GTA 6 Game Informer Cover Story: 12 New Screenshots, Weather Secrets & More on Sept 29

It’s official: Grand Theft Auto 6 is getting the full magazine treatment. Game Informer has confirmed that GTA 6 is the cover story of its next issue — a 14-page deep dive packed with 12 never-before-seen screenshots, brand-new artwork of Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, interviews with several of Rockstar’s lead designers, and the first official look at the game’s weather systems and wildlife. The digital edition goes live on September 29, 2026, and it might be one of the last big information drops before launch day.

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The announcement dropped yesterday, and fan coverage of the cover art spread across social media within hours. Here’s everything Game Informer has promised in the feature — and why this one matters more than your average magazine preview.

What’s actually in the 14-page cover story

The feature was written by Game Informer senior associate editor Marcus Stewart — notably, a South Florida native, which gives him a real shot at fact-checking Rockstar’s Florida claims rather than just repeating them. He spoke with several lead designers at Rockstar Games about the creation of Leonida and Vice City. According to everything the outlets covering the announcement have reported, the story focuses on:

• New details on GTA 6’s advanced weather systems — the first time Rockstar has officially described systems built to “simulate Florida’s less sunny weather phenomena”
• A “staggering amount of wildlife” — native and non-native species roaming Leonida on land, air, and sea
• Roaming Leonida on land, air, and sea — how the world is built to be explored in every dimension
• Rockstar’s Florida research process — how the studio tried to create its most culturally and aesthetically accurate, lifelike world to date
• 12 exclusive screenshots showing more of the game’s sights, citizens, and environments
• New official artwork of protagonists Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, created by Rockstar specifically for the cover

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The cover art: Jason and Lucia go Bonnie-and-Clyde

The cover itself is pure Rockstar. Jason drives a red convertible at dusk while Lucia rides passenger-side, both with guns drawn, a bag of cash visible on the back seat, and a neon-lit Miami-inspired skyline burning behind them. It’s the outlaw-couple look Rockstar has leaned into since the first trailer — GTA’s definitive Bonnie and Clyde.

Fans are already arguing online about whether the pose hints at new gameplay or simply recycles a composition Rockstar has used before. Either way, it’s a genuinely new piece of official artwork, and with Rockstar creating it specifically for the magazine, collectors are already talking about the physical issue becoming a keepsake.

Weather is the headline detail

The biggest single reveal may be the weather. We’ve had rumours, patents, and community speculation about GTA 6’s weather for years — but Rockstar has never officially described its systems until now. The phrase “Florida’s less sunny weather phenomena” is doing a lot of heavy lifting: it strongly suggests the game simulates the wilder side of the state’s climate, from sudden tropical downpours to the kind of violent storms the real Sunshine State is famous for.

This lines up with what Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson has said elsewhere about GTA 6’s police chases being harder to shake, and with the studio’s broader claim that GTA 6 is unusually difficult to showcase because so many systems, activities, and gameplay loops are colliding at once. Dynamic weather affecting driving, visibility, NPC behaviour, and even mission conditions would be a natural fit for that design philosophy.

Wildlife across Leonida

Right behind weather, Game Informer is teasing the “staggering amount of wildlife” in the game. Rockstar’s open worlds have featured animals since Red Dead Redemption, but the promise of native and non-native species across land, air, and sea suggests an ecosystem with real density — alligators in the swamps, birds of prey over the Keys-style islands, marine life off the coast. One of the reported angles is that Leonida is “teeming” with creatures on every layer of the world, which would make exploration feel alive in a way even GTA 5’s wilderness never quite managed.

What this means with seven weeks to go

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. That leaves roughly seven weeks between this cover story and release — and the timing feels deliberate. Rockstar has been running a near-weekly rhythm of announcements since late August (the Netflix Extended Look, the DualSense controllers, the pre-order hardware wave, GTA VI: The Album, and this week’s $400 collector’s box), and a Game Informer deep-dive on Leonida’s creation reads like the start of the final information push.

The Game Informer connection is also a deliberate bit of tradition: Rockstar has done major information drops through the magazine for more than two decades, and Game Informer has historically had some of the best long-form coverage of Rockstar’s behemoths. For fans who still love the print-era ritual, this one carries real weight.

How to get the issue

The digital version of Game Informer Issue #382 goes live for subscribers on September 29, 2026. Print copies will ship to subscribers and arrive in bookstores and newsstands in the weeks after. Game Informer now ships internationally to more than 50 countries — a big change from its old US-only print model — so fans outside America can get the physical cover too.

We’ll be covering every new detail, screenshot, and quote the moment the digital issue drops. With launch this close, every official word counts — and this 14-page feature is shaping up to be one of the biggest ones left on the calendar.

Sources

• GTAVice.net — Game Informer’s GTA 6 Cover Story Coming Tuesday September 29th
• TheGamer — GTA 6 Game Informer Official Preview Confirmed For September 29
• RockstarINTEL — New GTA 6 Details To Be Revealed In Game Informer Cover Story
• KhelNow — Game Informer reveals new GTA 6 cover, weather details & more
• TechWiser — GTA 6 to be Game Informer Cover Story With 12 New Screenshots
• Cheat Code Central — GTA 6’s Jason and Lucia Headline Game Informer’s Next Magazine Cover
• @grandtheftauto6 on Instagram — Game Informer cover art coverage (Sept 25)
• @grandtheftauto6 on Instagram — cover story carousel (Sept 25)