Accessibility Options Expected in GTA VI

Accessibility Options Expected in GTA VI

Executive Summary

Accessibility in AAA games has shifted from an afterthought to a measurable industry expectation in the years since Rockstar shipped Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) in 2018. Titles such as The Last of Us Part II (TLOU2) and Forza Horizon 5 (FH5) now establish a public benchmark of 60+ configurable options spanning vision, hearing, motor and cognitive domains (Naughty Dog, 2020). Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI), arriving into a market where accessibility scores influence reviews, awards and platform certification, is expected to meet — and in several areas materially exceed — the RDR2 baseline. This report synthesises modern accessibility standards, identifies RDR2's gaps, and projects the realistic feature set GTA VI must ship to remain credible against contemporary peers.

RDR2 Accessibility Baseline (2018)

RDR2 launched with what was, for Rockstar, an above-average but ultimately conservative accessibility offering. Confirmed features included:

  • Subtitles with size scaling, background opacity and speaker names.
  • Aim assist with three levels (Free Aim, Wide and Lock-On) on console.
  • Colourblind modes (Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia) for HUD/map elements.
  • Cinematic mode for long horse rides, reducing input demand.
  • Auto-run/cinematic camera options that lower repetitive-input fatigue.
  • HUD customisation including toggles for radar, mini-map and on-screen markers.
  • Targeting Reticule adjustments (simple, complex, expanded).

Notable absences against the 2018-onwards expectation set were the lack of full controller remapping on console, no audio-only navigation cues, no high-contrast render mode, no toggle alternatives for held buttons, no text-to-speech, and limited combat difficulty granularity (Game Accessibility Guidelines, n.d.). These omissions are precisely the categories the post-TLOU2 industry now treats as table-stakes.

Modern Standards Setting the Bar

The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog, 2020)

TLOU2 documented over 60 settings organised around three accessibility presets — Vision, Hearing and Motor — letting users one-tap configure recommended bundles (Naughty Dog, 2020). Headline features that have since been widely adopted across AAA include:

  • Full input remapping including touch-pad swipes and shake events.
  • Hold-to-Toggle / Tap-to-Hold conversions for every contextual input (aim, sprint, listen, crafting, weapon swap).
  • High Contrast Display rendering allies, enemies and interactables in distinct flat colours over a desaturated world.
  • Screen Magnifier with touch-pad panning.
  • Text-to-Speech narration of menus, item names and status, supported across 25+ languages.
  • Navigation Assistance (L3 reorients camera to next story beat) and Enhanced Listen Mode scanning for off-screen items/enemies.
  • Traversal and Combat Audio Cues for jumpable gaps, climbs, incoming melee, aim acquisition and hit confirmation.
  • Ledge Guard, Auto Pick-Up, Auto Weapon Swap, Infinite Breath, Skip Puzzle options.
  • Combat Accessibility sub-menu (Reduced Enemy Perception/Accuracy, Enemies Don't Flank, Allies Don't Get Grabbed, Invisible While Prone, Slow Motion).
  • Motion sickness mitigations: camera shake slider, motion blur slider, FOV slider, dolly-zoom toggle, persistent centre dot.
  • Subtitle direction arrows and per-speaker colour coding.

Forza Horizon 5 (Playground Games, 2021)

FH5 raised the bar in two driving-game-specific areas particularly relevant for GTA VI's driving loop:

  • In-game sign language interpretation (ASL and BSL) for cinematics — an industry first at AAA scale.
  • Game speed scaling and steering, braking and throttle assists with fine-grained sliders.
  • Screen narrator / UI narration covering menus, race results and tuning screens.
  • Subtitle background opacity with full size/colour controls.
  • Custom controller mapping plus Xbox Adaptive Controller support.

Game Accessibility Guidelines (Industry Consensus)

The Game Accessibility Guidelines, maintained collaboratively by studios, specialists and academics, codify the Basic/Intermediate/Advanced tiers that publishers now benchmark against (Game Accessibility Guidelines, n.d.). The Basic tier alone mandates remappable controls, control sensitivity adjustment, separate volume sliders for effects/speech/music, subtitles for important speech, high contrast text/UI, easily readable default font sizes, avoidance of flicker, no essential info conveyed by colour or sound alone, and details of accessibility features visible in-game and on packaging. Failing the Basic tier in 2025 is now treated as a reviewable defect by outlets such as Can I Play That? and the AbleGamers charity's APX assessment.

