Top 10 Things GTA 6 Should Bring Back (UPDATED)

UPDATE: This list was originally published in 2024. Let’s take a look and see what has been confirmed via the recent GTA 6 reveal trailers and gameplay walkthroughs.

GTA 6 is set to be the biggest release in gaming history. It was more than a decade ago that GTA 5 hit stores worldwide, and players are nothing short of hungry for another instalment in the legendary series. It’s safe to assume that GTA 6 will be the most ambitious game ever made, but I’ve put together a list of the top 10 things GTA 6 should bring back.

Some of the best features from past GTA games have long since been phased out, but many of these mechanics simply must be in Grand Theft Auto 6.

Here’s the list.

10 Things GTA 6 Should Revive

Let us know in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to see return to Grand Theft Auto in GTA 6.

1. Euphoria

Euphoria made GTA 4 feel so much more realistic, especially when it came to the NPCs taking fire or the weightier feel of cars when they were being driven. This was lost in GTA 5, so it’d be good to see GTA 6 be more realistic in the realm of physics.

UPDATE: The latest gameplay reveal shows that vehicle damage and physics are way more impressive than they were in GTA 5, but there’s still that extra weight missing from GTA 4. It’s not a bad thing, though.

RELATED: GTA 6 Limited Edition Controllers Revealed

2. Character Customisation

In San Andreas, players could customise the protagonist – Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson – much more than in any other game. They could tweak his hair, tattoos, clothing, muscle definition, and even how people viewed and respected him on the street. We need that back.

UPDATE: Character customization in GTA 6 looks like it’ll be as deep as you could hope for. From weight gain and loss to hair and beards, and from tattoos to multiple clothing layers, we’ve seen so much of Jason and Lucia in totally different outfits that we just know customization will run wild.

3. Get a Job

Okay, so it wasn’t technically getting a job, but in older Grand Theft Auto games, players could assume the role of a firefighter, paramedic, and even a police officer. It allowed them to unlock some bonuses and kill time, and it would be great to see similar content resurface in GTA 6.

UPDATE: We don’t know if these jobs will return in GTA 6, but it makes sense that they would. We’ve already seen that the side content will go nuts in GTA 6 and that should naturally translate to modernized side jobs. I’d like to see a food delivery role surface, for instance.

RELATED: GTA 6 Suffered a Huge Gameplay Leak

4. Turf War

In GTA San Andreas, kicking off a gang war to secure turf was always entertaining. With enough effort, a player could take over most of the in-game map – and then defend that turf. I’m not sure if GTA 6 could facilitate something like this, but I’d be happy to take anything over and gain some benefits from it.

UPDATED: While it’s safe to assume that there will be gangs in GTA 6, we don’t know that Lucia and Jason are a part of them, which indicates that nothing like a turf war mechanic will appear in GTA 6.

5. Expansions

GTA 4 had The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony; Red Dead Redemption had Undead Nightmare, but GTA 5 had absolutely nothing. I’d love to see some additional content added post-launch to GTA 6. It’s one thing that has always confused fans of GTA 5 – why was there never any extra content added?

UPDATE: We have absolutely no idea if GTA 6 will get post-launch expansions, but given how much we lost from content cut from GTA 5, it would be heartbreaking to see the same thing happen with this game.

RELATED: GTA 6 Has a Controller Change 25 Years in the Making

6. Property

In GTA Online, players can buy plenty of properties – including businesses. I’d love to see that make a bold return as one of the top 10 things GTA 6 should feature – let us invest in businesses like in GTA 5 and purchase penthouses, apartments, and garages like in GTA Online, and customise them. In San Andreas, you could own dozens of properties.

UPDATED: We know that there are ‘base locations’ in GTA 6, including Jason’s beach-front property, and from what we’ve seen they’ll be customizable. What we don’t know is whether we can purchase more safehouses around the map, like we could in San Andreas, or if we’ll have to take what we’re given, like in basicallyh every other GTA game.

RELATED: Take-Two CEO Calls GTA 6 Price ‘a Bargain’

7. Crime

That might seem like a silly thing to highlight, but I’d love to see more criminal activities surface in GTA 6. If I’m going to be the bad guy (and girl), then I want to commit some diverse crimes. I want to burgle homes, break into cars, hold people up, steal their valuables, and even carry out some pettier crimes – perhaps Rockstar could let us spray tags around the map again, huh?

UPDATED: Crime has been blown wide open in GTA 6. The wanted level mechanics are scores ahead of anything we’ve ever seen, with police having new ways to identify you that are more immersive than ever before. We also know about the ‘criminal profile’ mechanic that’s influenced by how you play, and we know that there will be everything from petty crime to full-blown heists.

8. Fun with Friends

Let’s get back in the bowling alleys and the nightclubs, let’s go back on dates with love interests, and let’s go to a comedy club and take in a show. In GTA 4, we could do all of that and more, and it always made Liberty City feel quite alive, despite the game itself being quite morbid and gritty. It even featured Ricky Gervais in a stand-up role.

UPDATED: GTA 6 promises to have more side content than the average player can handle. From the gameplay reveal we saw, there will be dozens of side activities to soak up, and the nature of the game’s protagonist system means that almost everything can be done as a couple.

RELATED: Rockstar Reveals GTA RP Evolution

9. Duke it Out

GTA San Andreas let the player learn a range of hand-to-hand fighting styles in gyms dotted around the map. In GTA 4, the protagonist was ex-military, so his combat skills were top-notch, but a hand-to-hand fight felt satisfying, weighty, and at times, quite challenging. Let’s have that back in GTA 6 – give us realistic hand-to-hand combat abilities that we can upgrade over time.

UPDATED: From the trailers we’ve seen, hand-to-hand combat will be front and centre in many sequences. Our heroine, Lucia, is an adept fighter, and there are some scenes where we’ve seen her use a range of fighting styles and moves to take down enemies without a weapon. It’s safe to assume we could learn more or develop these skills over time.

10. Bizarre Cheats

It might not be one of the top 10 things GTA 6 needs, but it’s something that many gamers would love to see. Look at San Andreas – it featured dozens of cheat codes, some of which were bizarre, but they were fun to enable. Sure, they’ve been replaced by mods in this day and age, but kooky cheat codes were always entertaining.

UPDATED: You don’t really get cheats in GTA games anymore, but you do get lots and lots of mods. That’s probably where things will go with GTA 6, but it’ll take a PC release before it happens.

That’s the full sweep. Was there anything you predicted would be in GTA 6 years ago that’s finally come to fruition? Let us know what you’re saying on the Insider Gaming Discord server.

For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out our ranking of all the GTA protagonists. And for even more Insider Gaming delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter