GTA 6 could bring back body customization from Red Dead 2 and San Andreas

TheGrand Theft Auto 6rumor mill has been whipped into a lather this week, with fans on social media convinced that Rockstar Games will drop a third trailer for the year’s most anticipated game at any moment. While the world waits for new footage to pore over, fans on Reddit are sharing their thoughts about all sorts of unconfirmed in-game mechanics. One of the most interesting areas of speculation is the return of the body customization system that Rockstar previously used in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

In those two games, you could make your character scrawny, jacked, or chubby. The change was more pronounced in San Andreas: spending a bunch of time on the bench press will make CJ massive, while pounding multiple combo meals at Cluckin’ Bell will see him develop a substantial gut. In Red Dead 2, it takes more effort to gain weight, since there just aren’t as many processed snacks or deep-fried chickens in the Old West. With diligent focus — and plenty of booze — you can make Arthur a little portly. But it’s much harder to keep him that way than in San Andreas.

So why do people think GTA 6 will see the return of a muscle and fat system, which wasn’t included in GTA 4 or GTA 5? For one thing, the second trailer includes footage of both Jason and Lucia working out. We see Jason at the beach benching more than two plates on each side. We also see Lucia training strenuously at what appears to be a kickboxing gym. Jason appears to have a lot of muscle definition in certain cutscenes — like when he’s working on the roof of his house in the second trailer. But in scenes that show him wearing a white T-shirt, he doesn’t look as lean (though that could be due to a variety of factors, including the lighting, the cut of his shirt, or the amount of creatine he consumed that week). What’s more, both trailers show off an impressive variety of realistic body types among the cast, with folks of all genders and ages looking slender, muscular, curvy, or heavy. With all that variation on display, it seems more plausible that Jason and Lucia’s appearances could change throughout the story, depending on the player’s actions.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the GTA 6 fans discussing this topic on Reddit and other social media platforms don’t seem particularly enthusiastic about maintaining a strict strength and cardio regimen for Jason and Lucia, or keeping careful track of their macros. Instead, they’re planning to make their Sunshine State felons thick. “If I can make [Lucia] a torta you bet I will,” wrote one fan in the thread. “Fat boy Jason and swole Lucia is how I'll be playing, tyvm,” wrote a YouTube commenter.

Changing a character’s body composition does noticeably impact gameplay in both Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA: San Andreas. In the former, a heavier Arthur will be able to take more damage, but his stamina will be reduced. If Arthur is underweight, he will have higher stamina but a diminished ability to take damage. It will also affect some NPC dialogue. For instance, the pilot Arturo jokingly references Arthur’s “healthy appetite” as the cause of their slower-than-usual ascent in the hot-air balloon near Saint Denis. In San Andreas, CJ’s running animation becomes more of a waddle if he gains a lot of weight, and he’ll even be locked out from some physically intense missions. (He’ll receive a call where he’s told, “Come back here when you’ve lost some weight, fatso.”)

Similar to San Andreas, it’s unlikely that GTA 6 will allow players to make the protagonists obese, since this would impede their ability to pull off physically demanding crimes. But there’s still a lot of fun storytelling potential here, especially when you consider that players will have at least some responsibility for maintaining Jason and Lucia’s relationship. If their appearances change, will their feelings toward one another change as well? Outside a relationship, dramatic weight changes in either direction could help our lead characters avoid unwanted police attention. At this point, it’s all just speculation, but there’s a ton of immersive potential here.

Will Rockstar reveal more details about a weight and muscle system in GTA 6 in the next trailer? Probably not. Either way, we’ll find out more about the game as that Nov. 19 release date approaches.

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