Every Grand Theft Auto Game Ranked: A Series Retrospective
Grand Theft Auto games ranked from good to all-time great. Yes, you heard that right! As a GTA fanatic, I’ve replayed most of these more times than I can count. This list starts with the top-down 1997 debut and ends with today’s open-world king, with GTA 6 landing November 19, 2026.
My ranking weighs series impact, story and characters, how well a game plays today, and where it landed with critics. None of that stops my gut from breaking ties when two games are close.
New to the series or just replaying old favorites, you can use this as a shopping list too. Everything could shuffle once GTA 6 actually releases, and I’ll update the order the day it does.
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How These Grand Theft Auto Games Ranked
My ranking runs on four things, and I stick to them for every one of these Grand Theft Auto games ranked below. Cultural impact, innovation, story and characters, and how well a game plays today.
- Cultural impact: How far a game pushed the series and the wider industry forward. A few entries here reshaped what open-world games could be.
- Innovation: Every entry had to bring something new, like a smarter engine or a fresh way to cause chaos. GTA III alone introduced full 3D exploration and reshaped where the whole genre went next.
- Story and characters: A GTA city lives or dies by the people you meet in it. The best entries gave me someone worth rooting for, or at least someone worth listening to.
- How it plays today: A 2004 classic and a 2013 blockbuster might score close on paper, but only one still feels good in your hands right now. This is the tiebreaker when everything else is close.
Critical scores back all of this up too. Where a game has a Metacritic average, I looked it up fresh so nothing here comes from memory. A few of the oldest entries predate review aggregation, so I judge those on reputation and their measurable commercial footprint instead. With the method settled, here’s every GTA game ranked from the bottom of the pile to the very top.
Grand Theft Auto Games Ranked: from Good to All-Time Great
The list runs low to high. Number nine is the hardest game here to enjoy today, and number one is the game I’d hand a newcomer without a second thought. Everything else climbs the ladder in between.
9. Grand Theft Auto [Most Historically Important Origin]
| Release Year | 1997 |
| Platforms | PC, PlayStation, Game Boy Color |
| Metacritic | Predates aggregation |
| Setting | Liberty City, Vice City, San Andreas (early versions) |
Grand Theft Auto started as a top-down 2D sandbox in 1997, dropping you into early versions of Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas as a nobody clawing toward criminal respect. It played crude and chaotic, but it was shocking enough to get Rockstar noticed fast.
Booting it up today, the fixed camera and stiff controls will fight you constantly. I still think the DNA is unmistakable though. Free-roaming cities, radio stations, wanted levels, and the freedom to ditch a mission and cause chaos all trace straight back to this one game.
This plays more like a history lesson than a fun night in, but the series doesn’t exist without it. It’s the hardest GTA to enjoy in 2026, and that’s fine, since influence was always the real point.
My Verdict: This one’s for completionists and history buffs. Skip the hunt for an original copy and start your collection with a later entry.
8. Grand Theft Auto 2 [Best Top-Down Sequel]
| Release Year | 1999 |
| Platforms | PC, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color |
| Metacritic | 70 |
| Setting | Anywhere City (retro-futuristic sprawl) |
Grand Theft Auto 2 kept the top-down view but polished nearly everything else. Set in the retro-futuristic sprawl of Anywhere City, it added rival gangs you could win or lose, plus sharper missions and a criminal underworld that finally felt alive.
A 70 on Metacritic sums up a solid sequel that landed right as gaming was about to jump into 3D. Two years later, Grand Theft Auto III would make this whole style look ancient overnight.
Playing it now, it’s a charming curiosity for anyone tracing how the series grew up, even though plenty of later games do the gang-warfare hook better. Call it a fun footnote and a real stepping stone toward everything Rockstar built next.
My Verdict: Grab it if it pops up cheap in a retro bundle, but don’t go out of your way looking for it. The games it inspired are the better use of your time.
