Airboat

Overview

Confirmed Rockstar describes the Grassrivers, Leonida’s great wetland, as a primordial expanse where you never know what is under the surface, and names the alligators as its famous attraction. On screen The airboat, a flat boat pushed by a large fan inside a wire cage, is the vehicle Rockstar keeps putting in that picture: in three of the four Grassrivers stills on its places page, in Trailer 2, in the Extended Look and in a Jason and Lucia screenshot where two sheriff’s airboats close in.

Key facts

• On screen Official stills: three of the four Grassrivers stills on the places page show airboats, one with a dead alligator on the deck.
• On screen Trailer 2: an airboat shot at 2:18, followed by a two-up jet ski at 2:20 and a speedboat at sunset at 2:27.
• On screen Extended Look: the activity montage follows an airboat through a wetland at about 17:07 to 17:13.
• On screen Police: an official screenshot shows two airboats with SHERIFF on the bow and blue lights on their fan cages.
• Our read Handling: no preview has described how an airboat drives yet.

In the official stills

On screen The first Grassrivers still is a trophy picture. Three mud-covered men pose with rifles on an airboat’s deck, a dead alligator at their feet, a dead wildcat on the seat and the fan cage behind them.

On screen The third looks straight down on an airboat in black water scattered with lily pads. One person sits in front of the fan cage, another in a red top crouches at the side and reaches toward an alligator with a pole, and two more gators drift nearby. A cooler, a green bench seat and a landing net sit on the deck.

On screen The fourth is a chase. A pickup plows through the swamp with a police SUV and a police helicopter behind it, an airboat further back and an alligator watching from the water.

Sheriff’s airboats

On screen One of Rockstar’s Jason and Lucia screenshots puts the couple in an embrace at sunset in the swamp. Behind them are two airboats with SHERIFF on the bow and blue lights on top of the fan cage, and a helicopter overhead points a light at the scene. Our read So the airboat is a police vehicle as well as a local’s boat, and a Grassrivers pursuit does not have to stop at the water’s edge.

In the trailers and the Extended Look

On screen Trailer 2 gives the airboat its own shot at 2:18, in a run of water footage that continues with a jet ski carrying two riders at 2:20 and a speedboat at sunset at 2:27. On screen In the Extended Look, the activity montage cuts from birds around a street mural to an airboat running through a wetland at about 17:07 to 17:13, just before a game of basketball beside a stilt house. Confirmed Rockstar says the Extended Look was captured entirely from in-game footage on a PlayStation 5.

Hunting from the water

Reported Red Bull’s coverage of the Extended Look lists alligator hunting among the activities. Reported TGG, who watched developers play at Rockstar North, says Rob Nelson told him that hunting earns money through a character Jason knows, according to the top reply in an r/GTA6 thread on fishing. Our read With the first Grassrivers still showing a kill on the deck, the airboat looks like the hunter’s way into the swamp.

Our read

Our read Rockstar has used the airboat as shorthand for the Grassrivers in stills, a trailer shot, the Extended Look montage and a character screenshot. We expect it to be the standard way through the swamp for players and police alike. Our read Nobody has yet shown a player at the controls, so how it handles in the grass and on open water is still an open question.

Questions

Can you drive an airboat in GTA 6?

On screen The Extended Look shows one moving through a wetland at about 17:07. Our read Nobody has shown it from the player’s seat, but a vehicle shown this often is very likely drivable.

Where do airboats appear?

On screen In the Grassrivers: among alligators, on a hunting trip and at the back of a police chase in the official stills, and in the swamp behind Jason and Lucia in a character screenshot.

Do the police use airboats?

On screen The sheriff does. An official screenshot shows two airboats marked SHERIFF with blue lights on their fan cages.

Can you hunt alligators from an airboat?

On screen The first Grassrivers still shows hunters posing on an airboat with a dead alligator. Reported Red Bull lists alligator hunting among the Extended Look’s activities, but nobody has described how it works.