For most newcomers, Grand Theft Auto V is the best starting point because it combines three playable protagonists, heists, a broad city-and-wilderness region, optional first-person play and the series’ modern mission design. Choose Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition instead if you want the formative Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas stories in one package. GTA IV is the strongest choice for a tighter, more grounded crime drama; Vice City is the focused 1980s period piece; and San Andreas offers the most state-scale variety.
Grand Theft Auto games at a glance
The series moved from top-down crime missions to fully 3D cities, then to whole regions with multiple protagonists and elaborate heists. The table separates the major releases by setting, map structure, lead character and the mechanics that define each one.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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IRIPLEZO Grand Theft Auto V | $24.32 | Buy on Amazon |
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Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy- The Definitive Edition - PlayStation 4 | $25.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Take 2 Interactive Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS5) | $24.03 | Buy on Amazon |
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Grand Theft Auto 5 PS4 - PlayStation 4 ( GTA V Ps4) | $26.95 | Buy on Amazon |
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| Game | Setting and map identity | Protagonist | Gameplay identity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto (1997) | Top-down versions of Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City | Player-defined criminal | Mission chains, driving and top-down shooting |
| GTA 2 (1999) | Retro-futurist Anywhere City | Claude Speed in promotional material; otherwise a player-controlled criminal | Top-down missions shaped by rival-gang reputation |
| GTA III (2001) | Three-island 3D Liberty City | Claude | Nonlinear missions, driving, shooting and satirical radio in a landmark 3D open world |
| Vice City (2002) | 1986 tropical city of beaches, swamps, glitz and ghetto | Tommy Vercetti | Crime-empire building, property ownership, varied vehicles and a strong period soundtrack |
| San Andreas (2004) | 1992 state containing Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas and countryside | Carl “CJ” Johnson | State-scale travel, gang warfare, character stats, swimming, flying and extensive customisation |
| Liberty City Stories (2005) | Liberty City before GTA III | Toni Cipriani | Portable-focused 3D missions and Leone-family political struggles |
| Vice City Stories (2006) | Vice City in 1984 | Victor “Vic” Vance | Prequel missions, empire management and expanded combat and vehicle play |
| GTA IV (2008) | Liberty City and Alderney, a dense HD-era metropolis | Niko Bellic | Physics-heavy driving and shooting, cover mechanics, phone and social systems, and a grounded crime drama |
| Chinatown Wars (2009) | Stylised top-down Liberty City | Huang Lee | Touch-oriented inventory, drug dealing and compact mission design |
| GTA V (2013) | Los Santos and Blaine County | Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips | Switchable protagonists, heists, urban-and-wilderness contrast, first-person play and GTA Online |
| GTA VI (scheduled) | Leonida, including Vice City, according to Rockstar’s current materials | Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos | Planned dual-protagonist crime story; launch details remain subject to change |
How the series changed from 1997 to 2013
Grand Theft Auto and GTA 2: the top-down foundation
The 1997 original lets you play a largely player-defined criminal across top-down versions of three familiar series locations: Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City. Progress comes through mission chains, driving and shooting rather than a named hero’s personal arc.
GTA 2 keeps the overhead view but relocates the action to retro-futurist Anywhere City. Its distinctive system is reputation: jobs for rival gangs affect who will cooperate with you and who will attack. Claude Speed is associated with promotional material, while the game itself presents the player as a criminal whose identity is less fixed than later protagonists.
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- STUNNING VISUALS — Enhanced levels of fidelity and performance with new graphics modes featuring up to 4K resolution, up to 60 frames per second, HDR options, ray tracing, improved texture quality, and more
- FASTER LOADING — Quicker access to the action as the world of Los Santos and Blaine County load in faster than ever before.
- ADAPTIVE TRIGGERS AND HAPTIC FEEDBACK — Feel every moment through the DualSense controller, from directional damage to weather effects, rough road surfaces to explosions, and more.
- TEMPEST 3D AUDIO — Hear the sounds of the world with pinpoint precision: the throttle of a stolen supercar, the rattle of neighbouring gunfire, the roar of a helicopter overhead, and more.
- Please note that although this game is Region Free or Region Unlocked and will work on all systems, this is the European version and may differ from the local version in age rating, labeling or instructions.
GTA III: the 3D turning point
GTA III is the series’ decisive structural break. Liberty City is divided into three islands that open progressively, and missions can be approached with more freedom than in the earlier top-down games. Claude’s largely silent role leaves the city’s characters, radio stations and mission choices to carry the narrative. Driving, shooting, exploration and satirical broadcasts became the template later open-world crime games expanded.
