For the last 25 years, if gamers have wanted to sprint in a GTA game, they’ve had to pay the price with their thumb. Mashing the A or X button on a controller to get around the world faster has become unanimous with the series, with even Red Dead Redemption adopting the control scheme too.
Thankfully, Rockstar appears to have decided that enough is enough and has reportedly changed the way we’ll sprint in GTA 6 to a much easier option.
According to YouTuber MikeShowSha, who was invited to Rockstar HQ to see around two hours of GTA 6 gameplay, sprinting in GTA 6 will be achieved by simply pressing the left stick in. No mashing the same button multiple times over until you develop a repetitive strain injury, just one single button press that we imagine can either be set to a toggle or a press.
This brings the control scheme much more in line with most modern titles, which usually bind sprinting to a single button.
Despite the change making GTA 6 much easier to control, diehard fans aren’t all pleased with the change.
“Hopefully the classic configuration is available,” reads one comment. Another adds, “Heresy. Without the sound of my sweaty thumb jackhammering on the A button(for as we all know, the faster you tap the faster you run) it simply is not Grand Theft Auto.”
Meanwhile, a third says, “I actually like tap X more.”
It’s unclear whether Rockstar will include a legacy control scheme that will allow players to choose which way they want to sprint in the settings. Of course, in an ideal world, developers would let us customise the controls in any which way we like.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of any game that forces me to use L3 and R3. Pressing the sticks in has always felt a little wrong to me, making it hard to maintain a steady directional input at the same time.
There’s also the increased risk of stick drift, which has become more prevalent on modern controllers, although less so on ones with Hall Effect sticks.
Ideally, I always love to map any default stick press controls to a rear paddle button on my Steam Deck or Pro controller. That’s not an option on default Xbox and DualSense pads, though, so fingers crossed there’s a way for players to remap the GTA 6 controls as players desire.
Which method of sprinting do you prefer in GTA 6?
