GTA 6 Recaptures What Made GTA’s Best DLC So Great

Published Oct 16, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT Ryan Epps is a contributing writer for Polygon. His writing spans both the entertainment and tech verticals, with bylines covering everything from Dark Souls to TVs at sites like Tom’s Guide, IGN, Digital Trends, TheGamer, Tech Times, and more. The high life, with a body count Grand Theft Auto 6Image: Rockstar Games If there’s one word that describes GTA 6, it’s sexy. Since its debut trailer, the new open-world game appears to be a drastic detour from Rockstar’s previous entries, in its enhanced version of Vice City, and in the dynamic between its dual protagonists and how their steamy relationship informs the narrative. Based on roughly 30 minutes of official footage across its four main trailers, club life, excessive robberies, pastel pinks, roaring high-end sports cars, and even more explosive action set pieces than GTA 5 seem to be the hallmarks of this new experience. It’s shaping up to be Rockstar's magnum opus. Of course, while utterly gorgeous and visually striking, those elements aren’t exactly unique to GTA 6. In fact, most of the trailers we’ve seen thus far bring to mind another Grand Theft Auto game that reveled in the same brand of excess, an expansion that feels increasingly relevant with every new look at Rockstar’s next open-world sandbox. Released in 2009 as the second and final DLC pack for GTA 4, The Ballad of Gay Tony traded the base game's grimy streets and bruised moral sensibilities for a gaudier vision of Liberty City, built around thumping nightclubs, champagne-soaked parties, luxury cars, and criminal escapades that grew ever-more ridiculous with each passing mission. You play as Luis Lopez, a nightclub manager and longtime right-hand man to Anthony “Gay Tony” Prince, the flamboyant impresario behind Liberty City's Maisonette 9 and Hercules clubs. As Tony's mounting debts threaten to bring his nightlife empire crashing down, Luis finds himself caught between his loyalty to his boss, increasingly dangerous criminal associates, and the temptations of the very lifestyle he's trying to preserve. It’s a predicament that feels strikingly similar to that of Jason and Lucia, whose criminal ambitions threaten to pull them into a vortex beyond their control. Whereas Luis is trying to keep Tony's extravagant world from falling apart, GTA 6 appears to follow two lovebirds trying to build a life together through increasingly dangerous means. Both stories are rooted in the seductive promise of criminal excess, and the inevitable danger that comes with chasing such a lifestyle. The similarities extend well beyond their protagonists, too. The Ballad of Gay Tony made its nightlife scene and music central to the experience, with missions that sent Luis into the criminal underworld lurking just beyond the velvet rope of Liberty City. GTA 6 already appears to be building an entire open world around that same collision of glamour and grime, from its neon-soaked clubs and beachside revelry to its wealthy social climbers, like nightclub owner Boobie Ike, and up-and-coming influencers, like the rap duo Real Dimez. (I, for one, can’t wait to catch the bus at the new-and-improved Malibu Club). Even the flashy cars fit the mold. The luxury sedans and high-end sports cars that populate Vice City feel ripped right out of Tony's world, and the Schafter (Mercedes-Benz look-alike) featured in GTA 6's extended Netflix trailer is a particularly striking reminder of the vehicle associated with the nightclub mogul himself. It's a small detail, but one that feels all the more conspicuous alongside its many visual echoes. Image: Rockstar Games And then there's the chaos. Gay Tony’s missions routinely escalated into explosive shootouts, high-speed pursuits, chopper chases, and elaborate set pieces that made GTA 4’s grounded crime drama feel downright quaint. One of my favorite missions is “For the Man Who Has Everything,” in which you skylift a Liberty City subway car off the tracks in broad daylight after bounding across train roofs equipped with an automatic shotgun and explosive rounds. Who can forget the aptly named "Sexy Time," where Luis steals a Buzzard attack chopper off a superyacht — only to immediately turn its missiles on the vessel and blow it to pieces? It’s a sequence that could literally slot right into GTA 6 without changing a beat. In many respects, these DLC missions later evolved into the high-octane absurdism at the heart of GTA Online. Free sign-up Get Polygon’s Wishlister newsletter A weekly cheat sheet to what you’ll eventually love to play. No buying, no commitment — just saving for later. Sign up free Free. Unsubscribe anytime. The footage Rockstar has shown of GTA 6 also centers on setpieces ripped straight out of high-concept action cinema. From a modified pickup tearing up Vice City asphalt while dragging a bank safe in pure Fast Five fashion, to chaotic cruiser pursuits with Lucia hanging out of a getaway vehicle dumping shells from a rotary grenade launcher, the game looks every bit as explosive as its 2009 counterpart. Even the hot-pink mission markers spotted in gameplay footage feel like a direct inheritance from Gay Tony’s visual DNA, a loud aesthetic anchor that ties right into the neon nightclubs, sun-scorched pastels, and unbridled excess defining Leonida. These aren't accidental flourishes, but the fingerprints of a philosophy Rockstar perfected over 15 years ago, resurrected to rule an entire sprawling state. In retrospect, The Ballad of Gay Tony almost feels like a Vice City expansion hiding inside GTA 4, standing in stark contrast to the base game's (and even The Lost and Damned’s) dour sensibilities. It was the total package — the strobe-lit dance floors, the pastel decadence, the opulent swagger, and the sheer high-gloss glamour — that gave Gay Tony that definitive sexy identity. Its larger-than-life characters seamlessly fit the debauchery of Leonida, making the return of Luis, Tony, or fan favorites like the gold-obsessed Yusuf Amir an enticing prospect for GTA 6. Whether Rockstar has any plans to bring back familiar characters remains to be seen, but the connections are already there, woven into almost every part of the game's visual and mechanical design. The Ballad of Gay Tony gave us a glimpse into what Grand Theft Auto could look like when it stopped apologizing for its own absurdity and embraced the ride. If GTA 6 is determined to bring that unapologetically sexy edge back to the series as its trailers seem to suggest, there’s no better stage for it to thrive than Vice City.