GTA 6 Reinvents the Wanted System With Smarter Police and Criminal Profiles

If there is one thing we have learned from all the GTA 6 previews following Rockstar’s Netflix extended look, it is that the police are not going to be nearly as easy to deal with this time around. And no, I do not just mean that there are more police cars.

Rockstar has apparently completely reworked the way the wanted system functions in GTA 6. Police do not simply know that you have committed a crime and magically appear around the corner anymore. Instead, the game keeps track of what the police really know about you, including your appearance, clothing, vehicle, and even if you were seen with another person or not.

The result is a system where escaping the police is much more about thinking on your feet than simply driving around until those stars disappear.

Police Need to Know You Committed a Crime

This is probably the biggest fundamental change. In previous GTA games, committing a crime immediately resulted in a wanted level because, well, the game knows you did it. If you robbed a bank and killed a bunch of civilians, the game knew about it directly, and Police cars just started chasing you. All you had to do next was pretty much just drive fast and long enough until it went away. GTA 6 is taking a more realistic approach.

A crime has to be “detected” before the police respond. That can happen because an NPC witnesses what you did, or because something like an alarm alerts the authorities. So if you steal a car, but no one saw you steal it, well… it is now your car, and no one will ever know about it. Same with a robbery. If you rob a bank, but no NPC calls the authorities, or no one saw your face, they are not going to chase after you specifically. Once police are called, they do not simply spawn around Jason or Lucia. Instead, officers receive information about the incident and investigate the location where the crime was reported. And even after you leave, that location can remain a “hot area”, with police continuing to search for suspects until things eventually cool down.

This means getting away from the initial crime scene does not necessarily mean you are completely in the clear either.

You might have escaped the cops, but if they have already got a description of you, you are still going to need to think about what happens next.

Police Can Identify Your Appearance

This is where things get particularly interesting. Police can have information about what Jason or Lucia looks like, and the game can display separate indicators beneath your wanted level showing what information the police have about the suspect.

Your appearance therefore becomes part of the escape itself.

For example, changing your hairstyle can remove the appearance identification, because you have physically changed how you look.

But simply putting on a hat or changing your glasses is not enough. If police have identified your clothing, you will need to change your entire outfit. Suddenly, those spare clothes you have been storing in the trunk of your car have a very practical purpose. You can keep a change of clothes in your vehicle, get away from the crime scene, and then change into something completely different to make it harder for police to match you to their description.

And yes, masks are useful too. Wearing a mask during a crime and removing it afterwards can prevent police from getting a usable description of your face, even if CCTV footage captured the crime. So apparently, GTA 6 is finally making the classic “put on a mask before robbing the place” strategy more than just a cosmetic choice.

Your Getaway Car Can Betray You

Your appearance is not the only thing police can identify. They can also identify the vehicle you are driving. That means simply changing your clothes is not necessarily enough if you are still driving the same car that was seen fleeing the crime scene. Abandoning your vehicle and switching to another one can therefore become an important part of escaping. And your car can cause problems in other ways, too.

Vehicles can contain trackers, with some cars being easier for police to track than others. You can eventually have trackers removed through a vehicle fence once you have unlocked that option, but older vehicles can be less sophisticated and therefore easier to use when you are trying to stay off the radar. So suddenly, your choice of getaway car matters. You might not want to steal the latest Tesla to escape a crime scene. Maybe that very old car sitting in a corner will be way more useful.

Jason and Lucia Can Split Up

The police also need to account for the fact that there are two protagonists. If officers know Jason and Lucia are working together, the two can deliberately split up during a chase. One character can draw the police’s attention and the other gets away. Once the situation is safe, the other protagonist can even send a text letting them know that the coast is clear. You can also commit a crime alone, and then change your clothes and call the other one to join you, making it look like you are just a couple on a walk.

This gives you another way to break the police’s identification of the suspects. If the police are looking for two people travelling together and suddenly one of them disappears in another direction, you have potentially just made their job considerably harder. It is another example of Rockstar building the wanted system around what the police really know. This time, the game is not just giving you some stars that need to disappear.

The Wanted Stars Can Tell You What the Police Know

There is even a visual indication of how much information the police have. Obviously, the more stars, the harder it is to get rid of cops looking for you. But you also have various icons under the stars that pretty much indicate exactly the details the police know about the fugitive.

We do not have all the details about these icons, but here are some examples:

• Two heads = they are looking for two criminals, so you need to split up
• One head = they know what you look like
• The dressing thing = they know what you are wearing
• The car = they know the car you are driving

You will have to adapt your escape strategy depending on what the police know. And when police do not know what the suspect looks like, the traditional white wanted stars can apparently become hollow outlines. The idea is that if you can just leave the area and the police do not have a usable description of you, the situation can clear without requiring some ridiculous chase across half of Leonida. So you can commit crimes in silence, if you are good enough.

Cities are also particularly more difficult to escape from because of dense traffic, narrow streets, and huge numbers of NPCs. Sometimes, escaping on foot becomes much more useful. Rockstar has redesigned running, jumping, and climbing, allowing Jason and Lucia to move through alleys and side streets faster when a car is not the best option.

The Police Are Not the Only Thing You Need to Worry About

The new wanted system also connects to another big addition called the Criminal Profile.

You could compare it to the Honor meter in Red Dead Redemption 2, but GTA 6’s Criminal Profile apparently tries to take the context of your actions into account. There is not necessarily a simple “good” or “bad” way to play. For example, defending yourself during an altercation or shooting someone who is shooting at you first is not treated in the same way as randomly escalating a situation and killing innocent civilians.

Repeated unnecessary violence and excessive chaos can negatively affect your Criminal Profile. On the other hand, positive actions can move it in the opposite direction. Yes, that apparently includes things as mundane as feeding stray animals or properly disposing of your trash. Your Criminal Profile is tracked through a menu, so at least you do not constantly see a number going up and down.

According to Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson, there is not a single “right” or “wrong” way to play, and it is really just the fact that consistent actions can influence how the world reacts to you and potentially how the story develops.

That also means the game distinguishes between crimes that are part of the story and crimes you commit simply because you felt like doing them. So if a mission requires you to shoot your way out of a robbery, you are not necessarily going to get punished for that in the same way as randomly murdering people on the street.

GTA 6 Wants You to Think Before You Shoot

In the end, this is still GTA. If you want to shoot everything, shoot it. Nothing will keep you from doing it. But, this time, what changes is basically how the world will react to you doing whatever you want. All of this points towards a very different approach to crime compared with GTA 5.

GTA 6 wants you to think about the consequences:

• Did someone see you?
• Did CCTV capture you?
• Do the police know what you are wearing?
• Do they know what your car looks like?
• Are they looking for one person or two?
• Does your vehicle have a tracker?
• Can you change your appearance?
• Should you abandon the car?
• Should Jason and Lucia split up?
• Can you leave the area before the police get a proper description?

The police are not stronger, but they are more informed, and this means that you need to understand what the police know about you and deliberately remove those clues one by one. It is a much more complicated system, and honestly, it might be one of the biggest improvements GTA 6 is bringing to the series. Because if all of this works as Rockstar is promising, getting six stars in GTA 6 might be the easy part.

Getting rid of them could be the real challenge!

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