Vice City: a concentrated 1980s crime story
Vice City moves to 1986 and makes atmosphere central. Tommy Vercetti arrives in a tropical city divided among beaches, swamps, wealthy districts and poorer neighbourhoods. The story is not just a sequence of jobs: buying properties and developing a criminal empire gives you a sense of taking over the city. Its vehicles, boats and period soundtrack reinforce the deliberately focused setting.
San Andreas: from city to state
San Andreas expands the map into a 1992 state with three major cities—Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas—linked by countryside. Carl “CJ” Johnson’s journey repeatedly crosses the state as he tries to protect his family and regain control of the streets. Gang warfare is joined by role-playing-style statistics, swimming, flying, vehicle variety and customisation, so travel and character development matter as much as individual missions.
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Liberty City Stories (2005)
Toni Cipriani returns to Liberty City in this prequel to GTA III. The story concentrates on Leone-family politics and the criminal power struggles that precede Claude’s arrival. Its mission structure and scale were designed with portable play in mind, making it a more compact way to revisit the 3D city.
Vice City Stories (2006)
Set in 1984, two years before Vice City, this prequel follows Victor “Vic” Vance. It develops the empire-building idea with management mechanics while broadening combat and vehicle play. The earlier date gives the city a different social and criminal landscape even though the geography is familiar.
Advance (2004)
Advance is a separate handheld entry rather than a reduced version of one of the console 3D games. Its importance is historical: it shows how the series adapted its mission formula and crime-world tone to a portable format during the same era as San Andreas.
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- Grand Theft Auto III: It all starts in Liberty City. With the revolutionary freedom to go anywhere and jack anyone, Grand Theft Auto III puts the center of the criminal underworld at your fingertips, if you have enough guts to take it.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Welcome to the 1980s. From the decade of big hair and pastel suits comes the story of one man's rise to the top of the criminal pile.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Five years ago, Carl 'CJ' Johnson escaped the haze of Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs, and corruption.
Chinatown Wars (2009)
Chinatown Wars returns to a stylised top-down Liberty City and places Huang Lee at the centre. Touch-oriented inventory interactions and a drug-dealing economy give it a more compact, system-driven rhythm than the cinematic HD games. It is a useful choice if you prefer the original overhead perspective but want a later-era mission structure.
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These two substantial episodes use GTA IV’s Liberty City but follow different protagonists and social circles. Their separate campaigns show how the same dense city can support a biker-focused story in The Lost and Damned and a nightlife-and-club setting in The Ballad of Gay Tony. They are expansions of the GTA IV world, not numbered mainline replacements.
Which Grand Theft Auto games have the biggest maps?
Rockstar has not provided a consistent, authoritative area measurement for every game, so a precise square-mile ranking would be misleading. Qualitatively, the broadest experiences are San Andreas and GTA V, but they achieve scale differently.
- San Andreas: a whole state with three distinct cities and substantial countryside. Long-distance travel between Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas is part of normal progression.
- GTA V: a large region built around Los Santos and Blaine County, with a pronounced contrast between dense urban districts, mountains, desert and coastline.
- GTA III and Vice City: multi-district or multi-island cities that feel expansive through changing neighbourhoods, but remain city-focused rather than state-scale.
- GTA IV: a dense Liberty City and Alderney prioritising urban detail and traffic over a wide rural frontier.
- Stories and Chinatown Wars: familiar cities are reused at a more portable or stylised scale, with shorter travel loops and compact mission design.
If “biggest” means the widest range of landscapes and activities, choose between San Andreas and GTA V according to era and mechanics: the former emphasises state-wide progression and customisation, while the latter emphasises heists, character switching and a modern urban-rural sandbox.
How the protagonists and tones differ
| Preference | Best match | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A classic silent or minimally defined criminal | Grand Theft Auto or GTA III | The city and mission systems carry more of the identity than a long personal monologue. |
| An 1980s rise through betrayal and revenge | Vice City | Tommy Vercetti’s ascent is inseparable from the tropical period setting. |
| A family-and-gang story across several cities | San Andreas | CJ’s route covers an entire state and supports stats, customisation and gang warfare. |
| A grounded immigrant crime drama | GTA IV | Niko Bellic’s story is paired with weightier driving physics, cover shooting and a denser city. |
| Multiple viewpoints and elaborate robberies | GTA V | Michael, Franklin and Trevor can be switched during the campaign and heists. |
| A prequel focused on an established crime family | Liberty City Stories | Toni Cipriani’s story explores the Leone underworld before GTA III. |
Are GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas connected?
They are the closely related 3D-era trilogy that established the series’ best-known cities and crime-world style. Each has a self-contained protagonist and plot, so you do not need to finish one to understand another. Their shared setting concepts, recurring criminal organisations and reused city names create continuity, while the different years—2001’s Liberty City, 1986’s Vice City and 1992’s San Andreas—let each game stand as its own period piece.
