In GTA 6 you can still carjack any driver on the road, but stealing a parked car takes more work: some need a slim jim, some need a key cloner, and pricier cars can have alarms and GPS trackers. A new phone app, WAINK, scans a car and tells you what you’re dealing with before you touch it.
Below we cover carjacking versus parked cars, what WAINK shows, the theft tools, how trackers work, and what to do with a car once you have it. Grand Theft Auto VI launches November 19, 2026, so everything here comes from Rockstar’s Extended Look, on-record interviews with Rockstar staff, and the preview demo Rockstar ran in July. Details can still change before launch.
Carjacking vs. Stealing Parked Cars
The classic move still works. “You can always carjack any driver you see,” Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson told IGN. What’s changed is parked cars: some are “not accessible to you until you… acquire certain tools,” he said.
Carjacking has its own risks now. In the 90-minute preview demo Nelson played for the press at Rockstar North, some drivers panicked and ran off rather than wait to be dragged out, while others were armed and fought back, so choose your target carefully.
That split matters for the police. Pulling someone out of a car in the street is a witnessed crime, so expect a wanted level. Quietly taking a parked car can avoid that, as long as you don’t trip an alarm or a tracker. Our guide to the Heat system in GTA 6 explains how witnesses and alarms bring the police in.
What the WAINK App Shows
WAINK is a phone app built for car theft. You point it at a parked car and it tells you what you’re up against. Nelson described a scan showing a car that’s “locked, it’s got an alarm, and has no tracker,” plus:
- The tool you need: “This car needs a key cloner. This other car will just need a Slim Jim.”
- What it’s worth at “a Pay n’ Spray or a specialty car fence.”
- What it costs to “register it for myself.”
In Rockstar’s preview demo, WAINK also showed a security level and a tracker tier for expensive cars, and it has a second job: listing the models car fences want, with each one’s security features and tracking capabilities. Rockstar hasn’t said how many security tiers there are.
The practical takeaway: scan first, steal second. A car that looks like an easy grab might carry a tracker that turns a quiet theft into a chase.
Theft Tools: Slim Jim and Key Cloner
Some cars can be stolen the old-fashioned way while others require specialized tools. From what Rockstar has shown:
- Smash the window. The fastest option on older cars, though in the preview demo it could set off the alarm.
- Use a slim jim. Rockstar’s Extended Look footage shows a slim jim prompt with a short lockpicking-style minigame. It’s the quieter choice for basic cars.
- Use a key cloner. Higher-end cars can’t be hotwired. “You can’t start it without the key cloner,” Nelson told the creator TGG.
You don’t start with every tool. Nelson ties them to progress through the game, so expect to unlock them as you go rather than buy them on day one.
Alarms and GPS Trackers
Trackers are the big new obstacle. In Rockstar’s preview demo, a GPS tracker forced the driver to keep moving fast: higher-tier trackers beep when you slow down and then report your position, and every police car carries one.
The demo’s fence job added a twist: the higher-end models report their location to the police, so you have to lose any tail before the dropoff, where the fence usually has a signal blocker.
If a car has a tracker, you have two options. Keep moving and get it somewhere safe, or skip it and scan the next car. Going by Rockstar’s preview demo, car fences can remove trackers once you’ve built up a relationship with them.
Keeping or Selling a Stolen Car
Once the car is yours, you can keep it or cash it in:
- Register it. WAINK shows the registration fee. Going by the preview demo, high-end cars can’t be registered early in the game, and car fences unlock tracker removal and registration.
- Store it. Rob Nelson told Famitsu that you can register a stolen car as your own personal vehicle, but early on you only have space for three, and buying garages around the map lets you own more.
- Sell it. Nelson named Pay ‘n’ Spray and specialty car fences as buyers. In the preview demo, damage lowered the price, fences specialized in different goods and could tip you off to valuable cars, and one job took a car out of an impound lot.
It’s a deeper system than GTA 5’s, where you could sell most street cars at Los Santos Customs. Our guides to selling cars in GTA 5 and customizing a car in GTA 5 show what the last game did.
Which Cars Need What
Going by Rockstar’s preview demo:
- Older and basic cars: a slim jim or a smashed window.
- Luxury cars: a key cloner, and often an alarm and a tracker.
- Bikes: quick to take, but they carry almost no loot.
- Vans and trucks: more likely to have something worth taking inside.
What Isn’t Confirmed Yet
- The exact buttons for each tool.
- How many security and tracker tiers exist.
- Whether tools can be bought with cash.
Every other GTA 6 guide, including how switching between Jason and Lucia works, is on our GTA hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you still carjack people in GTA 6? Yes. Rob Nelson said you can always carjack any driver you see. Only some parked cars need special tools.
What is the WAINK app in GTA 6? A phone app that scans parked cars. It shows whether a car is locked, has an alarm or tracker, which tool you need, what it’s worth to a fence or Pay ‘n’ Spray, and what it costs to register. In Rockstar’s preview demo, it also listed the cars fences want.
What tools do you need to steal cars in GTA 6? Basic cars need a slim jim or a smashed window. Higher-end cars need a key cloner, which Rockstar says comes with progress through the game.
What happens if a stolen car has a tracker? You have to keep moving: in Rockstar’s preview demo, higher-tier trackers reported the car’s position when it slowed down.
Can you keep stolen cars in GTA 6? Yes, by registering them. WAINK shows the fee, and going by Rockstar’s preview demo, the priciest cars can’t be registered early in the game.