, expect Rockstar’s next release to remain in the spotlight with more marketing reveals and information as the game nears its final stages of development. And we might not even have seen the biggest revelations yet, especially as achievement and trophy information comes to light as the game reaches its gold milestone.