The release of a new Grand Theft Auto game is always met with a barrage of sales records and awards. GTA 5 garnered $800 million in its first day, a record still unbeaten to this day. GTA 6 is projected to perform just as well, if not better than that. Early signs of success include the GTA 6 reveal trailer breaking the Guinness World Record for the most viewed video game reveal in the first 24 hours with a staggering 96 million views in the first day. Rockstar’s last magnum opus broke numerous records too, with Red Dead Redemption 2 winning game of the year and becoming the second best-selling game in its first week. What we’ll explore here though goes beyond mere sales, diving into each of Rockstar’s latest games and how well their gameplay mechanics and story stack up. Join us as we explore the million-dollar question: can GTA 6 surpass Red Dead Redemption 2?
Games are meant to be played and it’s in this area where GTA 6 shows tremendous potential to outdo RDR 2. Everyone knows how remarkably realistic and sim-like RDR 2 is, but that severe attention to detail occasionally resulted in fussy and irritating gameplay. Arthur Morgan feels weighty, and at times, unwieldy to control. Accenting the basic control weightiness is the laundry list of animations you must wait to finish before moving on from a basic action.
Yes, a lot of these luxurious animations are tied to optional content like fishing to an extent, but core mechanics like upgrading equipment and looting are a lengthy process that must be patiently endured before moving on. By contrast, GTA 5 feels snappy and immediate with its character control. While there are animations tied to many actions, they’re much shorter in GTA 5 than in RDR 2. It’s a genuine possibility that Rockstar could give GTA 6 the painstaking RDR 2 animation treatment regarding actions but based on past GTA games and its identity as a more arcade style gameplay experience, it’s unlikely GTA 6 will go the route of RDR 2. Further, GTA 5 is generally regarded as the best Rockstar game from a gunplay standpoint. By comparison, RDR 2 guns feel less immediate thanks to the realistic depiction of how firearms operated in 1899. Many fans prefer the ultra-realistic approach of RDR 2, but in terms of basic gameplay fun, GTA 6 will likely surpass it by a wide margin.
While we’re on the topic of pure fun factor, it’s hard to top GTA’s vehicles. The driving mechanics and vehicle variety is so good in GTA 5 that it’s generally considered a driving game in its own right, even among racing enthusiasts. Now, it’s true that GTA 5’s car handling is more arcady and forgiving than GTA 4’s, but the loose floatiness of GTA 4‘s cars thankfully got replaced by stiffer suspension and an emphasis on grip in GTA 5. And then there’s the boatload of driving upgrades and mods, which further enhance handling to fit your preference. GTA vehicles also feel distinct from one another. Each car has a bespoke exhaust note, different handling characteristics and stats, and a unique cockpit perspective to enjoy. Red Dead Redemption 2 takes place in the Wild West during the turn of the 20th Century, so transportation is understandably much slower. Many joke that 70% of any Rockstar game is driving vehicles or riding horses and there’s a grain of truth to such a sentiment.
RDR 2’s horses are realistically portrayed. Almost everyone who’s played RDR 2 knows the dreaded sensation of seeing their mount falling off the edge of a cliff due to an unwieldy horse or imprecise input response. The horse bond system is immersive and fun, but even at full bond rank, you can’t control horses with absolute precision like with GTA 5’s cars; horses are living creatures after all, and they react with a mind of their own. Travelling across GTA 6’s map is almost certainly going to be more exciting and variable than the traversal within RDR 2. We’ve already seen dozens of familiar vehicles in the GTA 6 trailer and cannot wait to see the full roster of cars, boats, and planes when the game releases in 2025.
Vehicles aren’t the only modernized aspect that GTA can take advantage of, though. The current-day time period gives Rockstar a tremendous degree of creative freedom within every facet of GTA 6. Take social media as an example; the GTA 6 trailer showcases a bunch of crazy events broadcasting on the smartphones of numerous characters. This could be a groundbreaking feature akin to the character swapping that GTA 5 experimented with. Imagine your antics in Vice City being broadcast through in-game news feeds and social media posts. Even if it’s just relegated to story stuff, the potential for a social media mechanic allows for greater immersion into the world and allows for a fun way to receive exposition. But the presence of internet and social media is only the tip of the iceberg of what’s possible in GTA 6’s modern setting. By comparison, RDR 2’s portrayal of a 1899 wild west drama is deliciously antiquated, serving as a grounded and much more predictable setting. This difference in time period and setting is largely preferential, but there’s no denying the greater creative freedom that GTA 6 will likely enjoy compared to the historically rich setting of RDR 2 that we all love.
One area of RDR 2 that will be particularly hard to top is story. Rockstar has always excelled in writing compelling characters, yet RDR 2 goes above and beyond their usual standards. The scripting, acting performances, and character development is Oscar-winning stuff. As a villain, Dutch has a good side to him that can be sympathized with, especially considering Arthur’s close relationship to him throughout the game. RDR 2‘s voice acting and music direction is still some of the best in all of gaming. Can GTA 6 deliver a story that rivals or even exceeds RDR 2: it’s possible, but it’ll take a heck of a lot to achieve.
The protagonist dynamic has strong story potential to impress. Limiting the main cast to just two protagonists invite a more intimate dynamic and character involvement than GTA 5‘s rotating cast. The protagonists may have more depth to them than we realize. Will they initially meet each other on opposite ends of the law? I can already theorize some heart-wrenching plot twists in the narrative like the two getting separated or one of them having to sacrifice the other in the game’s climax. GTA 6 has some real potential to rival RDR 2’s story, but it’ll take everything Rockstar has to pull it off.
That said, GTA 6 will almost certainly surpass RDR 2 in sales and general popularity. Grand Theft Auto holds a massive IP presence to the point where people without a single gaming bone in their body know the name. GTA 5 was the fastest-selling entertainment product when it released, making $1 billion in the first three days. RDR 2 sold remarkably well too, falling just short of GTA 5’s record-breaking numbers with $750 million in the first week. Whether or not the setting or realism is better is largely up to individual taste, but there’s no denying that GTA 6 is set to break all kinds of records just like its predecessor did in 2013.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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