The official Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition groups these three campaigns together and updates lighting, textures, draw distances and controls in a GTA V-inspired style. It is the most straightforward purchase for someone who wants to experience this connected era in release-story order without buying three separate editions.
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GTA IV versus GTA V
| Category | GTA IV | GTA V |
|---|---|---|
| World | Dense Liberty City and Alderney, built around urban realism | Los Santos and Blaine County, combining city, wilderness, desert and coast |
| Lead structure | One protagonist: Niko Bellic | Three switchable protagonists: Michael, Franklin and Trevor |
| Driving and combat | Heavier physics, cover mechanics and a more deliberate feel | Faster variety across characters, vehicles and set pieces |
| Progression | Character relationships, phone calls and a focused crime narrative | Heist planning, character-specific abilities and broader activity variety |
| Perspective and online play | Primarily a third-person campaign experience | Includes a first-person option and GTA Online |
Pick GTA IV when tone, physics and a concentrated urban story matter most. Pick GTA V when you want the widest mix of environments, a three-character structure, heists or online play. Neither is a direct replacement for the other: one is a tighter drama, the other a broader systems playground.
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Best first game for most players: GTA V
Its three protagonists let you experience different social classes and criminal methods in one campaign. Heists provide a clear spine for progression, while Los Santos and Blaine County offer both dense urban missions and open exploration. The first-person option and GTA Online add ways to play beyond the main story. Choose it if you want the most contemporary-feeling entry in the documented lineup.
Best classic introduction: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
The bundle includes GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas with updated lighting, textures, draw distances and GTA V-style controls. It covers the series’ 3D turning point, its 1980s period piece and its state-scale expansion in one collection. Check the current platform, edition and regional listing before purchase, because availability can differ.
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Best for a serious, urban crime drama: GTA IV
Niko Bellic’s campaign is the focused option. The dense Liberty City and Alderney map, heavier vehicle handling, cover shooting and phone-based social systems create a slower, more grounded rhythm than GTA V.
Best for a specific era or map style
- 1980s neon and empire building: Vice City.
- State-wide travel, stats and customisation: San Andreas.
- Portable-style, compact missions: Liberty City Stories or Chinatown Wars.
- Top-down historical gameplay: the 1997 original or GTA 2.
What about GTA VI?
Rockstar’s current materials list GTA VI for November 19, 2026, set in Leonida and including Vice City, with Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos as the planned dual protagonists. Treat both the date and launch details as changeable: verify the latest official announcement and the edition available in your region before committing money.
A practical order for playing the series
- Start with GTA V if you want modern controls and the broadest mix of systems.
- Play GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas through the trilogy collection to see how the 3D formula developed.
- Move to GTA IV for a denser, more realistic city and a single-protagonist drama.
- Add the two GTA IV episodes when you want alternate viewpoints on Liberty City.
- Try the Stories games or Chinatown Wars for prequel perspectives and compact or top-down variations.
- Return to the 1997 original and GTA 2 if you want the design roots rather than modern open-world conventions.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official map-area ranking for every GTA game?
No consistent primary-source measurement covers the whole series. Descriptions such as “state-scale,” “three-island city” and “urban-and-wilderness region” are more defensible than a fabricated square-mile leaderboard.
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Who is Claude in GTA 2?
Claude Speed appears in promotional material, but the playable character in GTA 2 is fundamentally a player-controlled criminal whose gang reputation changes which missions are available.
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No. Liberty City Stories is set before GTA III and follows Toni Cipriani, but its campaign is designed to stand on its own. Playing GTA III first simply lets you recognise more of the city’s later state.
How many games are in the main numbered sequence?
The principal sequence runs from Grand Theft Auto (1997), GTA 2 (1999), GTA III (2001), Vice City (2002), San Andreas (2004), GTA IV (2008) and GTA V (2013). The series also contains major spin-offs and the two GTA IV episodes listed above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an official map-area ranking for every GTA game?
No consistent primary-source measurement covers the whole series. Qualitative descriptions such as state-scale, three-island city and urban-and-wilderness region are more reliable than a square-mile leaderboard.
Who is Claude in GTA 2?
Claude Speed appears in promotional material, while the playable character is a player-controlled criminal whose gang reputation affects mission access.
Do I need to play GTA III before Liberty City Stories?
No. Liberty City Stories is a prequel following Toni Cipriani and can be played independently.
How many games are in the main numbered sequence?
The principal sequence runs from Grand Theft Auto (1997) through GTA V (2013), with major spin-offs and two GTA IV episodes alongside it.
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