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Certain things are synonymous with Grand Theft Auto - crime, cars, corruption, guns, mayhem and murder. You normally might not expect empathy from a game like GTA 6 with the series' past in mind, then, but Rockstar Games have added "mechanisms" to create empathy anyway.
GTA has always been somewhat of a cynical and comically rude franchise, but it seems Rockstar's now borrowing some lessons from its more grown-up Red Dead Redemption 2. Unrestrained violence and city-wide chaos will still be possible in Leonida - this is a GTA game, after all - but that's not all there is anymore.
Speaking to The Guardian (good spot, IGN), co-studio head Rob Nelson said "crime is a fundamental part of GTA - at least up until now, it has been." Rockstar is "trying to make sure we're not punishing people for playing the game they are used to," so you can still expect the freedom to get into car jams and push passerbys unprovoked (or worse). "[But] your actions will have some effect on how the game plays out."
When asked if GTA 6 is encouraging empathy in any way, Nelson agrees: "I would say that it's a product of the story we're trying to tell. We've tried for the first time in a GTA to provide mechanisms that encourage it, for those who want to."
GTA 6 notably is the story of two people, Lucia and Jason. In a series full of protagonists who often care very little about anyone outside of their own interests, Lucia and Jason are almost the solar opposite - and quite fittingly, the upcoming game seems to nudge you into behaving differently because of this relationship.
