Some of it is as old as GTA itself " third-person driving, stars over your head, a gun fight that fills the screen. Some of it is new-ish: swapping Jason and Lucia in the same job, a barbell that wants L2 and R2, a beach that looks like it would yell at you if you drove on it.
Driving still looks like the main verb
The highway clip is the one I trust most as 'this is the game'. Camera on the bumper, cars in the way, a little map telling you where to go. Cabin shots are pretty enough that a first-person toggle would not shock me, but they have not sold that as a setting.
Low camera, traffic, a route on the minimap. This is GTA. They did not reinvent the windshield.
Will it feel heavy? Light? Like GTA IV's boat-car or V's arcade slip? Footage cannot answer that. I just know they spent money on the dashboard, which usually means they want you sitting in the thing, not treating it as a fast-travel box.
Cops from the ground and the air
Four stars, an SUV in your lane, a helicopter you can actually aim at. That is the fantasy. Previews this week also talk about an honor-style track and cops who care what you look like. I like that rumor. I am not putting it in the confirmed column until I see it on my screen.
Stars, a gun, a helicopter. The extra red icons under the meter are still a group project for theorists.
If they only spawn bumper cars behind you, I will be bored in a week. If they use the street - alleys, overpasses, that helicopter sitting in the reticle - the wanted system can be the best part of the sandbox again.
The hours between shootouts
Lucia on a bench with real prompts. People fishing like they have nowhere else to be. A parachute that turns the map into a postcard you can steer. Beach crowds that are not all facing the hero. This is the Red Dead lesson: the world has to work when you are being a loser, not only when you are being a legend.
If fishing is only a trailer prop I will be mildly betrayed. It looks like a reason to stay on the water.
I do not need a skill tree for every yoga mat. I need the gym to not be a loading screen with abs. I need the water to stay interesting after the third cast. Show me that in an unedited hour and I will shut up.
The HUD is trying not to scream
Minimap down left when you drive. Stars and ammo up right when it is time to panic. Gym prompts on the bar itself. It looks like they learned from a decade of HUDs that covered the skyline. UI can still change before November. This is the draft they were willing to film.
Those mystery icons under the stars? I am leaving them unnamed. The internet will name them by Friday. Half of those names will be wrong.