GTA 6 Finally Fixes Control Mechanic That Wrecked Controllers

Recent Rockstar-supervised gameplay impressions of Grand Theft Auto VI revealed that a control quirk long tied to Rockstar's games is finally being changed in favor of a more common, standard solution. The legacy input being changed is for sprinting—if you've played older Rockstar games, you know that tapping the PlayStation X button (or Xbox A) is required to run at full speed, while pressing it only once results in a jog.

Moving forward though, pressing the left stick (L3) will toggle running, while your character is moving. It's easy to understand why Rockstar did this: in terms of ergonomics and actions per minute (or APM), it is simply the better solution. Plus, it reduces the likelihood of jamming or loosening your run button. But it does mark the end of a legacy mechanic (especially if jog is has been cut entirely, or there's no way to toggle to the old control scheme,) and for a series as prominent as Grand Theft Auto, a decision like this will spur some controversy.

I largely see it as a good change, but understand why players want the option to keep the legacy system intact. There's a foot race side mission in Grand Theft Auto V, and that wouldn't be nearly as fun to play with this modernized run system. While some gamers may enjoy the homogenization of controls across the gaming industry, there are always sacrifices made when simplifying inputs in this way.

One example is Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and how greatly the Delta remake differs from it just by modernizing the control scheme. Originally, MGS3 had semi-fixed camera angles and tanky controls, with no third-person aiming or movement during first-person aiming. The Subsistence re-release added a newly-standardized third-person camera in 2005 as a seamless toggle, but otherwise maintained traditional series controls. Fast forward to 2025's Delta, and the game controls like a blend between Metal Gear Solid V and modern FPS/TPS games.

How much was lost in that transition? Not very much: the game still works, and even as a fan of the legacy titles, I dig how Delta modernizes Snake Eater. The fixed/third-person camera is no longer a free toggle in Delta though, and using the old camera at all requires the player to go back to legacy controls, which still aren't 1:1 due to the omission of pressure-sensitive face buttons on modern systems.

There's also ongoing controversy in the fighting game community regarding the introduction of modern/simpler controls in place of traditional motion inputs, but most games employing them typically let you choose to use motion inputs anyway. Since motion inputs actually become the slower option with modern controls in play, developers also tend to buff them in some small way to reward legacy players.


The news of this Grand Theft Auto VI control change comes from YouTuber MikeShowSha, who was treated to an exclusive 2-hour preview of the game supervised by Rockstar. The video is in Italian and there's no automatic translation available, though, so keep that in mind if you choose to watch.