GTA 6 vs GTA 5: what has changed in 13 years and what we still don't know

GTA 6 vs GTA 5 is the comparison people search for more than any other ahead of November 19. The table below includes only what Rockstar, Take-Two or official stores have confirmed. Developer comments from interviews are marked separately, and the material leaked in 2022 is not used at all.

Prices were taken from the stores on October 31, 2026. GTA 5 is 50% off on PlayStation Store until November 5 ($19.99), so the table shows the regular price.

In GTA 5 you switch between three protagonists: former bank robber Michael, young street hustler Franklin and the unpredictable Trevor. More on the GTA 5 characters page.

GTA 6 has two leads, Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos. Character switching is still there: the Extended Look shown on August 27, 2026, has the camera moving from one lead to the other. According to Rob Nelson of Rockstar North in an interview with Famitsu, switching is locked or automatic in some missions. New for the series is the relationship between the two: your actions decide whether they are a couple or just partners. The full official cast is on the GTA 6 characters page.

GTA 5 takes place in Los Santos and Blaine County. In 2012 Rockstar told Game Informer the map was bigger than San Andreas, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption combined. The company never gave an official size in square miles or kilometers.

GTA 6 moves the action to the state of Leonida. The official site lists six regions: Vice City, Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga. Rockstar has not published an area figure here either, but the developers have offered a few comparisons:

• Rob Nelson (Rockstar North): Vice City alone is twice the size of Los Santos;
• by his account, the built-up areas outside the city are roughly 11 times larger than in GTA 5 (he means developed areas, not the whole map);
• The New York Times, citing Rockstar, reports that the whole map is about three times the playable area of RDR2.

The popular line "GTA 6 is bigger than GTA 4, GTA 5 and RDR2 combined" comes from an Edge journalist, not from Rockstar. Figures like "125 km²" are fan estimates. The regions of Leonida are covered on the GTA 6 map page, and Los Santos on the GTA 5 map page.

GTA 5 launched on PS3 and Xbox 360, then came to PS4, Xbox One, PC (April 14, 2015) and finally PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (March 15, 2022). Since March 4, 2025, PC has had the free Enhanced update. In other words, GTA 5 runs on almost anything except phones and Nintendo Switch.

GTA 6 launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S only. No PC version has been announced: Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has only said that Rockstar is starting with consoles. PS4 and Xbox One are not in the plans. In the US the game is sold on PlayStation Store, the Xbox Store, the Rockstar Store and at retail: Standard is $79.99, Ultimate $99.99. In the UK it is £69.99 and £89.99. Details are on the GTA 6 platforms and GTA 6 price pages.

The price gap is big: GTA 6 costs twice as much as GTA 5 does today ($79.99 vs $39.99 on PlayStation Store and Xbox, or $29.99 on Steam). Current GTA 5 prices are on the GTA 5 price page.

Both games are voiced in English only, so English-speaking players get the original performance with no compromises. GTA 5 on PC has subtitles in 13 languages, including Polish, Spanish (Spain and Latin America) and Portuguese (Brazil). GTA 6 also has 13 interface and subtitle languages, according to the Xbox Store and the Rockstar Store, with the same Polish, Spanish and Portuguese. Details are on the GTA 5 languages and GTA 6 languages pages.

GTA 5 came out on September 17, 2013, as a story game, and GTA Online launched on October 1, 2013. It has been updated for 13 years since, and Rockstar keeps supporting it (see GTA Online).

About GTA 6, Rockstar is direct: it is a "single player experience". There is no date for an online mode. Talk of an online mode in 2027 comes from Bloomberg, not Rockstar, so treat it as unofficial. What is known for sure is on the GTA 6 Online page.

GTA 6 also brings systems GTA 5 did not have: a wanted level only when you have been seen, police that remember your play style, refueling cars, and weather with local rain and announced hurricanes. These come from developer comments in the press; details are on the GTA 6 gameplay page.

A 60 fps mode for GTA 6 has been neither confirmed nor ruled out: Nelson described 30 fps as the state "at the current stage of development", not as a final spec.

• The date and details of a PC version.
• The official install size and the PS5 Pro benefits.
• The map size in square miles or km².
• The date and format of an online mode.
• The official story length: "80 hours" was Rob Nelson's personal playthrough, not a spec of the game.
• The voice cast: Rockstar has not named a single actor.

We will update this comparison after the game launches on November 19, when we can check everything ourselves. To get ready for launch, use the GTA 6 launch checklist.