GTA 6 will let you listen to podcasts and radio when you’re not in a car

One of the little touches that’s always set GTA apart is getting into a car and listening to the radio. Even the original DMA Design title on PS1 had this feature, and over the decades it’s grown from a handful of rights-free tracks to an in-game universe of DJs, stations, media conglomerates and sordid celebrity storylines. Looking at you, Lazlow.

For GTA 6, Rockstar is changing how you access the radio, taking it out of your car and into your earbuds, which you’ll carry on you everywhere. Rockstar introduced the new feature via an announcement on its official website.

“For the first time ever,” reads the post, “Grand Theft Auto VI introduces a series of on-demand podcasts for Jason and Lucia to experience beyond Leonida’s terrestrial radio, with both radio and podcasts available to listen to in vehicles and on foot through newly introduced headphones and earbuds connected to their smartphones.”

Rockstar’s GTA games have always held a dark mirror up to modern life, but this latest development might actually be the most damning indictment of our society than any before. Jason and Lucia are so dopamine-addicted that they need entertainment while they’re marauding through Vice City on a crime spree? Goodness.

And worse still, what does it say about us as players if we need to pop on a podcast while we’re playing actual GTA 6? Can nothing hold our attention anymore?

In any case, there are six radio stations detailed in the blog post, covering southern hip-hop to classic metal. That’s a broad enough gamut that you should have no problem finding the perfect soundtrack to your nefarious deeds in a given moment.