how would a hurricane even work in the open world

I keep going back and forth on this one. If hurricanes are actually a thing in the open world and not just a story beat, the technical side gets messy fast. Like, do smaller buildings take damage? That seems like a huge ask for a map this size. Maybe it's all cosmetic, shutters rattling, palm trees bending, signs flying around. But then what happens to all that debris when you drive two blocks away and come back? Does it just reset? Probably.

The tree thing bugs me too. Ripping small trees out of the ground sounds cool until you think about how the engine would handle it. Are they physics objects now? Do they respawn after the storm passes? And if a tree lands on a car, does the car get crushed or does it just clip through? Rockstar is good at detail but I don't see them simulating structural damage across the whole map. That would be a nightmare to keep stable.

My guess is hurricanes are more of a visual event. Heavy rain, wind pushing your character, maybe some scripted destruction in certain spots. Everything else despawns once you're far enough away, same way bodies and wrecked cars do now. The trash and leaves everywhere is probably just a particle effect tied to the storm state, not actual persistent objects.

I'd be fine with that honestly. A full simulation would tank performance and probably break a hundred other systems. Better to have a storm that looks insane and feels dangerous than one that tries to do too much and falls apart. The extended look showed off weather but I don't remember them promising full hurricane destruction. Maybe that's the smart move.

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Source: r/GTA6 · Curated content.