Grand Theft Auto V

Updated 28 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Grand Theft Auto V is a 2013 action-adventure game by Rockstar North, published by Rockstar Games. It first came out on PS3 and Xbox 360 on 17 September 2013, with later versions up to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Set in Los Santos and Blaine County, San Andreas, it follows three playable criminals: Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips.

What is GTA V?

Grand Theft Auto V is the seventh main game in the series. It followed GTA IV and returned to San Andreas, the state first seen in GTA San Andreas in 2004. This time the state holds one large city, Los Santos, based on Los Angeles, and the open countryside of Blaine County. The game also launched the online world of Grand Theft Auto Online.

GTA V has been re-released on two later console generations and kept a large player base through GTA Online. Its successor, Grand Theft Auto VI, is set in Leonida and is due on 19 November 2026. For a comparison of what changes, see our GTA 6 features page.

Who are the main characters in GTA V?

GTA V has three playable protagonists, and you can switch between them in and out of missions.

The game opens in 2004 with a robbery in Ludendorff, North Yankton, that goes wrong. Michael is believed dead. The main story starts nine years later. Michael is alive and living in Los Santos under an alias, thanks to an arrangement with FIB agent Dave Norton. He meets Franklin, and the two become friends.

Michael is soon back in crime. He owes a debt to drug lord Martin Madrazo and has to pay it off with a heist. Trevor, his old partner, finds him again and joins the crew. From there the three are pulled in several directions. Michael is pressured by the FIB into operations against a rival agency, the IAA. Venture capitalist Devin Weston and the private military firm Merryweather also become tangled up in their story.

The story builds to a final heist on the gold reserves of the Union Depository. Before it, Trevor learns that Michael set up the death of their old partner Brad. The crew still pulls off the job.

What are the endings in GTA V?

The last choice belongs to Franklin. The player picks one of three options: kill Trevor, kill Michael, or refuse both and attempt a near-suicidal plan to save everyone. Fans often call these endings A, B and C, though the game does not use those labels.

Gameplay

Switching is the core idea. Outside missions you can jump from one protagonist to another, and in many missions you swap mid-action. Heists are big set-piece missions in which you pick AI crew members to help. Each lead has a special ability. Michael can slow time in gunfights, Franklin slows time while driving, and Trevor enters a rage that doubles his damage and halves the damage he takes.

The game is in third person. The 2014 re-release added a first-person view. The wanted system goes up to five stars.

Is GTA V on PS5?

Yes. GTA V has been released on three console generations and on PC.

Development and reception

Work started in 2008, around the release of GTA IV. More than 1,000 people took part, from Rockstar studios around the world. The team researched across California. They used Google Maps projections of Los Angeles to plan the road network of Los Santos, and census data to shape who lives where. Analysts put the combined development and marketing budget at more than £170 million (about US$265 million). That made it the most expensive game made up to that point. The game was announced on 25 October 2011, and the first trailer followed on 2 November 2011.

Critics gave it some of the highest scores of its generation. On Metacritic it scored 97 out of 100 on both PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS4, Xbox One and PC versions scored 97, 97 and 96, while the PS5 and Xbox Series versions scored lower, at 81 and 79. It won Game of the Year at the 2013 Spike VGX and at the 2013 Golden Joystick Awards. It also won BAFTA awards for Best British Game and Game Design in 2014.

It also drew criticism. A mission called "By the Book" makes the player torture a man, which split critics. Several reviewers called its portrayal of women misogynistic. In December 2014, Target and Kmart in Australia pulled the game after a petition.

How many copies has GTA V sold?

It is one of the best-selling games ever. On its first day it made more than US$800 million, and it passed US$1 billion within three days. Guinness World Records gave it seven records in October 2013, including best-selling video game in 24 hours and fastest video game to gross US$1 billion. By mid-2026 it had shipped more than 230 million copies, according to Take-Two figures reported by Game Developer. Wikipedia lists it as the second-best-selling video game of all time.