How many wanted stars in GTA 6: six in the leaked footage

31 August 2026 · Updated: 31 August 2026 · 4 min read

GameMapa editorial · how we check facts
Checked: Claude (AI) — fact-checked against the Ukrainian original; not proofread by a native speaker

The date may change — we follow official announcements and update this page.

Short answer: the leaked GTA 6 footage shows six wanted stars. Two of them are lit, with four faded outlines beside them. GTA 5 capped at five.

And straight away, the limit without which that number is worthless: Rockstar has not confirmed six stars. As of 31 August 2026 the official Grand Theft Auto VI page does not describe the wanted system at all — neither five stars nor six. Everything below is a retelling of what Kotaku, TweakTown and Insider Gaming saw in the leaked clips. We do not host or link the leaks themselves.

Where the number six comes from

All three descriptions cover the same scene: Jason finishes off a truck driver and picks up two wanted stars. Next to the two lit stars the HUD shows four faded outlines — slots that can still fill up.

Two plus four is six. That is how all three outlets count it, and that is where headlines like «six-star wanted level» come from.

This is a return, not a novelty

Six stars are not an invention for this series. Five was the cap specifically in GTA 5; in earlier entries, including San Andreas and GTA IV, the top wanted level was the sixth. So going by the leaks, GTA 6 is bringing back an old scale rather than inventing a new one.

What actually happens at six stars is not established. Kotaku asks directly whether it means the military gets called in, and honestly answers that the top wanted level does not appear in the leaked footage. We are not going to invent it either.

The second row of icons: descriptors

The bigger change is not the number itself but the second row of icons that appeared under the stars, which GTA 5 never had. It is not the wanted level — it is what the police have managed to learn about you.

Here the sources disagree, and we show the disagreement rather than averaging it away:

All three descriptions share one thing: the wanted level is no longer a single bar. The logic commentators read into it — change your shirt and your car and the police lose the trail. But no clip described anywhere actually shows a wanted level being cleared by changing clothes. That is an inference from the existence of the icons, not a mechanic anyone watched.

Why it matters at all

In GTA 5 the wanted level worked almost like a timer: stay out of sight long enough and the stars burn out. If GTA 6’s descriptors are real, the choice gets harder — hide or change your appearance, dump the car or risk it. It is the same logic Rockstar already tried in Red Dead Redemption 2 with witnesses and masks.

But once more, plainly: this is an expectation built on three icons in a leaked video. By 19 November 2026 none of it may survive.

What we do not claim

• That six stars will be in the final game. Rockstar has confirmed no individual frame.
• That the military shows up at six stars. The footage does not show it.
• That the three icons mean clothing, face and vehicle specifically. The sources disagree, and we showed the disagreement in a table.
• That changing clothes clears your wanted level. No such scene appears in the descriptions.

Our full retelling of what the leaks show is in the piece on the leaked footage. The company’s official reaction is broken down in Rockstar’s statement, and what in the GTA 6 rumour mill is backed by nothing at all is collected in our rumour check.