GTA 6 Game Informer: Hurricanes, 170 Species, Six Regions

A downpour drowns one Vice City neighborhood while, three streets over, the sun is still drying the asphalt: that is what GTA 6’s new weather system promises. It is part of the 14 pages and 12 new screenshots that issue 382 of the magazine, out September 29, devotes to the game. Here is what the GTA 6 Game Informer feature adds that’s new, and what Rockstar leaves vague seven weeks before the November 19, 2026 release.

GTA 6 Game Informer: what’s in issue 382

The cover was revealed on September 25 in Marcus Stewart’s « Cover Reveal » article. It reuses official Rockstar artwork featuring Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos. Stewart, a senior editor who describes himself as a native of South Florida, interviewed several of the studio’s lead designers to prepare the feature.

Digital copies have been available since September 29. The print edition ships in the weeks that follow. Several details from the feature went online the same day, which lets you sort the new from the already-seen without waiting for the printed copy.

First number in the feature, the map: Leonida would be the biggest Rockstar has ever built, roughly twice the size of GTA 5’s according to art director Aaron Garbut, with higher density and more interiors. Some of these details add to what the Extended Look had shown. A denser map changes nothing about a constraint we already know: GTA 6 will run at 30 FPS on consoles.

Weather: hurricanes confirmed, no instruction manual

The weather system has been rebuilt, localized and persistent, in the vein of Red Dead Redemption 2’s. It can pour in one area while it’s sunny where you are. Puddles and wet surfaces linger after the storm, and the sky gains rainbows and dynamic clouds.

A new wind system joins the mix: sea breezes, updrafts, gusts blocked by buildings. It affects hair, debris, water and vegetation.

Tropical storms and hurricanes are confirmed in the exclusive article published September 29. Rockstar hasn’t said how often they occur or whether they affect missions or the story. « Confirmed » therefore covers the existence of the phenomenon, not its role in the game.

Leonida: six regions and more than 170 species

The map is split into six regions: Vice City, Leonida Keys, Grassrivers (the equivalent of the Everglades), Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park.

The fauna totals more than 170 species, including more than 60 types of birds and more than 30 land mammals. Confirmed so far:

• alligators, manatees and macaques;
• flamingos and pelicans;
• sharks (several types), whales, rays, turtles and jellyfish;
• iguanas.

Some animals can be tracked and are sorted into three categories: Rare, Discoverable and Legendary. Their identities remain secret. Animals also get new fur systems (wet, dirty, matted) and differentiated feathers, according to RockstarINTEL (Aaron Trueman, September 29).

Activities mentioned range from base jumping to pool, gyms to kayaking, mini-golf to diving, street and off-road racing to zoos, along with the air boat and the jet ski. Vice notes that some look like dates for the couple formed by Jason and Lucia, such as hiking. That is its reading, not a Rockstar confirmation.

What Rockstar still isn’t saying

The GTA 6 Game Informer feature answers plenty of questions about setting, fewer about mechanics. Three gray areas stand out:

• how often hurricanes and tropical storms occur;
• their impact on missions and the story;
• the identity of the legendary animals, deliberately kept secret.

Police, though, are not in the magazine. On September 15, GamesRadar (Catherine Lewis) reported remarks from Rob Nelson, co-director of Rockstar North. According to him, the police « can be harder » to shake off, « but it’s fun », because it forces you « to think more », with « more persistent memory ».

Vice adds that Vice City’s crowded roads could complicate chases. That is the site’s inference, not information from Rockstar. On the game’s economy, Rockstar has already settled it: GTA 6 will ship without microtransactions.

GTA 6 releases November 19, 2026.