Expected Feature Set for GTA VI

Based on the trajectory above, GTA VI is expected to ship at minimum the following options. Items marked (*) extend the RDR2 baseline.

Vision

  • HUD scale and HUD colour selection (*).
  • Colourblind modes (Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia) applied to HUD, map markers and minigame elements.
  • High Contrast Display render mode highlighting NPCs, vehicles, enemies, mission objects and pick-ups (*).
  • Screen magnifier or zoomable map (*).
  • Text-to-Speech for menus, mission briefings, phone UI and item descriptions (*).
  • Adjustable subtitle size, background, colour, speaker names and on/off-screen direction arrows.
  • Font size slider for in-world text (phone, billboards, mission instructions) (*).
  • Persistent reticule dot toggle, motion blur slider, camera shake slider, FOV slider on PC/PS5 Pro/console where supported.

Hearing

  • Subtitles on by default for story and ambient/combat dialogue with full customisation.
  • Visual damage-direction indicators and threat awareness arrows (*).
  • On-screen captions for significant environmental sounds (sirens, gunshots, vehicle alarms) (*).
  • Visual speaker identification during radio/phone calls.
  • Separate volume sliders for dialogue, effects, music, radio, accessibility cues and ambient.
  • Stereo/mono toggle and binaural audio option.

Motor

  • Full controller remapping on console and PC, including stick swaps and orientation (*).
  • Hold-to-Toggle conversion for every held action: aim, sprint, crouch, cover, free-aim lock, vehicle handbrake, melee block (*).
  • Auto-run, auto-drive cinematic camera and auto-pick-up for ammo/cash/health.
  • Aim assist with strength slider, snap-to-target option and auto-target mode for low-vision/motor users.
  • Driving assists: assisted steering, brake assist, throttle assist, line-keep and rubber-banding sliders (FH5-style) (*).
  • Quick-time event / repeated press alternatives (single hold, single tap) (*).
  • Compatibility with Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation Access Controller and standard switch-input APIs (*).

Cognitive

  • Difficulty granularity across combat, driving, stealth, economy and police response (TLOU2-style decomposition) (*).
  • Mission checkpoints with the ability to skip or replay narrative beats.
  • On-demand objective reminders and controls reminders.
  • Distraction-free mode that hides non-essential HUD chatter.
  • Optional content warnings before scenes depicting violence, sexual content or strobe effects.
  • Flashing/strobe reduction toggle (epilepsy-safety) (*).

General

  • Three preset bundles (Vision / Hearing / Motor) modelled on TLOU2 to lower configuration burden (Naughty Dog, 2020).
  • Settings preserved per profile and synced via Rockstar cloud.
  • In-game accessibility documentation surfaced from the title screen, not buried in nested menus.
  • Public accessibility tags on the Rockstar store page and platform store fronts.

Risks and Open Questions

Rockstar's historical reluctance to provide controller remapping in open-world titles, combined with GTA Online's competitive pressure (where some assists could be argued to give unfair advantage), creates two structural risks: (1) Online mode may carve out exceptions that exclude motor-impaired players from large parts of the live game, and (2) Driving/shooting feel is core to Rockstar's identity, so aggressive auto-target or slow-motion options may be tuned conservatively. The industry's mitigation pattern — separate matchmaking pools for players using competitive-advantage assists (Game Accessibility Guidelines, n.d.) — provides a viable template.

Conclusion

GTA VI cannot ship the RDR2 feature set unchanged in 2026 without significant critical backlash. The realistic floor is full remap, hold-to-toggle, high-contrast rendering, TTS, expanded subtitle customisation, granular difficulty, motion-sickness sliders and driving assists. Matching TLOU2's preset-driven architecture and FH5's driving assist depth would position GTA VI competitively; falling short of either materially endangers the title's standing in accessibility reviews that now meaningfully influence Game of the Year discourse.

References

Game Accessibility Guidelines (n.d.) Full list. Available at: https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/full-list/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).

Naughty Dog (2020) The Last of Us Part II: Accessibility Features Detailed. Available at: https://www.naughtydog.com/blog/the_last_of_us_part_ii_accessibility_features_detailed (Accessed: 14 May 2026).

Playground Games (2021) Forza Horizon 5 Accessibility Features. Xbox Wire. Available at: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).

Rockstar Games (2018) Red Dead Redemption 2 — Settings and Accessibility. Rockstar Support. Available at: https://support.rockstargames.com/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).

AbleGamers Charity (2022) Accessible Player Experiences (APX) Patterns. Available at: https://accessible.games/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).

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