How Rockstar trailers lie to you (in a good way)

Rockstar is lying, but they’re not really.

Hello everyone! In this video, I must admit, I am not well. Still, I wanted to talk about how Rockstar lies to you in its GTA and Red Dead trailers! Perhaps lie is too strong a word, but there are many beta assets in the Grand Theft Auto trailers specifically that never ended up in the final game, and some corners are cut in ways you might not expect, so I hope you take away something from the video! Take it sleazy.

*CORRECTIONS*
02:50 - In the first RDR2 trailer, the gang was riding through the beta Heartlands, *not* New Austin. There are multiple instances where Arthur and other characters are seen in New Austin and Blackwater, but this is not one of them.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:47 - Story
03:28 - Assets
05:53 - Graphics/Performance
08:55 - Conclusion

Follow me on Twitter (X) @CaptainGlack

Music:

[dt]

I love how every time they make a trailer everything is in engine and not cgi

[Aztekov]

Any other AAA publisher: *The trailer looks better than in-game itself*
Rockstar: *Exact opposite*

[Nasrul]

"Jason & Lucia might not even rob this store, they'll probably rob a different one"

I can see Rockstar do that for the final game, considering the first trailer is done to show more of Lenoida instead of the game's story.

[SoAaron_]

Rockstar games usually look as good or better than the trailers but there's definitely some tricks they do to make it look better. Like in GTA V's trailers, positioning the sun in ways that can never happen naturally in game to make the lighting look better, GTA V's 1st trailer using mocap making the NPCs look like they interact with each other when passing by but that never happens in game etc

[Reddeadredemption]

The gang isn't riding in New Austin in the rdr2 trailer btw, the heartlands near Valentine was originally going to have brown grass like in the trailer which is where they're at in the trailer

[GTAVictor]

Even in the GTA5 trailer, NPC interactivity was slightly exaggerated - such as female joggers eyeing a male jogger, which is something we've never encountered in the final game.

So I do expect the NPC interactivity in the GTA6 trailer is at least slightly exaggerated too for marketing purposes.

[red.]

If someone is worried about R* underdelivering on graphics, watch RDR2 trailer 1 and then play the game.

[bxtxker]

Finally someone who can explain it to brainless people who think the trailer is cgi, props to u my man

[Shydood]

In GTA 5's first trailer, you can see that they were using slices of the map in certain parts, as you could see where the map abruptly cuts off in the back, probably for performance reasons.

[Venom-lrsq]

The ex rockstar dev pretty much told everyone. They increase npc's or dynamic life for trailers. But worry not, you ain't getting catfished that much with the graphic difference.

[gbclnpp]

Tbh gta 5 looked worse in the trailers than it did in the game. Hope 6 is the same.

[slywer_yt]

We need to remember that the 1st GTA V trailer was released a lot early comparing to what Rockstar had prepared because of some leaks or something like that so its explained why its way better in the game than in the trailer because rockstar had less Time to prepare it (the trailer released 2 years before the game instead of 1)

[jedieknight]

I'd go even further and suppose that they barely showed anything at all, the bits of videos from snapmatic, tv news or other media are just a part of ingame internet and television. I think they will expand on exploring the media even more. When i was little, i didn't pay a lot of attention to gta4 programs and websites but now, reading and watching it is funny and entertaining.

[opeixenemo]

damn, if gta 6 looks this good but is still going to be improved i cant even imagine how the finished look will be like, im so excited

[producedit]

just found your channel today and i’m glad i did, where has this content been my whole life

[meatmanmagoo]

I think my favourite bit of speculation was Grove Street and CJ having a major role in GTA 5 because you can see the iconic location and an easter egg of the vaguely similar NPCs on bikes.

The rumors for Rockstar games are always more elaborate than what is seen in game that even realistic expectations could be far off, I love it.

[yourgoodfriend]

"No gameplay no game"
Almost every dev/publisher will cherry pick the best and most cinematic parts of a game to show off. Issue is, while these moments occur or are possible, they are rarely indicative of the overall game, half of it, or even a significant portion of it. Obviously they can't show the entirety of a 40 hour game, but it's the kind of thing that got No Man's Sky in (and out of) legal trouble. "Hey, yeah this has a 1 in 2, 023, 235, 105 chance of happening, which means we can use it".

It's kinda silly for people to get hyped at cinematic trailers for this reason, because if you are excited for a 60 hour experience over a 2 minute trailer, you often will be disappointed in a good portion of the remaining 59 hours and 58 minutes. Wait until actual, minimally edited gameplay is shown by somebody OUTSIDE of the production staff (as games often use artificial set-pieces even in gameplay trailers, see Rainbow Six Siege or The Day Before)

[loganwolv]

Overall graphics are gonna be the same or better like you said, but the colour pallete and even sun's position may be different from the final game.

[jremidi]

I feel like they will reuse a lot of vehicles they have been pumping into GTA Online. These DLC vehicles were made while GTA VI was well into development, could have been intended for both from the beginning. I'm sure there will be minor tweaks and more detail added, but I just have a feeling a ton of cars will return.

[kx]

I would like to add that GTA VI has been already in development since 2014, which means that the game had 9 years of development before the trailer was released. That is not the case for GTA V which started development in 2008 meaning that it was kind of rushed and that can be seen in the trailer with the character models changing and some elements added or edited. So based on that I believe that, unlike GTA V, GTA VI will have much fewer changes from the trailer.