GTA Games in Order: All 12 Games, From 1997 to GTA 6

Updated November 6, 2026 · Release dates from Rockstar’s game pages and Wikipedia, scores from Metacritic, and store availability from Rockstar, Steam and the App Store, all checked November 6, 2026

GTA 6 ends the longest wait in the series. GTA V came out on September 17, 2013, and GTA 6 arrives on November 19, 2026, 13 years and 2 months later. The old record, from GTA IV to GTA V, was 5 years and 4 months.

This page puts every GTA game in order three ways: when it came out, when its story is set, and where you can still play it. Sales and records are in GTA by the numbers.

What order did the GTA games come out in?

Twelve games, in release order. Scores are each game’s Metacritic score on its launch platform, checked November 6, 2026.

Rockstar’s own game pages, Metacritic and Wikipedia disagree by one to five days on several early release dates, so we give the month for those. GTA Advance and San Andreas both came out in October 2004.

Four expansions, one online mode and one remaster aren’t counted as separate games:

• London 1969 (April 1999) and London 1961 (July 1999, a free PC download): add-ons for the first game, set in 1960s London. They’re the only GTA games set mainly outside the US.
• The Lost and Damned (February 17, 2009) and The Ballad of Gay Tony (October 29, 2009): two GTA IV episodes, on Xbox 360 first.
• GTA Online (October 1, 2013): launched as part of GTA V, and sold on its own on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S since March 15, 2022.
• GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition (November 11, 2021): remasters of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas.

How long was the wait between GTA games?

GTA V to GTA 6 is 4,811 days, the longest gap in the series by far. That’s about 2.4 times the previous record: the 1,967 days between GTA IV and GTA V.

It wasn’t always like this. In the PS2 years Rockstar put out a main game every one to two years, and GTA III to Vice City took just 372 days. Since San Andreas, every gap has been longer than the one before it: 3.5 years to GTA IV, 5.4 years to GTA V, then 13.2 years to GTA 6.

Our take: the gaps grew with the games. Vice City was one city, San Andreas was a state, and GTA 6’s Leonida is, by Rockstar’s count, about three times the size of Red Dead Redemption 2’s map. GTA V also never stopped selling in between, as the numbers in GTA by the numbers show.

What changed in each GTA game?

One big step per game, in release order, with no story spoilers.

Grand Theft Auto (1997)

The start: a top-down crime game from DMA Design in Dundee, Scotland, spread across three cities called Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City. All three names came back later in 3D. It began life as a cops-and-robbers driving game, a story we tell in GTA by the numbers.

GTA 2 (1999)

One retro-futuristic city, Anywhere City, and a respect system. Jobs for one gang raise your standing with it and drop it with that gang’s rivals, who turn hostile. It was the last top-down main game.

GTA III (2001)

The jump to 3D. Liberty City became a full city you explore on foot or by car from behind your character, a silent lead named Claude. Metacritic still has it at 97, and every main game since has built on its template.

GTA: Vice City (2002)

Miami in 1986, and a lead who talks: Tommy Vercetti, voiced by Ray Liotta. It added motorbikes, which GTA III didn’t have, and businesses you buy that pay you an income once you finish their missions.

GTA Advance (2004)

A Game Boy Advance prequel to GTA III, set in Liberty City in 2000 and played top-down like the first two games. Digital Eclipse made it, not a Rockstar studio, and its 68 is the lowest Metacritic score of any original GTA game.

GTA: San Andreas (2004)

A whole state, set in 1992, with three cities (Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas) and countryside in between. CJ can swim, and what he eats and how much he exercises changes his body and skills. GTA 6 brings a version of that back: Dazed’s August 2026 preview reports that food changes Jason’s and Lucia’s weight and exercise builds muscle.

GTA: Liberty City Stories (2005)

GTA III’s city on the PSP. It’s a prequel set in 1998, starring Toni Cipriani, a mob soldier from GTA III. It scored 88 on Metacritic.

GTA: Vice City Stories (2006)

Back to Vice City in 1984, two years before Tommy arrives, as Victor Vance, the brother of Tommy’s partner Lance. It’s the second PSP prequel, and the last 3D-era game Rockstar released.

GTA IV (2008)

The HD reboot. Rockstar rebuilt Liberty City from scratch for PS3 and Xbox 360 and started a new continuity, led by Niko Bellic, a war veteran from Eastern Europe. It added online multiplayer for up to 16 players on consoles and holds the series’ best Metacritic score, 98.

Its two episodes, The Lost and Damned (biker Johnny Klebitz) and The Ballad of Gay Tony (nightclub fixer Luis Lopez), happen in the same city in the same year, and their stories cross Niko’s. They scored 90 and 89, and today they’re bundled in GTA IV: The Complete Edition.

GTA: Chinatown Wars (2009)

A Nintendo DS game set in GTA IV’s Liberty City, seen from above with a camera you can rotate and comic-book style cel-shaded art. The touch screen runs your PDA, GPS and radio, and a drug-dealing side business stirred up controversy at launch. Its 93 is the best score of any handheld GTA.

GTA V (2013)

Three leads you can switch between, Michael, Franklin and Trevor, and heists you plan before you pull them. It came with GTA Online on October 1, 2013, and it has now been sold on three console generations plus PC. The sales records are in GTA by the numbers.

