A full 24-hour day in Grand Theft Auto 6 might take over two hours in real-time–three times longer than day-night cycles of previous Rockstar Games installments.
This is according to fans’ mathematical calculations on a clip of leaked GTA 6 gameplay from Cyberleek, who appears to have significantly altered the pacing of the game’s internal clock. The change, if carried over to the final version, appears to be among the game’s largest fundamental design alterations to date.
How Long Will it Take To Experience a GTA 6 Day?
The timing in this newly disseminated clip of Jason robbing gas stations shows how the game’s internal clock operates: Calculation: 6 seconds in the real world = 1 minute in GTA 6. Total Day Length: 144 minutes in the real world (or 2 hours and 24 minutes) to complete 24 in-game hours.
This is in contrast to former Rockstar titles which feature this time breakdown: Chart Comparing Day-Night Cycle Length Game Title Time for One Full In-Game Day Relative Length GTA 5 48 minutes 1x (Baseline) Red Dead Redemption 2 48 minutes 1x GTA 6 (Leaked) 144 minutes 3x the Length of GTA V Why Would This Change Be Welcome?
Both fans and many game reviewers have argued in the past that the faster time pace in Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 can hurt immersion, especially regarding weather and light changes.
For a larger, more developed open world, longer time periods could create a slew of positive benefits: Weather Patterns: Such time scale allow for gradual atmospheric weather changes.
Fog or thunderstorms would develop organically and could transition much smoother over multiple hours in Vice City. Additional Planning Time for missions/heists: Night heists, for example, could afford significantly more in-depth planning. This would avoid those forced time shifts in the middle of missions that have felt jarring to players in the past.
Increased Immersion: This pacing could offer a more grounded sense of time, one that aligns with the vast scope of GTA 6’s announced world expansions.
Take-Two Responds to the Leaks Since this estimation of 144 minutes for a full day-night cycle is based on unreleased, pre-alpha gameplay footage, it’s possible Rockstar will adjust the speed to be closer to previous titles. These leaks-totaling now at 7 separate video clips- have also resulted in negative consequences.
Specifically, Take-Two Interactive (parent company of Rockstar) saw stock value dips as it continues to legally subpoena various platforms including Microsoft and Discord in an attempt to uncover Cyberleek’s identity.