Rob Nelson gave the clearest statement anyone has on GTA 6 driving back in September, when he was asked whether the cars feel as weighty as GTA 4's. His answer: "Only in the best way possible. The team has worked hard to maintain some of the best parts of the weightiness and feel of GTA 4, but have the accessibility of GTA 5."
That is a design target, and it is a specific one. It also invites an obvious question, because there are two enormous open-world driving franchises running right alongside GTA, and both have spent the last decade solving a different problem. So how does Rockstar's stated goal actually stack up against Forza Horizon and Need for Speed?
Three franchises, three completely different jobs
The comparison only makes sense once you accept that none of these games is trying to do the same thing.
Forza Horizon is a simulation-derived arcade racer. Its handling inherits from Forza Motorsport's physics work, then softens it: real tyre and suspension modelling underneath, generous assists and forgiving grip on top. The car is the content. Every vehicle is licensed, modelled to a manufacturer's standards, and the world exists to give you surfaces to drive it on.
Need for Speed is an arcade racer with a drift-and-boost identity. Grip is deliberately loose, weight transfer is exaggerated for drama, and the handling is tuned around the feeling of threading a corner sideways at speed. Precision is not the point. Spectacle is.
GTA is a crime game where driving is the connective tissue. The handling model has to work for a leisurely drive to a mission marker, a pursuit with five police cars behind you, a getaway through traffic you did not plan for, and a cliff road at night in the rain. It also has to work when the player is being shot at, when passengers are leaning out of windows, and when a collision needs to feel consequential rather than cosmetic.
That last point is the whole divergence. Racing games are tuned so you stay on the road. GTA is tuned so leaving it means something.
What GTA 4 weight actually meant
Nelson invoking GTA 4 is a deliberate signal to a specific audience. GTA 4's cars had pronounced body roll, soft suspension that squatted and pitched under braking, and genuine inertia. You felt the mass of a car shift before the car changed direction. People either loved it or found it unmanageable, and it is the single most divided topic in the series' handling history.
GTA 5 pulled hard the other way: flatter, grippier, far more responsive, markedly easier to drive quickly on a first attempt. Great for accessibility and for the game's heavier emphasis on vehicle set pieces. Less distinctive, and the main complaint from the GTA 4 camp was that every car felt like it was on rails.
The stated GTA 6 target is both at once, which is harder than it sounds. Our dedicated breakdown of that hybrid goal digs into what the two models each gave up.
Where the rebuilt engine changes the maths
The technical half of Nelson's quote is the part worth paying attention to: everything was "built up from scratch on this hardware," with "much more control tuning drivetrain, tires, suspension, steering, all of that is getting applied to the physics model."
More granular control over those four systems is exactly what you need to close the gap between weight and accessibility. GTA 4's problem was not that cars had mass, it was that the model had limited tools to make mass legible to the player at low speed. GTA 5's solution was to reduce the mass. A model with finer tyre and suspension control can keep the mass and communicate it better instead, which is roughly how Forza's assist layers work.
| Forza Horizon | Need for Speed | GTA 6 (stated target) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core goal | Car as content | Spectacle and drift | Driving as connective tissue |
| Grip feel | High, assisted | Loose by design | Weighty but accessible |
| Collisions | Low consequence | Low consequence | Consequential |
| Cars licensed | Yes | Yes | No, parody badges |
| Verified by play | Yes | Yes | No. Nobody outside Rockstar has played it |
That last row is the one to keep in mind. The Forza and Need for Speed columns are observable fact. The GTA 6 column is a developer statement of intent, and no independent party has verified how the game feels. No driving assists or handling settings have been shown either.
The things racing games have that GTA does not
Worth being even-handed. Licensed cars are a real advantage, and GTA's parody manufacturers, covered in the car brands overview, buy satire at the cost of authenticity. Forza's tuning depth, telemetry and wheel support are far beyond anything GTA has offered. And a dedicated racer can balance its whole physics model around racing, where GTA has to compromise for gunfights and traffic.
GTA's advantage is the opposite: a world where the drive matters because of what you are driving toward. Confirmed street racing and off-road racing are on the side-activity list, and the street racing and tuner piece covers what that scene may look like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will GTA 6 drive like GTA 4 or GTA 5?
Rob Nelson has described the target as the weight and feel of GTA 4 with the accessibility of GTA 5. It is a design statement, not a verified result, since nobody outside Rockstar has played the game.
Is GTA 6 a racing game?
No. Street racing and off-road racing are confirmed side activities, but GTA 6 is an open-world crime game and its handling model serves pursuits and traffic as much as racing.
Does GTA 6 have licensed cars?
No. GTA has always used parody manufacturers, and no manufacturer or model has been officially named for GTA 6.
Do wet roads affect handling in GTA 6?
Unconfirmed. Weather is confirmed as localised and persistent with wet surfaces remaining after rain, but whether that changes grip has never been stated and may be purely visual.
The Bottom Line
Comparing GTA 6's driving to Forza Horizon is a category error that is still worth making, because it clarifies what Rockstar is actually chasing. Forza wants you to enjoy a car. Need for Speed wants you to enjoy a corner. GTA wants the drive to carry weight, in both senses, because the drive is usually the part where things go wrong. Whether the hybrid target lands is unknowable until November 19, and anyone claiming otherwise has not played it either.