How Heat Works in GTA 6

Heat enters the GTA universe for the first time in GTA 6. After a similar system was used in RDR 2, Rockstar took it and fused it with the traditional GTA wanted stars, and the result is pretty spectacular.

We now have an accurate idea of how the wanted system works in GTA 6. It’s the typical stars we’ve seen in every GTA game, but there’s a completely new element to it as well. I looked into it, and here’s how Heat works in GTA 6.

How Heat Works

Once you’ve been caught and reported for committing a crime in GTA 6, an area will appear on your map that indicates a heat zone. This zone is where police will search for persons matching your description. So you’ll have to either leave this area to fully escape the cops and lose your wanted level, or you’ll need to take care of several indicators on-screen that will help hide you from the cops.

In the Extended Look, we see the team taking care of some of these indicators and then driving right past the police within the heat zone without getting spotted.

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Driving past police in a van with heat active. — Image via Rockstar Games

During this sequence, we see the wanted stars take on three different states. Solid white stars indicate that the police are actively chasing you and have a specific idea of where you are. If you can manage to break line of sight, you’ll get flashing white stars, according to TGG, who attended the previews at Rockstar North. Once the stars turn red, police are still looking for you and may recognize you if you get too close.

You should be able to lose these stars by taking care of all your indicators or leaving the affected area. I will personally confirm this in-game and update this article when the time comes.

Finally, there are hollow stars. This doesn’t have much to do with heat, and only occurs when you get in and out of a robbery without revealing anything the police can use. You’re essentially free to roam at this point, unless you somehow announce your presence to the police. Again, I will confirm this in-game.

Can You Lose Heat by Changing Clothes?

The short answer is yes, but not if you have other active indicators. Changing clothes will resolve the specific indicator related to clothing, as shown in this close-up from the Extended Look:

The heat stars and indicators in GTA 6. — Image via Rockstar Games

But your other indicators may still give away your identity to police, and hence you can still be caught even after changing clothing. Be sure to take care of all your indicators to evade the police in GTA 6.

Can Jason and Lucia Split Up to Escape the Police?

Again, yes and no. In the above screenshot, we can see that the police know Jason and Lucia are working together, and so if they split up, this should remove that specific indicator. But then there’s still the appearance indicator, which should resolve after removing the mask, and the clothing indicator, which should resolve after changing clothing.

So once all the indicators are gone, we should be able to move around freely without attracting attention. Just maybe don’t go show off your stolen loot to the nearest officer, that might set you back a bit.