GTA VI's six-star wanted level and new police system explained
GTA VI brings back a six-star maximum wanted level and shows police tracking a companion, clothes, face and vehicle.
The maximum returns to six stars
The Extended Look interface reserves six positions for the wanted level. It is the first clear visual confirmation that GTA VI restores the series' classic maximum after GTA V limited police response to five stars.
The pursuit shown has four active stars and two unlit positions. The video does not reveal which units or tactics appear at the upper levels, so the sixth step is confirmed even though its contents are not.
Police track more than the wanted level
Four indicators beneath the stars represent the companion, clothing, face and vehicle linked to the offence. They are marked red during the scene, signalling that those characteristics have been observed and form part of the search.
This separates two concepts that were previously more closely tied: the intensity of the response and the information available about the suspect. Stars indicate how many resources police deploy; the attributes explain why they may still recognise the player after line of sight is broken.
Losing the officers may not end the danger
Press previews explain that police can remember the protagonists' appearance. Changing clothes, covering a face or abandoning an identified car therefore has a real purpose in evasion. A pursuit is no longer resolved solely by hiding for a few seconds.
That also changes crime preparation. A bandana may prevent the face from being recorded and a stolen car without an alarm may reduce witnesses. If a companion takes part and is identified, splitting up afterwards may not erase the link between them.
What remains unknown
Rockstar has not explained how long police keep each description, whether duration changes with the severity of the offence or whether there are ways to clear records outside a pursuit. We also do not know whether cameras, witnesses and licence plates feed the four indicators differently.
What is confirmed already represents an important change: the game distinguishes between physically escaping and becoming unrecognisable. We still need to know whether that memory lasts minutes, in-game days or until a specific action is completed. Its duration will determine how much the system changes everyday life in Leonida.
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