GTA 6 report: 170 animal species, hurricane weather

GTA 6 will feature more than 170 animal species across Leonida, including manatees, flamingos, and sharks, according to new details from Game Informer's cover story on the game. The feature breaks the wildlife down into over 60 bird types, roughly 30 land mammals, and a mix of fish and reptiles, making it the most concrete look yet at the scale of the game's ecosystem.

The same report describes a re-engineered weather system capable of producing hurricanes, a step beyond what Rockstar has shown before. It lines up with what we already knew about Leonida's climate from our earlier breakdown of the weather system, but the hurricane detail adds a new layer: these are systems that can change the look and feel of a whole region, not just a skybox effect.

For players, the species count is the strongest signal yet that Vice City's countryside is meant to be explored rather than driven past. GTA 5's wilderness was mostly set dressing. A roster this size, with manatees in the waterways and flamingos in the marshes, points to a living world that reacts to the player, and it gives the map a reason to exist beyond the roads.

The report goes further on how those animals behave. Rockstar's Michael Kane describes distinct movement for sharks, whales, rays, turtles, and jellyfish, and wildlife that can appear iridescent, bioluminescent, or translucent. Fur is fully simulated, with matting and clumping when animals get wet or dirty, a level of detail carried over from the Red Dead Redemption series' approach to coats and pelts.

The cover story also lists a range of activities across Leonida, including bungee jumping, billiards, gyms, kayaking, mini-golf, diving, street and off-road racing, zoos, airboat rides, and jet skis. Rockstar has not officially detailed any of them, so the activities list remains the thinnest part of the report. What is clear is that the wildlife and weather are meant to work together, with the environment itself acting as a gameplay system rather than a backdrop.

The weather system is built to be localized and persistent, so conditions in one part of Leonida can differ from another. The wind model includes offshore breezes after sunset, convectional updrafts, and occlusion from buildings, which affects hair, debris, water, and grass. That is the kind of detail that shows up in moment-to-moment play rather than trailers.

The cover story also frames Leonida as the largest map Rockstar has built, roughly twice the size of GTA 5's, split into six regions including Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park. That geography matters for the wildlife count: manatees and flamingos fit the Everglades-style Grassrivers, while the Keys and coastal waters give sharks, whales, and rays somewhere to live.

All of this sits on top of what we already know about the launch. GTA 6 arrives November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, with pre-orders open since June. The game is priced at $79.99 for the Standard edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate edition, and our editions guide breaks down what each tier includes, including the digital-only Ultimate and the boxed download code that ships with the physical Standard copy.

None of this is official yet. Game Informer's cover story is a single, credible report, and Rockstar has not published its own wildlife or weather breakdown. Until it does, the 170 species count and the hurricane system should be treated as reported rather than confirmed. Rockstar has been quiet since the June reveal, which makes this feature the most detailed look at the game we have had in months.

The question now is whether Rockstar follows up with its own look at Leonida's wildlife before launch. If even half of this holds, the state will be the densest, most reactive open world the studio has built, and the animal count is the clearest evidence yet that the wilderness is being treated as a character in its own right.