7. The spin-offs and handhelds: GTA Advance, the London packs, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories, and Chinatown Wars [Best Handheld GTA]
| Release Year | 1999 to 2009 |
| Platforms | Game Boy Advance, PSP, Nintendo DS, PS2, mobile |
| Metacritic | 68 (GTA Advance) to 93 (Chinatown Wars) |
| Setting | Liberty City, Vice City, and 1960s London |
Grouping these isn’t a slight. It’s the fairest way to rank a set of side entries that swing wildly in quality. Grand Theft Auto Advance strips the series back to top-down and lands a modest 68 on Metacritic, while the London expansion packs feel like pure period novelties today.
The PSP era did better. Liberty City Stories (88) and Vice City Stories (86) squeezed near-console open worlds onto a handheld, which felt like a small miracle at the time. I still think Chinatown Wars is the real standout of the bunch.
Its 2009 DS release paired a top-down view with stylus minigames for hotwiring cars and cutting deals, backed by a genuinely sharp story, earning a remarkable 93 on Metacritic. As a whole, this lineup proves Rockstar could shrink GTA down and keep its soul intact.
My Verdict: If you only try one entry from this group, make it Chinatown Wars, especially the mobile version. The rest make for a fun detour if you stumble across them.
6. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition [Easiest Way to Play the Classics Today]
| Release Year | 2021 |
| Platforms | PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, mobile |
| Metacritic | 40s to 60s at launch (critics), 0.5/10 (user score at launch) |
| Setting | Liberty City, Vice City, San Andreas (remastered) |
No entry has a wilder backstory than this remaster collection. When it launched in November 2021, GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas got bundled with modern lighting, sharper art, and quality-of-life fixes. It also launched broken, with rain blocking the screen and character models warping constantly.
Missing effects and constant glitches pushed the Metacritic user score down to 0.5 out of 10, the lowest the site had ever recorded at the time. Critic reviews landed in the 40s to 60s depending on platform, a rough launch by any measure.
A wave of patches and a major November 2024 overhaul fixed the worst issues and added real upgrades like modern aiming, a weapon wheel, GPS, and mission checkpoints. The fuller GTA: The Trilogy review covers that, but the short version is the 2026 build barely resembles the 2021 launch.
My Verdict: I’d wait for a sale before buying this one. The patched 2026 version is worth the money, just skip the launch price tag.
5. Grand Theft Auto III [Most Influential 3D Entry]
| Release Year | 2001 |
| Platforms | PS2, PC, Xbox, later consoles and mobile |
| Metacritic | 97 |
| Setting | Liberty City (fully 3D) |
This is where the modern series was born. Grand Theft Auto III dragged the crime game into a fully 3D Liberty City you could drive, walk, and shoot through from behind the character. Gaming felt different after this one, and it’s easy to forget how big that leap really was.
The silent lead, Claude, was thin compared to later protagonists, but the freedom around him felt intoxicating. You could steal any car, flip through radio stations, take a mission, or just cause chaos for the fun of it.
Its 97 on Metacritic captures how revolutionary this felt in 2001, when it sat on top of sales charts for months. The living 3D city with systemic mayhem became the blueprint that dozens of open-world games still follow today.
Playing it today comes with dated visuals and clumsy gunplay, but I still think that raw sense of possibility holds up. Among every GTA game ranked here, this is the most historically important 3D entry, the base the next three classics were built on.
My Verdict: Pick this one up through the patched Definitive Edition unless you’ve still got an original PS2 or PC copy lying around. Either way, you’re playing the game that invented the modern GTA formula.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City [Best Atmosphere and Soundtrack]
| Release Year | 2002 |
| Platforms | PS2, PC, Xbox, later consoles and mobile |
| Metacritic | 95 |
| Setting | Vice City (1980s Miami-inspired) |
If Grand Theft Auto III proved the concept, Vice City gave it a soul. Rockstar swapped gray Liberty City for a neon 1980s Miami pastiche, handed players the motor-mouthed Tommy Vercetti, voiced by Ray Liotta, and wrapped it all in one of gaming’s greatest licensed soundtracks.
