GTA 6's Tiny Details: From Horse Testicles to Narrow Roads

Ever wonder what goes into making a game like GTA 6 feel alive? According to a new video from reporter Jason Schreier, Rockstar is packing the upcoming crime epic with tons of small details—and yes, that includes the next evolution of Red Dead Redemption II's infamous horse testicle physics.

Schreier shared what he learned from interviewing Rockstar, and one big takeaway is that GTA 6's roads are "significantly" narrower than GTA 5's—on purpose. Rockstar's Aaron Garbut told Schreier that this was planned from the start, leading to denser traffic scenarios for players to navigate. If you've played GTA 5, you know some roads are wide open, letting you zip around like an action movie. GTA 6 will still let you do that, but the narrower roads created "ripple effects" for the game overall, as Garbut put it: "All these things come back to bite you later." The team had to create more buildings and elements to accommodate the change.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing. Schreier said Rockstar faced "dark" times between 2019 and 2022, thanks to COVID and the challenge of determining how realistic they wanted GTA 6 to be. Finding the balance between realism and the arcade-style fun GTA is known for caused some internal tension, Schreier said. Around that time, Rockstar's Rob Nelson told Schreier the studio considered making the weapon system more realistic, limiting players to a set number of weapons. They spent "months if not years" experimenting with designs to evolve or replace the traditional weapon wheel, but ultimately decided to stick with the familiar setup.

Another interesting tidbit: according to Garbut, there's "no one person that has this whole thing in their head" when it comes to GTA 6. Individual developers are given autonomy to add small details that colleagues might not even know about. Schreier pointed to Red Dead Redemption II's horse testicle system—where testicles would shrink or expand based on the weather—as an example. That was never on a features list or requested by a director; someone or a team came up with it on their own. Schreier said GTA 6 will have its own version of this, with developers inserting granular details that might otherwise go unnoticed.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It's expected to be a huge commercial hit, already tracking ahead of other big AAA games. With all these tiny details, it sounds like Rockstar is aiming to create a world that feels incredibly immersive. What small detail are you most excited to discover in GTA 6? Let us know in the comments!