On August 28th, Esquire Australia published an Australian exclusive: our own Noelle Faulkner inside Rockstar Games' Scottish HQ in Edinburgh, watching Grand Theft Auto VI in action.

It took Noelle and Rockstar Games close to two years of relationship-building to make the visit happen. What she came back with is genuinely rare: sit-down time with Rob Nelson, the studio's head of development, for an inside look at the long awaited GTAVI. The story ran ahead of Netflix's extended first look at the game, and more than two months before GTAVI's official release on November 19.

"My jaw is on the floor, and in an attempt to process what I'm being shown, I am frantically scribbling observations in my notebook."

GTA VI isn't just another game release. It's the eighth mainline entry in a franchise that's spent 29 years redefining what a video game can be. Its second trailer alone pulled 475 million views within 24 hours, numbers that made some of the biggest box office debuts look small by comparison. Its release is said to be one of the biggest entertainment moments in modern history.