Building a criminal empire from one seedy apartment into a citywide operation gave the campaign a real arc the first two games lacked. A 95 on Metacritic barely captures how beloved this game became almost overnight.
The neon 80s mood and non-stop synth-pop radio combined into something so strong that players still quote it decades later. I’ve met people who can recite Tommy’s one-liners faster than their own phone number.
It holds up better than its 2001 predecessor thanks to that setting and a stronger lead, even if the mission design shows its age. For a lot of longtime fans, this is still the nostalgic peak of the whole classic era.
My Verdict: Grab it inside the classic trilogy or spring for the modernized Definitive Edition if you want the smoothest ride. For a lot of players, Vice City remains the reason they fell in love with this series in the first place.
3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [Most Ambitious PS2-Era Game]
| Release Year | 2004 |
| Platforms | PS2, PC, Xbox, later consoles and mobile |
| Metacritic | 95 |
| Setting | San Andreas (Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas) |
This is the most ambitious game of the entire PS2 era, and still the one plenty of players call their favorite. San Andreas swapped a single city for a whole state, stretching Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas across open countryside in between.
You play CJ, back home for his mother’s funeral in a neighborhood that’s falling apart around him. The story leans into family and gang politics, and I still think it hits harder than most games manage today.
Rockstar packed in RPG touches like working out, eating, getting haircuts, and tracking skill stats. It’s the closest the series ever got to a life sim with a body count.
The world felt more lived-in than anything else in 2004. Its 95 on Metacritic matched Vice City, but the sheer scale makes this one feel bigger and more replayable today. As the high point of the pre-HD era, it sets the bar for open-world ambition.
My Verdict: Twenty years on, this is still the GTA most people mean when they say they miss the old days. The Definitive Edition gets you there fastest, though PC purists with community fixes installed swear by the original.
2. Grand Theft Auto IV [Best Story and Characters]
| Release Year | 2008 |
| Platforms | PS3, Xbox 360, PC |
| Metacritic | 98 |
| Setting | Liberty City (reimagined) |
The highest-scored game in the whole series lands at number two, and that gap between score and rank is basically the whole debate in miniature. Grand Theft Auto IV pushed the series toward something grittier and more grounded, anchored by Niko Bellic.
Niko is an Eastern European immigrant chasing a hollow version of the American dream in a reimagined Liberty City, and he’s still the most human protagonist Rockstar has ever written.
The physics-heavy driving and the somber tone split fans back in 2008, but a 98 on Metacritic makes this the best-reviewed GTA ever made. The Euphoria physics engine still looks convincing today, even when Niko faceplants down a flight of stairs, which still makes me laugh every time.
What keeps it from the top is scope. No aircraft and a noticeably smaller map leave it feeling less complete than the game that followed. Even so, plenty of critics and players still call this the finest entry in the franchise for story alone.
My Verdict: This one rewards patience over chaos, and that pace won’t click with everyone. It’s widely available on PC and last-gen consoles, and worth your time above all if character-driven stories are what pull you into a GTA game.
1. Grand Theft Auto V [Best Overall Pick]
| Release Year | 2013 |
| Platforms | PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC |
| Metacritic | 97 (original consoles), 96 (PC) |
| Setting | Los Santos |
Of every one of these Grand Theft Auto games ranked here, none has defined an era like this one. More than a decade after release, it sits near the top of the sales and player charts, and it’s the easy pick for the best GTA game to jump into today.
The three-protagonist structure, switching on the fly between Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, was a genuine leap for the series’ storytelling. The recreation of Los Santos is still one of the most detailed open worlds ever built.
The heists give the campaign real shape, and the satire still lands a decade later. Then there’s GTA Online, the endlessly updated multiplayer mode that turned one game into a platform and the financial engine behind the entire studio.
Its 97 on Metacritic (96 on PC), paired with how well it still plays in 2026, is why I put it on top. If you’re buying one entry before the sequel lands, this is the one.
