When a game developer makes a “real-world-style” city, they obviously want players to enjoy it to the fullest. They’ll pack it with things to do, with both the main quest and side quests in mind. If they want to go even further with the realism, they add a day/night cycle, so you can see what the city is like during different points and what “opens up” when the lights go down. GTA 6 has already been confirmed to have such a cycle, as Rockstar Games loves opening up that option for players. The thing fans want to know is, “How long will the stages of the day last?”
If that sounds odd, we’ll explain. You see, the way Rockstar Games does it is that the time that actually passes helps “move things along” with the cycle, but it’s not 1-to-1 for obvious reasons. Instead, each “cycle takes” less than an hour, and on Reddit, some GTA 6 fans are hoping that for more “realism,” that’ll change:
“Personally, I’d love if Rockstar increased the duration compared to GTA V and RDR2’s 48 minute cycle. A longer day/night cycle would add a lot more immersion, giving us time to really enjoy the atmosphere, lighting changes, and transitions like sunsets and sunrises.
I think a total of around 2 hours per in-game day would be great. Maybe something like 45-50 minutes for the day, 45-50 minutes for the night, and 10-15 minutes for each sunset/sunrises transition.”
Many were in agreement with that, especially with all the teases of getting to “enjoy Vice City in the day or the night” and seeing how it comes alive in different ways.
“There’s bound to be so much to do, and guessing from some signs in the Jack of Hearts there’s going to be different events on different days. And even at some specific hours in the Rusty Anchor I believe. You need some decent time to spend there to feel immersed I think.”
Indeed, the “immersion” of it all is a key thing here, and that might be why Rockstar Games does some adjustments to help ensure players have the time, literally, to do all they want while it’s light or dark out. Now, naturally, they’ll likely also institute a way for the player to “speed things up” so that they can get to the day or night cycle for key things like story missions.
Regardless, many will want to spend time in Vice City and beyond, regardless of how much light is outside.
