GTA 6 To Evolve RDR2 Features: Former Dev Expects Full Engine Revamp

In the lead up to Grand Theft Auto 6's release, any statement from former Rockstar Games developers become veritable wildfires in the press. The latest example is from former Rockstar Games audio engineer Rob Carr. An interview with Carr conducted by YouTuber Kiwi Talkz has drawn a lot of attention for its candid look at how Rockstar Games iterates upon mechanics between its many games. The "Dead Eye" multi-targeting system introduced in the first Red Dead Redemption, for example, is cited as inspiration for the slow-mo aim present in Grand Theft Auto V, while that game's three-perspective mission structure was inspired by a DLC mission from Grand Theft Auto IV.

Rob Carr, who left Rockstar Games during the development of Red Dead Redemption 2 in order to focus on his family, expects these practices to continue with Grand Theft Auto 6. As a former Rockstar developer involved in nearly all of its games until this one, he's most interested in seeing what mechanics developed during his time working on Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 make their way into Grand Theft Auto 6. As Carr states, "I'm looking forward to it [...] because I worked so heavily on GTA V. It's mostly mechanics, I think, that I'm most interested in."

He also attributes part of the delayed release of Grand Theft Auto 6 to the extent at which Rockstar's RAGE engine must have been overhauled to support modern, high-end graphics technology and new engine features. While there is a possibility that the engine may not have been rebuilt in its entirety, since we have seen ray-tracing and other features backported into Grand Theft Auto V. It does seem relatively likely due to the high fidelity of Grand Theft Auto 6, however, and the need for it to run well on PlayStation 5 and current Xbox Series consoles.


The full interview (embedded above, starting at the section relevant to Grand Theft Auto 6) also includes other interesting highlights, mostly relating to how audio was engineered for past Rockstar games and how Carr feels about ongoing game industry developments, like the use of AI. If you're interested in a deeper look at the industry from an insider's perspective, the full interview is highly recommended watching.