A deleted LinkedIn post from a former Rockstar North developer has revealed tantalizing details about what might be the most technically impressive physics system in GTA VI: a fully procedural glass destruction engine that generates unique break patterns for every single impact.
How It Works
According to the now-removed post, Rockstar has developed a proprietary procedural glass shattering system that calculates break patterns in real-time rather than relying on pre-baked animations. Every window, windshield, storefront, and glass panel in the game world reacts dynamically to the specific force and angle of impact.
The system reportedly uses a real-time stress simulation that models crack propagation across glass surfaces pixel-by-pixel. A bullet hitting a car windshield dead-center produces a tight spiderweb pattern with minimal shattering. That same bullet fired at the edge of the glass causes a cascading fracture that can shatter the entire pane. A slow-speed bump against a storefront window might only crack it, while a full-speed vehicle impact creates an explosive burst of individually tracked glass shards.
"No two broken windows will ever look exactly the same. Every bullet, every crowbar swing, every car crash writes its own unique destruction signature onto the world."
Glass Types and Behavior
Different glass materials respond differently to damage. The leak describes at least four distinct glass profiles in the engine:
- Vehicle safety glass — Crumbles into small, less-sharp chunks; designed to mimic laminated automotive glass
- Tempered storefront glass — Shatters into thousands of small fragments; the classic "exploding window" effect
- Bulletproof glass — Cracks but doesn't fully break; absorbs multiple impacts before failing
- Bottle and environmental glass — Breaks into dangerous shards that can cause environmental damage to NPCs
Performance and Verification
The deleted post noted that the system runs primarily on the GPU using compute shaders, keeping the CPU overhead minimal. The developer claimed it was one of the most optimized destruction systems they'd ever worked on, designed specifically to handle hundreds of simultaneous glass interactions without frame drops — even during high-speed police chases through downtown Vice City.
While Rockstar has not officially confirmed these features, the LinkedIn profile belonged to a verified former Rockstar North physics programmer whose work history included credits on Red Dead Redemption 2's snow deformation system — lending the claims significant credibility.