GTA 6 vs GTA 5: what changed?
Two leads instead of three, a new state, a higher price and a later date. The three comparisons everybody arrives for — a bigger map, a longer story, sixty frames — have not been stated by anybody who would know.
Confirmed. Source: Take-Two Interactive press release, 24 Jun 2026. Checked .
Every other version of this page is a feature table: bigger map, better water, more interiors, sixty frames. Not one of those lines has been stated by anybody who would know, which makes the usual comparison a work of fiction with a table around it.
This one compares only fields where both sides can be cited, and prints a dash where they cannot. Of the 12 fields below, 5 have no sourced entry for the older game at all.
The three comparisons everybody arrives for
The size of the map has never been stated. Not known. Open since ; statements to cite: none. Absence of any first-party statement.
No square-mileage figure and no comparison to the older game's map has been published, so any comparison is one estimate measured against another. Community mapping projects have produced estimates; they are estimates, and they are labelled as such here.
The widely repeated figure of "700+ enterable buildings" has no first-party source. Rumoured. Circulated by fan and aggregator sites, .
Beside it sits the clearest worked example of how a number gets laundered: a specification-shaped figure with no publisher behind it, repeated until it reads as confirmed. That pattern is most of what a GTA VI comparison table is made of. How big is the map holds the same answer at greater length.
Nothing has been said about campaign length, mission count, or how the two protagonists are switched between. Not known. Open since ; statements to cite: none. Absence of any first-party statement.
Everyone assumes GTA VI switches between Jason and Lucia the way GTA V switched between its leads. It is a fair assumption and it is still an assumption — the mechanic has never been described. A completion time for a game released more than a decade ago, on older hardware, with a different cast and a different world, is an analogy for this one rather than a measurement of No hour figure for either game has ever been attributed to anybody who measured it — how long the game is sets out what has and has not been said.
Rockstar has not stated a target frame rate, a resolution, or what performance and quality modes exist on any console. Not known. Open since ; statements to cite: none. Notebookcheck.
Retailer listings and leaks pointing to a 60fps performance mode are unverified, and technical analysts are sceptical. Rumoured. Notebookcheck (citing Digital Foundry analysis), .
The download and install size have never been published. Not known. Open since ; statements to cite: none. Absence of any first-party statement.
There is no official statement of a sixty-frame mode of any kind, and no target resolution or performance mode has been named on either console. What exists is an outside analysis doubting one, recorded as rumoured and not as a specification. The download size is blank for the same reason: no figure appears on either store listing, and the range in circulation is an estimate from commentators. See frame rate and resolution.
What can genuinely be compared today
| Field | Grand Theft Auto V | Grand Theft Auto VI | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launched | On consoles in September 2013 | 19 November 2026, announced and reaffirmed (Confirmed) | PCGamesN · Take-Two Interactive |
| PC version | April 2015, about 19 months after the consoles | None announced — no date, no storefront, no requirements (Confirmed) | PCGamesN · Take-Two Interactive |
| Platforms | — | PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S only, with no PS4 or Xbox One version (Confirmed) | Take-Two Interactive |
| Setting | — | The fictional state of Leonida, with Vice City as its principal city (Confirmed) | PlayStation.Blog · Rockstar Games Trailer 1 |
| Playable leads | No female playable protagonist in any mainline entry | Two — and Lucia is the series’ first female playable protagonist (Confirmed) | Take-Two Interactive · Wikipedia |
| Written by | Dan Houser | The first mainline GTA since 1997 that he has not written (Confirmed) | Wikipedia |
| Price | — | $79.99 Standard, $99.99 Ultimate, in the United States (Confirmed) | Take-Two Interactive |
| Online | GTA Online is live, and Take-Two says support continues after VI ships | No online or multiplayer mode has been announced (Confirmed) | TweakTown · GamesRadar+ |
| Units sold | Over 230 million | Unreleased. No pre-order count has been published (Not known) | Game Developer · Take-Two Q1 FY2027 earnings call transcript |
| Age rating | R18+ in Australia | Only a disputed MA15+ entry in the Australian database (Rumoured) | PCGamesN |
| Map size | — | Never stated by Rockstar (Not known) | No first-party statement |
| Frame rate | — | No target frame rate, resolution or performance mode stated (Not known) | Notebookcheck |
The claims behind those rows
Take-Two reaffirmed the 19 November 2026 date in its first-quarter fiscal 2027 results. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive investor relations, .
