How does GTA VI's wanted system work? Six stars and police who remember you

The wanted level is the system that makes GTA feel like GTA, and Rockstar has changed more about it than the number of stars. In GTA VI the police keep a description of you, and losing them means changing what they know.

Verdict: Confirmed, Very High confidence. GTA VI's wanted level goes up to six stars, with a hollow star when police are responding but have no description. Police respond only to crimes that are witnessed or set off an alarm, build a description of Jason and Lucia (their looks, clothes, vehicle, any CCTV footage and whether they're together) and remember it, keep searching the area after you leave, and don't show on the radar. A criminal profile tracks excessive violence. Not stated: what each star level brings, how long the police remember, and what the criminal profile changes.

Most of this comes from Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson, in interviews around the Extended Look in August and September, and from what the Extended Look itself shows. Game Informer's cover story of 29 September went over the same ground.

How many wanted stars does GTA VI have?

Six. The Extended Look's police chase shows Jason and Lucia at four stars with two empty slots to go. GTA V stopped at five; the last GTA game with six was Chinatown Wars in 2009.

Stars don't pile up automatically. How many a crime earns depends on what it was and how serious, Nelson told Famitsu, and Rockstar was "conscious of not making the assessment too harsh".

What does a hollow wanted star mean in GTA VI?

That the police are on their way but don't know who they're looking for. IGN, which watched Nelson play, describes white stars shown only as outlines when the police have no description of you; leave the scene without drawing attention and you should be in the clear. IGN suggests a whole style of play could grow out of keeping the police on hollow stars, by avoiding witnesses and cameras.

How do police find out about a crime in GTA VI?

Someone has to report it. "The wanted system in GTA 6 requires that someone witness the crime, or an alarm needs to be set off for it to be reported to the law," Nelson told IGN. Commit a crime nobody sees, and nobody comes.

Who counts as a witness, and whether you can stop one, Rockstar hasn't said.

How do you lose the police in GTA VI?

Change what they know about you. The police build a description, shown as red icons under the wanted stars: what you look like, what you're wearing, what you're driving, whether Jason and Lucia are together, and a camera when they have you on CCTV. Each one is something you can take away:

• The car. In the Extended Look's chase, the pair swap vehicles and the car icon disappears from the screen.
• Your face. A new haircut, a hat or glasses changes your look. In IGN's demo, a cap from a shop removed the description icon; a mask worn during the crime can keep your face out of it in the first place, even on camera.
• The clothes. That cap didn't touch the clothing icon. "The police will still know what you are wearing," Nelson said, so you need a whole new outfit: "I would need to go to a clothing store or call my personal vehicle, which has changes of outfits in the trunk."
• The partnership. The police know they're looking for a couple. "You could split up, and that will also help lower the police's perception of you."

The description doesn't vanish when the chase ends. "We wanted to get past that thing we used to have where you could lose the cops instantaneously, and then they forget about you instantly," Nelson said. "We wanted them to have a bit more persistent memory." Game Informer's cover story calls the mechanic Heat.

Can you go back to where you committed a crime in GTA VI?

Not straight away. The area becomes a hot zone that stays marked on the map, and the police keep searching it after you've gone. "If I go back, they'll be hanging around the area for a while," Nelson told IGN, hovering over the zone to show he still had a star there. You can wait for it to cool down, change your clothes or split Jason and Lucia up.

Do police show up on the radar in GTA VI?

No. Police blips are gone from the minimap; you find officers by using Focus instead. "You can't just play the game and avoid their little vision cones anymore," Nelson said.

What is GTA VI's criminal profile?

A record of how far Jason and Lucia go, which the outlets that reported it compare to Red Dead Redemption 2's honor system. Doing what a job needs, or fighting back when someone comes at you, is "all fair game," Nelson told IGN. "It's when you go beyond what is necessary on a consistent basis, or you do completely unnecessary stuff consistently, that you may start to sway your criminal profile in a certain direction."

He didn't say what a profile changes: the story, prices, how people react, or how hard the police come for you.

What hasn't Rockstar said about the wanted system?

None of the following is on the record:

• what each star level sends after you
• how long the police's memory lasts, or how long a hot zone stays hot
• what the criminal profile changes
• who counts as a witness, and whether witnesses can be stopped

Is GTA VI's wanted system harder than GTA V's?

By Rockstar's own account, yes, and on purpose. "It can be harder, but it's fun, depending on the wanted level," Nelson said. "You have to think more." Police who need a witness are easier to avoid in the first place. Police who remember your outfit, don't show on the radar and know you're a couple are harder to shake once they're looking.

What changes this: Rockstar describing what each star level brings, how long police memory lasts, or what the criminal profile does, in its own channels or another interview. The released game on 19 November 2026 settles the rest.

Correction (1 Oct 2026): until today this page was titled "what's confirmed (nothing yet)" and said Rockstar had never described GTA VI's police or wanted system. That was wrong from 27 August 2026, when the Extended Look showed the six-star wanted level and Rob Nelson described the system to IGN. Our 10 September review of this page missed both.