GTA VI (2026)

Vice City again, but present-day and inside a whole state: Leonida, Rockstar’s Florida, with six regions from the Leonida Keys to Mount Kalaga National Park. There are two leads, Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos. Rockstar says radio plays on foot through their phones, along with the series’ first podcasts, and it told The New York Times the map is about three times Red Dead Redemption 2’s.

The full side-by-side is in GTA 5 vs GTA 6, and unlock times are in our GTA 6 release date and time guide.

What is the GTA timeline in story order?

There isn’t one single timeline. The series has rebooted its world twice, and fans and Wikipedia’s editors call the three versions the 2D, 3D and HD universes, after the graphics of each era. They share city names, brands and some background characters, but not stories. So GTA IV’s Liberty City isn’t GTA III’s Liberty City, just a new version of the same idea.

Here’s each universe in story order, by the year each game is set:

Story years from Wikipedia’s game articles. GTA 2 never states its year.

Story order is fun trivia, but it’s a poor way to play. In the 3D universe it would start you on a PSP game from 2006 and end you on the 2001 game that the rest were built from.

Is GTA 6 in the same universe as GTA 5?

Rockstar hasn’t said, and Wikipedia’s series table lists GTA 6’s universe as “TBA.” The clues point to the HD-era world. One of Rockstar’s own GTA 6 screenshot captions shows Jason and Lucia “robbing a Fleeca bank branch,” and Fleeca is the bank chain from GTA V and GTA Online.

Either way, GTA 6’s Vice City isn’t Tommy Vercetti’s. It’s a present-day city, and the third version of Vice City after the 1997 original and the 2002 game. There are nods to the older games, too. Lucia’s official bio says her mom has dreamed of a good life “since their days in Liberty City.”

What order should you play the GTA games in?

Release order, and only the ones you have time for. None of the old games is required for GTA 6, because each GTA tells its own story with new leads. Here’s our pick:

• One game before November 19: GTA V. It’s the closest to how GTA 6 plays (heists, switching leads), it runs on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it’s in the GTA+ library. Our GTA 5 vs GTA 6 page covers whether a replay is worth it.
• The 1986 version of the city: Vice City, through The Definitive Edition. It’s the best way to see what GTA 6 is riffing on.
• The full history: GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas (The Definitive Edition), then GTA IV: The Complete Edition, then GTA V. That’s five main stories and the two GTA IV episodes, in the order they came out.
• Skip unless you’re a completionist: the 2D games, which you can’t buy anywhere we could find, and the handheld prequels.

One warning: The Definitive Edition is the only version of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas sold on consoles today, and its reviews were rough. It sits at 54 on Metacritic for PS5.

Where can you play every GTA game today?

Checked November 6, 2026 on Rockstar’s game pages and store, Steam and Apple’s App Store. “GTA+” means it’s in the GTA+ Games Library.

GTA+ is Rockstar’s GTA Online membership on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC ($7.99 a month on Steam in the US on November 6, 2026). Among other Rockstar games, its Games Library holds GTA V, GTA Online and The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on consoles and PC, plus the mobile versions of Liberty City Stories and Chinatown Wars, which you unlock by signing in with your Rockstar account. Rockstar rotates the library, so a game can leave it.

The original PC and console versions of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas were pulled from digital stores on October 13, 2021, ahead of The Definitive Edition. GTA IV still has no PS4 or PS5 version: Rockstar’s own page lists PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.

Making room for GTA 6 on the same console? Our GTA 6 storage guide covers the pre-load of up to 212 GB.

Which GTA game has the best reviews?

GTA IV, at 98 on Metacritic, one point ahead of GTA III and GTA V. Here’s every GTA release with a Metascore, checked November 6, 2026, on its launch or main platform:

The 1997 original and the London expansions have no Metascore. GTA V’s 2022 PS5 version scores 81.

GTA 6’s Metacritic page is live with no score yet. Reviews are reported to land on November 18, but Rockstar hasn’t confirmed that, and we’ll add its score to both tables when they do.

GTA games: quick answers

How many GTA games are there?

Twelve, counting GTA 6: eight main games (GTA, GTA 2, III, Vice City, San Andreas, IV, V and VI) and four handheld games (Advance, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories and Chinatown Wars). Add four expansions, GTA Online and one remaster for 18 releases in all.

What was the first GTA game?

Grand Theft Auto, released for PC in Europe in November 1997 and in North America in 1998. It was made by DMA Design in Dundee, Scotland, the studio that later became Rockstar North.

Are all the GTA games connected?

Only within their era. Games in the same universe share a world and sometimes characters, like Toni Cipriani in GTA III and Liberty City Stories. Games in different universes share city names and brands, not stories.

Read next: GTA 6 release date and time, pre-load and price · GTA 5 vs GTA 6: every difference we know · GTA by the numbers: sales, records and moments

Sources: Rockstar Games game pages for every GTA title, The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition page, the GTA VI site (/VI/only-in-leonida and the launch gallery), the GTA+ page and the Rockstar Store (all checked November 6, 2026); Rockstar Newswire (backward compatibility, November 6, 2020; GTA VI radio, October 8, 2026; GTA VI pre-load, November 3, 2026); Metacritic game pages (checked November 6, 2026); Wikipedia articles on the Grand Theft Auto series and each game (release dates, story years, universes); Steam and Apple App Store listings (checked November 6, 2026); The New York Times via GamesRadar+ (map size, August 2026); Dazed via GamesRadar+ and TheGamer (weight and muscle, August 2026).

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