You might have watched the new Grand Theft Auto VI trailer a few times since it was released in December 2023. Maybe you even paused it once or twice to spot a detail. But I bet most of you haven’t sat down and spent a few hours researching and writing a 1500-word report on the sunscreen seen in a one-second bit of the trailer. But if you want that kind of thing, well don’t worry, someone has done the work for you.
If you are reading Kotaku.com, I assume you already know that Rockstar Games finally gave the world the first official trailer for GTA 6 last month. The trailer was published ahead of schedule after a minor leak and showed off a highly detailed digital recreation of Miami, complete with weirdos, gators, criminals, and sports cars. It looks really good! I’ve watched it a few times and seemingly many others have too, based on how many views it’s racked up on YouTube.
But do any of you remember the person applying sunscreen to a woman in a bikini at the 21-second mark?
On January 3, as spotted by PC Gamer, Reddit user ficerc posted a 1500+ word report on the GTA subreddit dedicated to showcasing all the research they had put into that brief sunscreen moment. Specifically, ficerc wanted to figure out the SPF level of the sunscreen seen in the trailer.
To do this, they worked out the NPC’s skin tone using various methods, including the Von Luschan chromatic scale and some math. But that wasn’t enough. Determining what SPF level to use isn’t just about your skin tone, but also involves factors like how long you’ll be out in the sun. So ficerc used maps and shadows to pinpoint what time of day it is when we see the sunscreen being applied and factored in how many hours of sunlight are left—using even more data and research—to determine the maximum amount of sun time the NPC could expect that day.
After all this, assuming the NPC seen in the trailer is someone who follows all the recommended guidelines, ficerc figured out that the SPF of the sunscreen used in the GTA 6 trailer was likely between 8-14. Finally, we can all stop thinking about this and get on with our lives.
To be clear: ficerc’s post isn’t just extremely detailed, but also very funny. This is likely a joke taken to the extreme. For years and years, GTA fans have been presented as sickos who will intensely analyze and document every screenshot or video Rockstar puts out. We’ve seen dedicated fans even recreate the maps for GTA games before they are released. So it seems ficerc is having some fun with the community while also finding one more thing to analyze in GTA 6’s first (and so far only) trailer.
“As you scroll, the sad realization that this must have taken hours to make starts to overshadow the satire of it,” replied one user to the post. Which…okay, fair. This is indeed a lot of work for a joke. But also, I could have saved ficerc a lot of time. This is a Rockstar game. So the SPF is probably just 69. There you go.
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