GTA 6 wanted level: how the police actually work
For twenty years the GTA wanted level was one thing: a circle on the map to get out of. Stay outside it long enough, the stars drop, and the game forgets about you.
GTA 6 does not work that way, and the difference is not difficulty: it is that the police now know things about you. Your face, what you are wearing, what you are driving, whether you are alone or in a pair. Losing them is no longer about distance, it is about no longer matching the description.
This guide sets out what Rockstar described to the press on August 27, 2026. The game launches on November 19: nothing here has been tested with a pad in hand, not by us and not by anyone.
The crime has to be seen
The first difference comes before the stars. In GTA 6 a wanted level does not start on its own: somebody has to see what you did and report it, or an alarm has to go off.
One consequence changes how you play: act fast and disappear before the patrol cars arrive and you will often be fine. Not because you shook anyone, but because nobody saw you.
Officers dispatched to the scene receive information about what happened and head there. The area stays flagged even after you leave, and the police keep working it for a while.
On how that area is shaped there is one more detail, reported by MikeShowSha from the July session: the search area is said to be split into two bands. An inner one, tighter and a deeper red, where the police hunt you with the exact description they hold; and a wider band around it where the search is looser, and where finding a hiding place or a way out is the play. Single source, but consistent with the general principle: leaving the circle resets nothing, it lowers the pressure.
What the police know about you
When somebody has seen you, a description goes out, and in the interface it appears as a set of icons under the stars: they tell you what the police know about you right now. The description travels over the radio between patrol cars, so it is not an abstract value but something you hear.
On what it actually contains, though, the sources do not agree, and none of these lines is a Rockstar quote. IGN, which was at the session, writes that it saw three icons, one of them CCTV. GamesRadar, watching the film, counts four. The elements that recur are physical appearance, clothing and vehicle, plus an indication that the suspects are a pair; a closed, stable list does not exist today.
There is one more reading, and it comes from a witness at the same session. Italian creator MikeShowSha, who was in the room, recounts that in his case three specific icons lit up: the face, because he was unmasked; the clothing; and the weapon, which appeared because he had drawn a pistol moments earlier. In a second episode, a jewellery store robbery, a cameras icon lit up too, because CCTV had caught them.
Two things to hold together. First: the weapon is a line that does not appear in the English previews, and if it holds it changes the practical arithmetic, because holstering becomes a way to remove an entry from the description. Second: these are the icons lit in that situation, not the full list of the ones that exist. Nobody has seen the whole list yet.
On quite how total, there is a line attributed directly to Rob Nelson and reported by MikeShowSha: at six stars escaping is practically impossible, because the hunt never lets up. His session reached three and then five, not six, so the top level remains described rather than seen.
How to stop matching the description
This is the practical part, and it is all built on one principle: remove one line of the description at a time.
| Description line | What clears it | Where you do it |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes | A full change of outfit, not glasses or a hat | A shop, or the car trunk if you keep a change in there |
| Physical appearance | Changing your hairstyle | Salon or barber |
| Vehicle | Ditching the made car and taking another | Anywhere, and the video shows the extreme version too, burning it |
| Pair | Splitting up, so the police lose the “there are two of them” | Mid-chase, telling the other one to break away |
One caveat covering the whole table: these are the lines that recur in the write-ups, not a list Rockstar published, and the sources do not even agree on how many icons there are.
Change clothes. A hat or a pair of glasses will not do it: you need a full change. That is why keeping a change of clothes in the boot is a good idea, and not a decorative detail.
Change your hairstyle. It removes the appearance icon, because your appearance has genuinely changed. But the police still know what you are wearing.
A mask, with a caveat. This is somebody else’s hypothesis, and it is worth saying so: IGN supposes, and openly flags it as a supposition, that masks work as in Red Dead Redemption 2 and at least limit the details witnesses can report. That wearing one during the job and removing it in the escape stops identification outright has not been verified by anyone, and the reference to security cameras in this context has no source.
Change vehicle. The car is a line of the description like any other, and changing it clears that line, not the whole description: in the film the swap removes the car icon and a patrol car is seen passing the new vehicle without recognising it, but the stars do not reset. The Extended Look also shows the extreme version: the getaway car is burned so it cannot be traced.
Split up. If the report says the suspects are a couple, Jason and Lucia can separate to break that line. During a fight you can order the other to run and pull all the attention onto yourself. If you split during an escape, you get a message from the other once things calm down.
On foot, not in a car. At three stars or more, a car chase in the city works against you: the streets are narrower and busier than Los Santos’s. Alleys and side streets on foot are often the better call, and movement (running, jumping, climbing) has been reworked for exactly that.
The Criminal Profile is a different thing
This is the part most often confused, so let us be blunt: the Criminal Profile is not the wanted level.
The wanted level is the situation right now, and it ends. The Criminal Profile is a trace that accumulates over time and does not vanish when you shake the patrol cars. It records how you behave in general: how much unnecessary violence you use, how much more chaos you cause than the job needs. And it moves the other way too, on gestures as small as putting your rubbish in a bin.
