For nearly 25 years, Grand Theft Auto games have uniquely mapped your sprint movement to a face button on a controller. Although some Rockstar games offered alternate control schemes, the default has always required players to tap X or A (depending on your platform) to run. But GTA 6 is bucking the trend.
Rockstar recently showed GTA 6 to select few media outlets and content creators, and now that we’ve gone through the meaty details about driving mechanics, character relationships and the open world, some of the finer gameplay nuances have started to show. YouTuber MikeShowSha was one of the content creators invited, and in a new Q&A video, the question of which button you use to sprint was asked.
The video is entirely in Italian, but it didn’t take long for players to discover the tidbit of pertinent information on Reddit and social media. According to MikeShowSha, clicking in the left stick on the controller – (L3) – is now the default sprint input command.
L3, of course, has been the default sprint button in the majority of shooters for well over a decade. The way it works in other games is that simply clicking the left stick initiates the sprint, then tilting the stick away from the top – or letting go of it entirely – brings you back to standard movement speed.
The unusualness of tapping X/A to sprint has made it one of GTA 6’s most recognisable controls. Indeed, you’d be hard pressed to find a modern third-person game that does the same. But even where that is the case, such as in a lot of FromSoftware games, running isn’t essential. Those games also ask you to hold the face button rather than continuously tap it. Tapping a face button is mainly reserved for quick-time events these days, and even there, most games let you hold the button rather than tap.
Netflix’s extended GTA 6 gameplay showed impressive visuals and a detailed world, but ran at 30 FPS, and left players wondering whether the game would offer any other framerate options. Following the showcase, it was confirmed that GTA 6 runs at 30 FPS on consoles, with Rockstar reportedly unsure about adding a 60 FPS option. If the game does get a Performance mode, it will be after launch at some point.
GTA 6 releases 19th November on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
