GTA 5 vs GTA 6: what Rockstar has confirmed is different

The short answer

On paper, GTA 6 differs from GTA 5 in five ways Rockstar has confirmed. It moves from Los Santos to the state of Leonida and Vice City, it has two leads instead of three, it launches only on current consoles, Rockstar calls it "a single player experience" rather than bundling an online mode, and its boxed version is a download code. Almost everything players actually want compared, such as map size, performance modes and the radio, has an official answer for GTA 5 and none yet for GTA 6.

Everything below comes from Rockstar, Take-Two, PlayStation or Xbox pages, checked on September 29, 2026. Where GTA 6 has no official figure, the table says so instead of guessing.

Side by side

	Grand Theft Auto V	Grand Theft Auto VI
Setting	Los Santos and Blaine County	Vice City and the state of Leonida
Leads	Three: Michael, Franklin and Trevor	Two: Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos
First release	September 17, 2013 (PS3, Xbox 360)	November 19, 2026 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Later platforms	PS4 and Xbox One (2014), PC (2015), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (2022)	None announced; no PC version listed
Online	Includes GTA Online, up to 30 players	"A single player experience"; no online mode announced
Editions	Standard, Special Edition, Collector's Edition	Standard and Ultimate; a separate collector's box without the game
Physical version	"Full retail copy" of the game (Special Edition)	Download code in the box, no disc
Graphics modes	Published for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (for example Fidelity Mode, 30 FPS, native 4K)	None published
Supported languages (US Xbox Store)	14	13
US rating on Xbox Store	Mature 17+ with seven descriptors	Rating pending, likely Mature 17+
Release date changes	One delay, about four months	Two delays, from 2025 to November 19, 2026

Setting and characters

GTA 5 is set in "the sun-soaked metropolis of Los Santos and the backwoods countryside of Blaine County", in Rockstar's own description from the 2022 console release. Its story follows three playable leads. Rockstar's GTA V page describes them as "a young street hustler, a retired bank robber, and a terrifying psychopath", and the 2013 Special Edition announcement names them as Michael, Franklin and Trevor, each with "a unique special ability".

GTA 6 goes to "Vice City, USA" and a "criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida", in the wording used on Rockstar's page and in the Xbox Store description. The story centres on Jason and Lucia, who are "forced to rely on each other more than ever". Rockstar has named six Leonida destinations, covered on the map regions page, but has published no map, no area figure and no size comparison with Los Santos. Any "GTA 6 map is X times bigger than GTA 5" claim is unconfirmed.

Platforms and how each game reached them

GTA 5 arrived on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 17, 2013. Rockstar then brought it to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 18, 2014. The PC version was first announced for January 27, 2015 and went on sale on April 14, 2015. On March 15, 2022 it reached PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. That is three console generations plus PC over nine years, each announced on Rockstar Newswire.

GTA 6 starts on the current generation only. Rockstar's page lists PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. PlayStation's page adds "PS5 Pro Enhanced" and states that "the game is not playable on PlayStation 4". No PC version is listed anywhere official. The GTA 5 history shows that a later PC release has happened before, but it is not a promise, and the PC status page tracks the one question of whether Rockstar has said anything new.

Online play

This is the difference with the most practical weight. GTA 5 has always shipped with GTA Online, which Rockstar describes as "a dynamic and ever-evolving online universe for up to 30 players". GTA 6 is described differently. Rockstar's pre-order announcement of June 24, 2026 says: "Grand Theft Auto VI is a single player experience." The PlayStation page lists "1 player" and "Offline play enabled".

That wording does not rule out a future online mode, and it does not confirm one. For what Rockstar has said about GTA Online and GTA+ around the launch, see GTA Online and GTA+ around GTA 6.

Editions, bonuses and the box

GTA 5's premium versions were announced on May 23, 2013. The Special Edition included the game with a SteelBook, a blueprint map and in-game extras. The Collector's Edition added a security deposit bag, a New Era cap and more in-game content. Pre-orders of any edition got the Atomic Blimp.

GTA 6 has a Standard Edition and an Ultimate Edition, listed on the US Xbox Store at $79.99 and $99.99 on September 29, 2026. Every pre-order or purchase before November 20 gets the Vintage Vice City Pack, and digital pre-orders include a month of GTA+. The physical version contains "a download code inside the box" and goes on sale on November 12 to support pre-loading. Rockstar's collector's item this time, The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection announced on September 24, 2026, is a box of merchandise, and Rockstar states "Grand Theft Auto VI game sold separately". The GTA 5 Collector's Edition had the game in it.

Regional prices differ, so check the buying guide for your store, and Standard vs Ultimate for the item list.

Technical details: published for one, not the other

For its 2022 PS5 and Xbox Series X|S release, Rockstar published specific graphics modes for GTA 5, including a Fidelity Mode that "targets 30 FPS" with native 4K on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The 2014 re-release announcement listed "increased draw distances and higher resolution" and "over 100 additional new songs" across "the game's 17 radio stations".

For GTA 6, Rockstar has published no resolution, frame-rate or graphics-mode table, no radio station count and no station list. What it has announced is Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, 34 original tracks releasing on November 19. PlayStation's page says the Extended Look was "captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5", which says nothing about the Xbox or PS5 Pro versions.

Scale and expectations

GTA 5 is the benchmark GTA 6 is measured against. Take-Two reported first-day retail sales of "more than $800 million worldwide" for GTA 5 in September 2013, and its latest annual report puts GTA 5 at "over 225 million units" sold-in. None of the Rockstar or Take-Two documents checked for this page gives a unit sales expectation for GTA 6, so there is no official number to set against those.

Verdict

If you are deciding between them today, the choice is simple. GTA 5 is a finished, documented game with an online mode, a PC version and published performance modes. GTA 6 is a new single-player game on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S with a fixed date and a much smaller official record. The differences above are the ones Rockstar has confirmed; for the full list of what is and isn't official about GTA 6, read the official information overview.