GTA 6 Roads Are Narrower Than GTA 5's, and the Weapon Wheel Almost Didn't Survive

Jason Schreier isn't done with Rockstar North. On October 19, 2026, the Bloomberg reporter published a YouTube video packed with notes that didn't fit into his making-of feature, and two details stand out for anyone planning to drive or fight their way across Leonida: GTA 6's roads are much tighter than GTA 5's, and the weapon wheel very nearly got cut. IGN and MP1st both picked up the quotes.

If you missed the original Bloomberg story, our breakdown of why GTA 6 took eight years covers the big picture.

Narrower roads, denser traffic

According to MP1st, art director Aaron Garbut told Schreier the roads in GTA 6 are "significantly narrower" than in GTA 5. Schreier admitted he hadn't noticed until the developers pointed it out.

The reasoning is realism. GTA 5's wide Los Santos boulevards made it easy to weave past cars at full speed, which felt closer to a racing game than to real Los Angeles traffic. For GTA 6, Rockstar settled on tighter streets and heavier traffic from the very start of development.

That choice had a cost. Narrower roads meant far more buildings to fill the space, and Garbut warned that "all these things sort of come to bite you later." What it means for players:

• Getaways should be harder, with less room to slip through gaps in traffic.
• Police chases could feel more chaotic and more claustrophobic.
• The city should feel more packed with buildings, which fits Rockstar's recent push on the real streets of Miami.

The weapon wheel that wouldn't die

Development lead Rob Nelson said Rockstar always wanted GTA 6's arsenal to work more like Red Dead Redemption 2: a limited loadout instead of a bottomless pocket holding a rocket launcher, every rifle and a few grenades.

That created a design headache. As IGN reports, the team worried that a classic wheel full of empty slots would constantly remind players what they couldn't carry. Rockstar then spent "months, if not years, trying a million different things," including trays, webs and other UI layouts. At one point there was no wheel at all, Polygon notes. After all that, the team went back to a weapon wheel, and that's the version shown in GTA 6 footage so far.

Police now need a witness

The tighter streets also tie into a smarter police system. ET Now, citing Nelson's comments to IGN around Rockstar's August 27 Extended Look, reports that:

• Police respond only after a crime is witnessed or triggers an alarm.
• The wanted meter goes back up to six stars (GTA 5 capped it at five).
• A new "hollow" star means cops know a crime happened but don't know who did it.

Rockstar hasn't explained what the sixth star brings.

What's next

• November 19, 2026: GTA 6 launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. No PC date has been announced.
• Rockstar says the game hasn't gone gold yet, so expect more official details in the final month. Catch up on the launch trailer in the meantime.