Rockstar Research Trips Included Police and Gang Members for GTA 6
Rockstar's stated method for GTA 6 is direct contact with the people and places it fictionalizes, the same approach the series used for San Andreas and Red Dead Redemption 2, which is why the Florida research trips are worth reading as production notes rather than marketing.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
Rockstar Games sent developers to Florida to research Grand Theft Auto VI ahead of its November 19 release. Development head Aaron Garbut described a trip that started in Miami, moved through surrounding towns, and reached Key West, with side research that included riding along with local police officers and gang members. The game is set in Leonida, a fictional Florida, and launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Garbut said the trip ran from Miami through surrounding towns and down the Florida Keys to Key West, with days spent driving and talking about the game. Alongside meetings with residents, the team sometimes went around with local police officers or gang members, encountering what the interview describes as a dark side of the research.
It is the same pattern the series has used before. Lazlow Jones, who worked on San Andreas, has said real gang members were brought in to record voice lines and pushed back on the script, and that Red Dead Redemption 2 research took him to Native American communities in Santa Fe and to Creole communities in New Orleans.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.