Gameplay
The Six-Star Wanted System and the Criminal Profile
The biggest mechanical change Rockstar has shown is not the extra star. It is that the police now have to work out who you are.
Everything on this page comes from An Extended Look, the 26-minute gameplay presentation Rockstar released on 27 August 2026, and from interviews Rockstar gave around it. It is the only gameplay the studio has shown.
Rockstar Games, 27 August 2026.
Six stars
- Confirmed
The wanted system goes to six stars, up from five in Grand Theft Auto V.
An Extended Look, August 2026
Six stars is not new to the series — earlier Grand Theft Auto games used a six-star scale before GTA V reduced it to five. What matters is not the number of stars but what sits underneath them.
The change that actually matters: witnesses
- Confirmed
Police build a description of you from what witnesses saw — your face, your clothing, your vehicle — rather than knowing your location the moment you are spotted.
An Extended Look, August 2026
In GTA V, a wanted level was effectively a tracking beacon. Police knew where you were and converged. Evasion was a matter of breaking line of sight and waiting out a timer.
What Rockstar has shown is different in kind. If the police are working from a description, then the description is the thing you can attack. Changing your clothes stops being cosmetic. Changing vehicles stops being a convenience. Covering your face before a job becomes a decision made before the job rather than a reaction after it.
That also implies witnesses matter as objects in the world — who saw you, how clearly, and whether they reported it. Rockstar has not explained any of that mechanically, and we are not going to pretend it has.
The Criminal Profile
- Confirmed
A Criminal Profile system replaces the honour and reputation meters used in previous Rockstar games, tracking whether you operate professionally or leave a mess behind.
An Extended Look, August 2026
Red Dead Redemption 2 had honour, which mostly gated dialogue, shop prices and a handful of story beats. A criminal profile in a game about crime implies something with more reach: that how you do a job changes what jobs become available, how law enforcement treats you, and possibly who will work with you.
Rockstar has published none of that. What is confirmed is that the system exists and what it tracks. Everything about its consequences is unknown.
Supporting systems shown
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Vehicle app | Check a car's value, lock status, alarm, and whether it has a tracker — before you take it. |
| Rideshare app | Call a ride, rather than stealing one. |
| Snapmatic | Returns from GTA V. Photography and sharing. |
The vehicle app fits the same design direction as the witness system. A tracker on a stolen car matters a great deal if the police are trying to identify a vehicle rather than tracking you directly. Rockstar's stated design goal, in Rob Nelson's words to the press, is that players “think like a criminal” rather than act as “a wrecking ball”.
What has not been explained
- No word
How wanted levels are cleared. Timer, hiding, bribery, lawyers, or something new.
No Rockstar explanation - No word
Whether there is a persistent record — whether police remember you between crimes.
No Rockstar explanation - No word
What the six stars each represent, in terms of which agencies respond.
No Rockstar explanation - No word
What the Criminal Profile actually affects.
No Rockstar explanation - No word
Whether any of this differs between Jason and Lucia.
No Rockstar explanation
Related
Sources
- An Extended Look: Now Playing — Rockstar Newswire, 27 August 2026.
- GTA 6’s wanted system goes up to six stars — GamesRadar+, August 2026.
Every factual claim above is labelled as confirmed or unconfirmed and traced to the source listed here. Where Rockstar has said nothing, this page says so rather than filling the gap.