GTA Trilogy remasters will have GTA 5 controls according to leak

Sam Smith
GTA PS2 box art

Eagled-eyed members of the GTA forums have spotted clues as to how the GTA remasters will play, and inspiration comes from a familiar source.

Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Definitive Edition will arrive on PlayStation and Xbox consoles sometime this year, and is coming to Switch and mobile sometime in 2022. But Rockstar is yet to reveal how exactly these PS2 games will transition to the current gen in regards to controls.

However, achievement artwork discovered over on the GTA Forums may offer gamers an answer to this question. Data miner alloc8or has revealed that a piece of text connected to the achievement leak states that the GTA Definitive Edition will reuse GTA 5’s control scheme.

GTA 5 trevor
The GTA remasters may feature GTA 5’s control scheme.

GTA 5 control scheme in GTA Definitive Edition?

The datamined text in full reads:

“Play the genre-defining classics of the original Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas updated for a new generation, now with across-the-board enhancements including brilliant new lighting and environmental upgrades, high-resolution textures, increased draw distances, Grand Theft Auto 5-style controls and targeting, and much more, bringing these beloved worlds to life with all-new levels of detail.”

While alloc8or has been right in the past, nothing is set in stone until it’s officially confirmed by Rockstar. Updating the PS2-era GTA games with GTA 5’s controls makes sense, but we imagine there will be some differences when the game arrives later this year.

Michael in GTA Online
Could the remasters add more features from games like GTA 5?

How could GTA 5 controls change the definitive edition?

Using GTA 5 control scheme could fundamentally change games like GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas. While games like GTA 4 and GTA 5 used a scheme that was based on the earlier games, it expanded upon them greatly.

GTA 5 featured a cover system along with more sophisticated targeting/aiming mechanics. While an updated aiming system is certainly plausible, could the older GTA games benefit from a cover system? The PS2 era games weren’t designed with this mechanic in mind, it could make the games appear too easy, giving the player an advantage over their AI opponents.

It all depends on how far Rockstar has gone when remastering each game. If each game has just been given a new lick of paint then, gameplay changes are unlikely. But as Rockstar is yet to confirm what’s different, the possibility remains.

San Andreas received fan made cover system mods, but these were clunky and didn’t bring that much to the experience. It will be interesting to see if Rockstar could implement something similar while making it feel natural.

About The Author

Sam is a Senior Games Writer for Dexerto specializing in Survival Horror, Diablo, Final Fantasy, and Soulslikes. An NCTJ accredited journalist, Sam also holds a degree in journalism from the University of Central Lancashire and has many years of experience as a professional writer. Being able to marry his love of writing with his addiction to video games was always one of his life goals. He also loves all things PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo in equal measure. Contact at sam.smith@dexerto.com