Overnight, Rockstar confirmed that GTA 6 Trailer 2 was captured “entirely” in-game from a PlayStation 5, putting to bed speculation that the footage looked so good it must have come from a PS5 Pro or a PC. Crucially, Rockstar also confirmed that Trailer 2 is “comprised of equal parts gameplay and cutscenes.”
Taken at face value, Trailer 2 does not appear to feature gameplay, with most of what we see looking like cutscene material. There is now Heads-Up Display (HUD) shown, no controller icons, or any other element that would suggest gameplay is in there.
However, given Rockstar’s statement, we can assume that there is gameplay, just with the HUD turned off and the camera perhaps in a non-gameplay position. So, what bits of Trailer 2 fit the bill? That’s exactly what the GTA community is trying to work out right now.
The most obvious candidate was already flagged as a potential cutscene to gameplay transition moment: when Jason enters his apartment. It seems a safe bet that this is gameplay, and potentially even how players will begin GTA 6.
Elsewhere, redditor OriginalTomato8235 compiled a compilation of what they believe to be gameplay shown in Trailer 2. It includes:
- The sequence where Jason robs a convenience store
- Jason walking out with beer
- Jason driving in what looks like a first-person perspective
- Jason lifting weights on the beach (which players suspect is one of GTA 6’s mini-games)
- Jason firing a gun from inside a moving car
- Lucia’s combat training (another potential mini-game)
- Lucia shooting what looks like a grenade launcher at police cars (the camera is in a third-person perspective here)
- The sequence where we see Jason’s TV from a first-person perspective (this is the shot that includes the fake PS5 and DualSense controllers, and a character who may be Phil Cassidy from Vice City)
- The chopper chase over the swamp
- Jason and Lucia jetskiing
- Jason riding a motorbike
- Jason jumping into a car Lucia is driving
- Jason throwing a guy into a car
That’s a long list (remember, Rockstar said “equal parts”), but what it boils down to is that the gameplay is probably all the bits that aren’t obviously cutscenes. That is, all the bits where a character does not talk.
Trailer 2 is already breaking viewership records but it’s also wowing fans, and the idea that we’re seeing in-engine PS5 gameplay footage here is pretty spectacular. Yes, the HUD is turned off, and yes, Rockstar is positioning the camera in ways players won’t be able to when they finally get to grips with the game in May 2026, but we are getting a realistic look at what to expect next year – and that’s encouraging.
While we wait to find out, we’ve got plenty more on GTA 6, including all the details we’ve discovered so far, a roundup of 70 brand new screenshots, and the expert opinion on how GTA 6 will look on PS5 Pro.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
