South Park airs real GTA VI gameplay, with dog poop thrown as a weapon

The episode

South Park used a previously unseen clip of GTA VI gameplay in its latest episode, which aired on Comedy Central on Wednesday, 28 October. The closing credits thank Rockstar Games for providing the footage, which ended online speculation that the scene was fan animation. The series has been officially retitled South America earlier this season, a jab at US president Donald Trump. The show also depicted a live-action deepfaked Trump earlier in October, shown using a toilet and talking to his own penis. Xataka notes that this season has repeatedly framed the GTA VI launch as the moment when things will get better in the United States, a dig at the national mood before the 3 November elections. Another episode also showed a GTA VI billboard.

What the scene shows

Inside the episode, a woman in a red jacket holds a remote and presents the game on a large screen to Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Randy Marsh. The screen shows a sunny beach where a German shepherd defecates in the sand before jumping onto a surfboard towed by a jet ski. The presenter points at the dog and says that people can pick up its excrement, and that players can throw things at others with it. The camera then shifts to an over-the-shoulder view of Jason, who wears a black sleeveless top and a red cap turned backwards, while a working minimap sits in the lower-left corner. While the dog's owner bends down to clean up, Jason hits a man in green shorts in the back, and the man turns to fight. The scene is brief and deliberately crude, and Xataka describes the beach as crowded with NPCs of varied body types who react to what happens and leave footprints in the sand.

Release and promotion

GTA VI is scheduled for release on 19 November on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Independent describes the game as arriving 13 years after its predecessor. Rockstar has kept tight control of gameplay footage despite numerous unauthorised leaks, and so far trailers and an extended look on Netflix have given a broad picture of the game. This South Park clip is one of the first pieces of gameplay to appear outside Rockstar's main channels. Spider's Web reports that American players will be able to buy real beer brewed to match a virtual brewery from the Rockstar universe, a sign that the campaign has moved into everyday pop culture. Rockstar has also published dozens of new screenshots.

Realism and design

In an interview, Rob Nelson, co-director of Rockstar North, said that realism is not always the priority in GTA VI, and that the developer sometimes favours comfort over authenticity to keep play fun. In the same interview he discussed immersion, and said that highly detailed mechanics can become a problem when they interfere too much with play. The dog scene is not spectacular, but it is the kind of crude detail South Park tends to add. Xataka compares the moment to the horse animation in Red Dead Redemption 2, and points to the density of the beach as an example of the systems on which Rockstar built its reputation.