GTA 6 Hype Turns Ugly: Some Players Plot Racist Attacks on NPCs of Color as America’s Racial Divide Deepens

GTA 6 is doing what GTA always does: breaking brains with absurd attention to detail and accidentally lighting up the worst parts of the internet. This time, a harmless hype tweet turned into a gross detour about race, reminding everyone that realism in games cuts both ways depending on who is holding the controller.

The tweet that set it off

"Rockstar Games even thought about smudges and fingerprints on the pole dance bars in GTA 6 👀"

That came from @TREVORTRAILER (display name: TREVOR4REAL) on October 16, 2025, reacting to one of those viral zoom-ins on Rockstar polish. Pretty standard fanfare. Then the replies took a hard left.

How a detail spiral became something uglier

What started as a fun nod to Rockstar craft morphed into a thread pushing racist junk, including slurs (not repeating them here). One user went so far as to say it would be 'fun' if rumored leaks are true and NPCs beg and cry while being shot — and that they would target NPCs of color specifically. If you felt your stomach drop reading that, same.

Not everyone let it slide

The better part of the replies pushed back. On October 18, users Taste Maker (@Jayboy134501) and Ace (@Acew4shere) called the racist posturing sad and pathetic, basically telling the instigators they are only brave behind a screen. That part of the thread, at least, felt like the internet doing some self-cleaning.

The bigger picture: Rockstar realism is a double-edged sword

GTA 6 reportedly carries a monster budget in the $1–2 billion range and is shaping up to be the most ambitious thing the industry has attempted. Rockstar has a reputation for making worlds more realistic than they need to be — see Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018, which set the bar for tiny, obsessive details most games would never bother with.

Now take that philosophy, drop it into modern-day America, and yeah — you are going to get elements that feel uncomfortable. Some of that is intentional world-building, reflecting reality. Some of it is players choosing to be awful because the simulation gives them room. That is the curse side of the 'every pixel matters' approach: you do not just simulate behavior; you also invite it.

Where this is headed

• Oct 16, 2025: A GTA fan account, @TREVORTRAILER, goes viral praising microscopic details like smudges on pole dance bars.
• The replies devolve into racist comments, including slurs, with one user saying they would specifically target NPCs of color if rumored AI reactions (begging/crying while being shot) are in the game.
• Oct 18, 2025: Other users clap back, calling the racism pathetic and performative.
• Meanwhile, GTA 6 is said to be landing May 26 next year, with expectations sky-high and a reported $1–2 billion budget fueling the hype.

Bottom line

GTA 6 is going to be a cultural moment, and the attention to detail will be both the flex and the flashpoint. Rockstar can build the sandbox; what players do with it is on them. Here is hoping most people choose to be creative and chaotic in the fun way — not the ugly kind that bleeds into real life where it actually hurts people.