It is GTA 6’s answer to Red Dead Redemption 2’s Honor system, with one stated difference: there is no right or wrong way to play here. It is not a morality bar, it is how the world and the people in it get used to you.
One clarification that heads off a common misreading: crimes committed inside missions, and situations where violence is forced on you, do not necessarily move the Profile. What counts most is what you do in free roam.
Patrol cars are no longer on the map
A small change with a large consequence: police cars no longer appear on the minimap. The stated reason is to stop chases becoming a game of Pac-Man, where you watch dots instead of the road.
To spot them there is the Focus system, which highlights points of interest in the environment. It also serves to find objects and opportunities that are not marked on the map, which fits the broader idea: a lot of what matters is not an icon.
The design intent does not change, it gets clearer: the police vanish from the minimap and reappear only if you choose to look in a particular way, spending something (your attention, and presumably a resource) instead of reading dots in a corner of the screen.
If they catch you, or if you die
If Jason or Lucia are arrested the “Busted” screen appears and the character respawns in the world, while the other may still be running. Dying no longer means walking out of a hospital as in previous games: you simply respawn nearby.
There is a cost that did not exist before, though, and it is financial. Money can sit on your character or in a bank, and what you carry is lost if you die or get arrested. It is a direct incentive to stop at a cash machine before doing anything risky.
MikeShowSha adds that the cost of arrest is selective on weapons too: the ones picked up off the ground are confiscated, while your own, the ones you customised, are waiting in the boot of your car. If it holds, it is a distinction that rewards building an arsenal over grabbing whatever is lying around.
On the respawn point, though, there is a divergence worth flagging. The previews describe respawning nearby; he recalls a hospital on death and the prison gate after an arrest, but says so explicitly with a hedge, admitting he is not certain. Until somebody sees it, it stays open.
What we still do not know
For honesty, the things this guide cannot tell you, because nobody has established them.
How long a star takes to drop, and whether that time scales with the level. Whether there is a way to clear the wanted level outright, like the old Pay ‘n’ Spray. How much the Criminal Profile actually weighs on the story, and whether it is visible anywhere on screen. What getting out after an arrest costs you. What the full list of suspect icons is, given that so far we have only seen a few of them lit case by case. Where you actually respawn after a death or an arrest, since the sources disagree.
On security cameras, though, there is now something: in the jewellery store account the CCTV icon lights up, so they do play a part. Exactly what it entails, and whether they can be disabled, remains unknown.
These are the first things we will check at launch, and this page will be rewritten on how the game behaves rather than on how it was described.
In short
- A wanted level does not start on its own: an NPC has to witness the crime or an alarm has to trigger.
- The wanted level returns to six stars, after GTA 5’s five.
- The police build a description from appearance, clothes, vehicle and whether you are in a pair: the icons under the stars say what they know.
- To lose them you remove one line at a time: a full change of clothes, a new hairstyle, a mask worn during the job, a change of vehicle, splitting up.
- The Criminal Profile is a separate system: it accumulates over time and does not reset when you shake the police.
- The Focus system highlights useful elements in the environment and, per a witness at the July session, also shows officers in blue against a purple view.
- The search area reportedly has two bands: an inner one with the exact description, an outer one with a looser search.
- At six stars, per Rob Nelson, escaping is practically impossible.
- Money you carry is lost if you die or get arrested; money in the bank is not.
Frequently asked questions
How many wanted stars does GTA 6 have?
Six, after GTA 5 cut it to five. This is not a preview detail: the six-star bar is visible in the Extended Look, where a chase reaches four stars out of six.
How do you lose the police in GTA 6?
By removing the lines the police hold on you: change clothes completely (a hat or glasses will not do), change your hairstyle, abandon the vehicle that has been made, and split up if the report describes a couple. At three stars or more, escaping on foot through alleys and side streets is often the better option in the city.
Is changing a hat enough to avoid recognition?
No, and it is explicit: wearing glasses or a new hat is not enough, you need a complete change. Changing hairstyle removes the appearance icon, but the police still know what you are wearing.
Is the Criminal Profile the same as the wanted level?
No, they are two separate systems. The wanted level is the current situation and ends once you shake the police. The Criminal Profile accumulates over time, does not reset, and reflects how you behave in free roam.
Do police cars show up on the map?
On the minimap, no, and that is a stated choice: patrol cars no longer show up among the dots. On screen, though, there is something. The Focus system, which IGN describes as a tool that highlights objects and opportunities in the environment and helps you evade the police, per a witness at the July session also shows officers, coloured blue against a view that shifts to purple. We used to say not to expect that, on the strength of the English previews alone: the answer was too categorical and we have corrected it.
What happens if you get arrested in GTA 6?
The “Busted” screen appears and your character respawns in the world, while the other protagonist may still be running. You lose the money you were carrying, but not what you deposited in a bank. Per MikeShowSha’s account you also lose weapons picked up off the ground, while customised ones stay in the boot of your car.