The announced platforms are PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive press release, .
There is no PlayStation 4 or Xbox One version. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive press release, .
That is the sharpest practical difference for anybody choosing hardware. No first-party material puts this game on a third machine.
No PC version of Grand Theft Auto VI has been announced. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive press release, .
Grand Theft Auto V launched on consoles in September 2013 and on PC in April 2015, a gap of about 19 months. Confirmed. PCGamesN, .
That row is not a comparison at all, because one side of it is empty. The nineteen-month gap is precedent, not schedule, and the PC page keeps the distinction.
The game is set in the fictional US state of Leonida. Confirmed. PlayStation.Blog (Rockstar-authored), .
Vice City returns as the game's principal city. Confirmed. Rockstar Games Trailer 1, .
Grand Theft Auto VI has two playable protagonists, Jason and Lucia. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive press release, .
Lucia is the first female playable protagonist in a mainline Grand Theft Auto game. Confirmed. Wikipedia (Grand Theft Auto VI), .
Grand Theft Auto VI is the first mainline GTA since the 1997 original not written by Dan Houser, who left Rockstar in 2020. Confirmed. Wikipedia (Grand Theft Auto VI), .
The Standard Edition is $79.99 in the United States. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive press release, .
The Ultimate Edition is $99.99 in the United States. Confirmed. Take-Two Interactive press release, .
Zelnick defended the $80 price, saying the game "will be an incredible bargain as experiences go". Confirmed. Take-Two Q1 FY2027 earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool), .
The comparison usually drawn from those prices is how much more GTA VI costs than GTA V did at launch. Both GTA VI prices are on the record and dated; the 2013 figure they get measured against is quoted from memory rather than from anything a publisher stated, which is why the price row above compares nothing.
Take-Two has not published a pre-order unit count or dollar figure. Not known. Open since ; statements to cite: none. Take-Two Q1 FY2027 earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool).
A share without a total is not a sales figure, which is why the units row for the newer game is an absence rather than an estimate. What the two editions actually contain is on the price page.
An MA15+ entry for GTA VI on the Australian Classification database is disputed and probably an IARC self-assessment rather than a board decision. Rumoured. PCGamesN, .
The thirteen-year tail, and what it implies
Grand Theft Auto V has sold in over 230 million units. Confirmed. Game Developer (reporting Take-Two Q1 FY2027), .
GTA V launched on consoles in September 2013 and GTA VI is due on 19 November 2026. The older game is still commercially alive at the end of that stretch, which is the part worth comparing — and the part most often read as a promise about the new one.
Take-Two says the existing GTA Online will keep being supported after GTA VI launches. Confirmed. TweakTown (reporting Take-Two earnings remarks), .
Rockstar announced a further GTA Online content update for summer 2026. Confirmed. GamerMarkt (reporting Rockstar Newswire, 7 May 2026), .
No online or multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto VI has been announced. Confirmed. GamesRadar+, .
No expansions, story DLC, season pass or post-launch content plan has been announced. Not known. Open since ; statements to cite: none. Absence of any first-party statement.
It is tempting to read that tail as a promise: a decade of online support for GTA VI, a PC version in a year and a half, expansions on the way. None of that has been announced. What the tail actually establishes is one thing about the publisher's behaviour — Take-Two keeps selling and supporting a Grand Theft Auto for a very long time — and nothing at all about the schedule of a game that has not shipped.
Vice City has not been the setting of a mainline game since 2002, which is why a good deal of the comparison a reader actually wants is with the 2002 game rather than the 2013 one. The state of Leonida holds the places that have been named, and the online page holds the full record of what has and has not been said about multiplayer — the single largest unknown in any comparison between these two games.
Sources
- GTA 6 release date, setting, map, characters, gameplay and trailers Cited for GTA V’s console and PC launch dates, which is the only part of the older game’s history this page states.
- Rockstar Games announces pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI
- GTA V surpasses 230 million sales months before GTA VI touches down
- GTA Online will continue after GTA 6’s release, Take-Two reiterates
- GTA 6 online looks unlikely for launch as Rockstar refers to the game as a single-player experience
- GTA 6 may struggle to hit 60 FPS even on the PS5 Pro
- GTA 6 age rating
- Grand Theft Auto VI