The long wait for GTA 6’s third trailer may soon be over, but a former Rockstar developer is urging fans to temper their expectations. David O’Reilly, who worked as an environmental artist at Rockstar from 2011 to 2023, has issued a key warning about how game trailers are crafted—and why what you see may not reflect the final game.
“The Whole World Doesn’t Look Like That”
Speaking on the Kiwi Talkz podcast (via GamesRadar), O’Reilly expressed excitement for the upcoming trailer, saying, “I can’t wait for the next trailer too… seeing that city all fleshed out so much more than when I’d last wandered it.”
But he also offered a reality check: “When you make a trailer, they look at where the camera’s going to be, and that view is getting madly polished. Whereas everything that’s not in that view is not getting madly polished yet. The whole world doesn’t look like that. You focus on the areas of the trailer.”
In other words, the gorgeous vistas and hyper‑detailed environments shown in GTA 6 trailers are often hand‑crafted for that specific camera shot. The rest of the open world—99% of it—may still be a work in progress, with placeholder assets, unfinished lighting, and unpolished textures.
Not the First Time
This is not a new practice. Rockstar did the same with Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2. Early trailers showcased stunning moments that were carefully orchestrated, while the final games—still beautiful—had some differences in lighting, character details, and animations. O’Reilly’s warning serves as a reminder that trailers are marketing, not final builds.
O’Reilly Also Knows Little About the Story
Despite working on GTA VI for five years, O’Reilly revealed he is largely in the dark about the game’s narrative. “With GTA VI, people are like, ‘What’s the story?’ And I’m like, ‘I’ve no idea, dude, I don’t know.’ Because I worked on it for five years, but I have no idea about the storyline, other than I knew it had two characters, and that was the extent of my knowledge.”
That level of compartmentalization is standard for large studios, but it underscores how little even longtime employees may know about the full picture.
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What This Means for Trailer 3
As speculation around Trailer 3’s release date intensifies—ranging from weeks to September—O’Reilly’s comments offer a valuable perspective. Enjoy the trailer for what it is: a polished glimpse of a work in progress. But don’t assume every frame represents the final product.
Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The wait continues, but at least now we know what to look for—and what to overlook—in the next big reveal.