Quick Answer: No official confirmation exists, but Red Dead Redemption 2’s groundbreaking NPC carrying system—allowing players to hogtie, carry, and store bodies on horses—has built strong community demand for GTA 6 to replicate and evolve the mechanic using modern vehicles. Adapting trunk storage for NPCs would dramatically expand emergent gameplay possibilities, from creative mission solutions to sandbox terrorism, while leveraging Rockstar’s RAGE 9 physics engine. Though still speculative, the feature aligns with Rockstar’s trend of increasing physicality and interactive world detail with each generation.
Main Analysis
The RDR2 Blueprint: Body Handling and Emergent Freedom
Red Dead Redemption 2 set a new standard for interactive physics with its system for handling NPCs. Players could lasso enemies from horseback, hogtie them, carry them over their shoulders (dead or alive), and store them on the back of their horse. The system didn’t just feel realistic; it created organic storytelling. Drag a bounty hunter to a gator-infested swamp, and watch the crocodiles feed. Toss a corpse off a cliff to satisfy a serial killer easter egg. The physics engine allowed every body to have weight, collision, and a ragdoll state that reacted to environment—including being fed to predators or dropped from heights.
GTA 6, built on the ninth iteration of the RAGE engine (first used in GTA 5 and refined for RDR2), has the technical foundation to implement a similar system in a 2020s urban setting. The difference, of course, is that protagonists in GTA 6 will primarily use cars, trucks, and vans rather than horses. But the core design philosophy—giving players the tools to interact with NPCs beyond combat—could translate beautifully. Imagine luring a rival gang member into an alley, incapacitating them, and stuffing them into the trunk of a sedan. That single action opens multiple gameplay possibilities: interrogation, disposal, hostage-taking, or even using the kidnapped NPC as a distraction.
Why Trunk Storage Fits GTA 6’s Modern Setting
A car trunk is the modern equivalent of a horse’s saddlebags—but for people. In RDR2, you could store a body on your horse, but you could only carry one at a time (unless you dragged another with a lasso). A sedan trunk can fit at least two bodies, and a van could hold several. This would reshape mission design in GTA 6. Instead of simply killing a target and escaping, you might be required to capture them alive, transport them across the Vice City metro area, and deliver them to a location. Trunk storage turns vehicles into mobile evidence vaults.
The feature also enables sandbox chaos. Players could drive around with a trunk full of NPCs—alive or dead—and then pop the trunk in a police station parking lot, causing chaos. Or dump bodies in the Everglades (a rumored swamp location near Vice City) mimicking the gator-feeding mechanic from RDR2. The natural follow-through is that law enforcement AI would need to react: if a cop searches your car and finds a body, you get a wanted level. That minor system addition would create high-stakes moments of tension during routine traffic stops.
Physicality and Ragdoll: The Technical Challenge
Rockstar’s RAGE engine has always been strong on vehicle physics, but NPC-to-vehicle interaction has been limited. In GTA 5, you can knock down pedestrians, run them over, and see them ragdoll, but you cannot pick them up or move them deliberately. The best you could do is drag a body with a car door (if modders added it). RDR2 showed that the engine can handle a single humanoid mesh with complex contextual interaction (grabbing, lifting, carrying). Scaling that to a modern city with more vehicles, more NPCs, and a larger map (reportedly 2.5x GTA 5) is a technical hurdle but not insurmountable.
GTA 6 will likely need to store physical data for multiple NPCs inside enclosed spaces—the trunk. That means maintaining collision, animation, and state (alive/dead/conscious) for each stowed body. RDR2 did this for horses: you could store up to one large animal (deer, wolf) or multiple small pelts. For GTA 6, developers would have to allow trunk stacking, perhaps limited by weight or space. Modders have already shown that GTA 5 with scripthooks can simulate trunk storage, but a native implementation would be far more polished.
Emergent Gameplay Potential Beyond Kidnapping
Carrying NPCs isn’t just about kidnapping or murder cleanup. It enables creative mission completion. Consider a heist where you need to plant a decoy—instead of killing the guard, you knock him out, hide him in a trunk, and take his uniform. Or you need to bring an unconscious VIP to a safehouse. Trunk storage could also be part of a “bagman” side activity where you transport whacked guys for the mob, like the Taxidermy missions in GTA: San Andreas but more interactive.
In GTA Online 2, this could become a core mechanic. Imagine a game mode where one team must transport a body in a trunk across the map while the other team tries to retrieve it, leading to high-speed chases with point-of-interest scanning. Or a mission where you must fill a van with dead gang members to make the police think there was a massacre, then detonate the van as a diversion. The creative applications are nearly infinite—and that’s exactly the kind of sandbox depth that Rockstar prides itself on.
Historical Context: GTA V’s Missing Physicality vs. RDR2’s Leap
GTA V (2013): NPCs as Props, Not Physics Objects
In Grand Theft Auto V, NPCs are essentially interactive ragdolls after death, but you cannot grab, carry, or stash them. The physics engine treats them as obstacles. The only way to manipulate a body is to drive over it, shoot it, or (in modded versions) use a tow truck to drag it. Rockstar’s design choice prioritized fast, arcade-like action over physical simulation. Even in missions that require dumping a body (e.g., “The Wrap Up” where Michael disposes of a corpse), the game handles it via a cutscene or scripted prompt rather than player-driven mechanics.
This was a limitation of the console-era hardware and design philosophy. By 2018, with RDR2, Rockstar proved that they could create a much more tactile world. The difference is staggering. In GTA V, if you want to hide a body, you must find a bush and push it under using the car—a clunky workaround. In RDR2, you can literally pick up a corpse, walk it into the woods, and drop it in a ravine. GTA 6 must bridge that gap.
Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018): Full Physical Interaction
RDR2 gave players the ability to carry NPCs in multiple ways: over the shoulder, cradled in arms (like a child), or across a horse. The system included contextual animations based on weight, speed, and terrain. If you sprinted while carrying a body, you’d stumble. If you dropped it off a cliff, it would tumble realistically. The game even tracked the body’s state (alive, dead, decomposed). This level of detail made the open world feel alive and responsive.
For GTA 6, the logical evolution is to transfer these mechanics to cars. Instead of a horse, you have a Banshee or a Burrito van. Instead of lassoing, you may use zip ties or a stun gun. The trunk becomes the new saddle. Given that GTA 6 is set in modern-day Leonida (Florida), we can expect weapons like tasers, chloroform, or sedative darts—tools that would allow non-lethal capture, a missing feature in GTA 5.
GTA: San Andreas (2004) – Early Precursor
Interestingly, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had a crude form of body carrying. You could drag dead bodies by tapping the “pick up” button near a corpse, and CJ would lift them (though with stiff animations). You couldn’t store them in vehicles, but you could toss them in water or off ledges. It was one of the first attempts at physicality in the series, but hardware limits made it a novelty. GTA 6 would finally realize that early vision with modern physics.
| Feature | GTA V (2013) | RDR2 (2018) | Expected GTA 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pick up NPCs | No | Yes (over shoulder, horse) | Likely (human + vehicle carry) |
| Store bodies in vehicle | No | On horse (1 body) | Trunk (2+ bodies) |
| Hogtie/kidnap | No | Lasso, hogtie | Zip ties, stun gun (speculative) |
| Physics drag behind vehicle | No (limited mods) | Lasso drag | Dragging by rope or chain (theorized) |
| NPC reaction to body in trunk | N/A | N/A | Police search alert, heat level increase |
What This Means / Why This Matters
If Rockstar implements NPC carrying and trunk storage in GTA 6, it would finally unify the simulation depth of RDR2 with the modern sandbox of GTA. The feature would fundamentally change how players approach missions, side activities, and free roam. Instead of killing everyone in a compound, you could kidnap the boss and interrogate him in the trunk of your car. Instead of leaving a trail of bodies, you could stash them in an industrial dumpster—but more satisfyingly, you could drive them to a remote swamp and feed them to alligators.
For GTA Online 2, this creates exciting opportunities for new PvE and PvP modes. Imagine a game type where players compete to kidnap VIPs and transport them to extraction points, with the body in the trunk vulnerable to detection by police scanners. Or a “body disposal” job where you must collect corpses from a massacre site without being seen—using trunk storage to haul them away. The risk-reward element of being pulled over in a high-traffic area while transporting a body would add tension that GTA Online often lacks.
Moreover, the inclusion of trunk storage would increase immersion. In GTA 5, vehicles feel like hollow shells—you can fill them with NPCs as passengers, but the trunk is purely cosmetic. GTA 6’s RAGE 9 engine could allow opening trunks dynamically, storing not just bodies but also loot, weapons, or even NPCs in car seats. This would make vehicle ownership more meaningful and strategic.
Community Reaction
The Reddit post by u/Tank-ToP_Master garnered over 500 upvotes and comments largely in agreement. Many users pointed out that RDR2’s body physics were one of the most memorable features, and they want to see it translate to GTA 6. Common sentiments include:
- “Trunk burial” humor: Many joked about using trunks to “dump bodies in the swamp” like in the Everglades.
- Parallel to GTA V missing features: Some lamented that GTA V felt “empty” compared to RDR2 despite being set in a modern city.
- Technical doubts: A few expressed concern that the console CPUs (PS5 and Xbox Series X) might not handle persistent physics objects inside vehicles without glitches.
- Modder envy: Several PC players noted that mods for GTA V already allow trunk body storage, and they hope Rockstar officializes it.
- Police interactions: The idea of cops finding a body during a traffic stop was highly praised as a game-changing mechanic.
The majority sentiment is that this feature bridges the one immersion gap between Rockstar’s two flagship series. A popular comment says, “GTA V was great, but after RDR2 I can’t go back—I want to be able to physically interact with NPCs, not just shoot them.”
Rumors & Unconfirmed Theories
While there is no official confirmation of NPC carrying or trunk storage in GTA 6, a few unconfirmed rumors have circulated:
- A known leaker (“Tez2” on GTAForums) previously hinted that GTA 6 would allow “real-time object interaction with vehicle interiors,” which could include trunk functionality. This has not been corroborated by any reputable source.
- Some analysts point to Rockstar’s job listings for “physics programmer” and “AI interaction designer” as evidence that they are expanding physical interactions beyond RDR2.
- A patent filed by Take-Two in 2020 describes a “system for stowing items in virtual vehicle storage compartments,” which could cover both loot and NPCs. However, patents do not guarantee implementation.
- Community theories speculate that a mission in GTA 6’s story will involve transporting a dead body in a trunk, based on a script leak (unverified) referencing a “Michael-like” character disposing of a corpse.
Note: All of the above remain speculative. Rockstar has not acknowledged any specific NPC carrying or trunk storage features. The community’s hope is based on the natural progression from RDR2 and the trajectory of the RAGE engine, but concrete evidence is lacking. Until Rockstar releases official gameplay trailers or a developer diary, these should be treated as wishful thinking rather than leaked content.
More GTA 6 Guides
- Gameplay Features and New Mechanics in GTA 6
- Everything Known About GTA 6 Characters: Lucia and Jason
- GTA 6 Map Guide: Vice City and the State of Leonida
- GTA 6 Release Date, Price, and Editions Breakdown
Source: Original Article