My Verdict: Nothing else on this list works as both a modern benchmark and a decade-long platform. Pick up a key before GTA 6 lands, and you’ll see exactly why this is the one every newcomer should start with.
Which GTA should you play first before GTA 6?
GTA 6 lands soon, but if you want to catch up on these Grand Theft Auto games ranked above first, here’s where to start based on what you’re actually after. I’ve sorted it by the reasons people usually pick up one of these games. Find your reason below and jump in.
- If you want the most modern, accessible entry point → Grand Theft Auto V. It’s the most polished experience in the series, and you don’t need any history with the earlier games to jump straight in.
- If story and character matter most to you → Grand Theft Auto IV. Niko Bellic’s arc is the emotional high point of the series, and its darker tone makes a striking contrast with the sun-soaked sequel that followed.
- If you’re chasing nostalgia → Vice City or San Andreas. Vice City brings the mood and the music, San Andreas brings the scale and one of gaming’s best comeback stories, and both still hold up on a modern screen.
- If you want to feel the full twenty-year climb → play the GTA games in order of release. It’s the most rewarding way to watch the series evolve, even though nearly every entry stands on its own just fine.
- If you want the weirdest, most experimental entry → Chinatown Wars. It swaps sticks for a stylus, still tells one of the sharper stories in the series, and makes an easy detour even outside this main list.
Platform matters less than you’d think. GTA V runs on practically everything now, from last-gen, so buy for whatever you already own. The older entries run fine on PC these days, which makes it the flexible choice if you plan on playing more than one.
Line up whichever ones tempt you from the Grand Theft Auto catalogue on Eneba and build your own path toward the sequel. Whatever you pick first, you’re in for one of gaming’s great back catalogues, built up piece by piece over nearly three decades.
Where GTA 6 might land
This is the one game I can’t rank, since it isn’t out yet. Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives November 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with a PC version likely following a year or two later, based on Rockstar’s usual release pattern.
It launches as a single-player experience priced at $79.99 for the standard edition and $99.99 for the ultimate edition, and pre-orders have been live since June 2026.
Everything beyond those facts is informed anticipation. The trailers point to a return to Vice City and the surrounding state of Leonida, plus a dual-lead story built around Lucia and her partner Jason. The visual detail alone already looks like a real generational jump.
If the series’ trajectory holds, this one has a real shot at landing on top the day it releases. Rockstar has topped itself with almost every mainline entry, and the scope on show points to another swing at exactly that.
There’s no score here, and there won’t be one until the game is out and I’ve actually played it. What I can say is the hype is earned. This is the follow-up to the best-selling, most-played entry in a series that keeps reinventing the open-world genre.
Pre-ordering locks in launch bonuses like the Vintage Vice City Pack and a month of GTA+. You can pre-order GTA 6 on Eneba and treat the wait as the next chapter after this GTA retrospective. Until it lands, the crown stays with Grand Theft Auto V.
FAQs
No mainline Grand Theft Auto game is truly bad. By this ranking, it’s the 1997 original – its fixed camera and stiff controls make it the hardest to actually sit down and play in 2026. On raw Metacritic score, GTA Advance (68) rates lower, but it’s more playable today than the original.
Counting mainline entries, expansions, and handheld spin-offs, there are well over a dozen since 1997. The mainline run is GTA, GTA 2, III, Vice City, San Andreas, IV, and V, with GTA 6 arriving November 19, 2026.
Either play the GTA games in order of release to watch the series evolve or start with the modern entries, GTA V, then IV, and dip into the classic trilogy for nostalgia. Most stories stand on their own.
Most of them. GTA V, GTA IV, the classic trilogy, and the Definitive Edition are all available digitally, so nearly the whole series is a click away, with only the earliest releases hard to track down.
It is too early to say, since GTA 6 is not out yet. Expectations are enormous given the series’ trajectory and its scope, but there is no verdict on the best GTA game until it launches on November 19, 2026.
