GTA 5 came out on Tuesday 17 September 2013. GTA 6 follows on Thursday 19 November 2026, 13 years and two months later, and the short answer to what has changed is this: two lead characters instead of three, the state of Leonida instead of Los Santos, only PS5 and Xbox Series X|S at launch, no disc in the box, and no online mode announced.
That is a long gap, and most comparison lists online fill it with guesses about the map, the cops and the gameplay. This page does the opposite. Every row below is something Rockstar, Take-Two, PlayStation or Xbox has put in writing for both games, with the source linked. If one side has no official answer, the table says so instead of filling the cell.
- Lead characters: 2 in GTA 6 (Jason and Lucia), 3 in GTA 5 (Franklin, Michael and Trevor)
- Setting: Leonida and Vice City, against Los Santos and Blaine County
- Launch consoles: PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, against PS3 and Xbox 360
- Online at launch: nothing announced for GTA 6; GTA Online arrived two weeks after GTA 5
- Age rating: ESRB Mature for both, with the same seven content descriptors
GTA 6 vs GTA 5: the comparison table
| Topic | GTA 6 | GTA 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Lead characters | 2: Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos | 3: Franklin, Michael and Trevor |
| Setting | State of Leonida: Vice City plus five more regions | Los Santos and Blaine County, a take on Southern California |
| Release date | Thursday 19 November 2026, midnight local time | Tuesday 17 September 2013 |
| Delays | Two: from autumn 2025 to 26 May 2026, then to 19 November 2026 | One: from spring 2013 to September 2013 |
| Launch platforms | PS5 and Xbox Series X|S | PS3 and Xbox 360 |
| PC | None announced | Not at launch, added later |
| Price (US) | $79.99 Standard, $99.99 Ultimate | Not in Take-Two’s 2013 releases |
| Physical copy | Code in a box, no disc | Sold in stores at launch, plus a PSN download |
| Storage | At least 212 GB free on PS5 | No official figure found |
| Frame rate | Targets 30 fps; PS5 Pro adds PSSR and ray-traced shadows | No official figure found |
| Xbox Cloud Gaming | Yes, from launch day | Coming “in the coming months” |
| Online mode | Single-player; nothing announced | GTA Online from 1 October 2013, free with every copy |
| Music | The Album (34 original tracks) and an Original Score by Justice | Smaller radio selection, by Rockstar’s own comparison |
| Age rating (ESRB) | Mature 17+ | Mature 17+ |
| Sales | Most pre-ordered game ever on PS Store and Microsoft Store (no figure) | Over $800 million in day one sales; about 235 million copies (reported) |
Sources for every row are in the sections below and at the bottom of the page.
Characters: two leads instead of three
GTA 5 was built around three playable criminals. Take-Two’s release date announcement from January 2013 describes Franklin as “a former street gangster”, Michael as “a professional ex-con” and Trevor as “a violent maniac”, and its launch release says players could “jump in and out of the lives of three simultaneously playable lead characters”.
GTA 6 has two: Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos. Rockstar’s own pitch for the game is a duo story.
“Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them.”
Rockstar Games, rockstargames.com/VI
Lucia is “fresh out of prison” according to her official bio, and Jason is ex-Army and works for drug runners in the Keys. The full cast Rockstar has named, from Cal Hampton to Boobie Ike, is in our GTA 6 characters hub. How switching between Jason and Lucia works has not been described by Rockstar (see the list further down).
Setting: Leonida instead of Los Santos
GTA 5 took place in “the dense urban metropolis of Los Santos and the wide open countryside of Blaine County”, which Take-Two called “a satirical reimagining of modern day Southern California”. GTA 6 moves the series to Leonida, Rockstar’s fictional state, where Jason and Lucia end up “on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America”.
Rockstar has given Leonida six regions, each with its own page on its site:
- Vice City: the city, with Ocean Beach, Little Cuba and the cruise port
- Leonida Keys: the island chain
- Grassrivers: the wetlands
- Port Gellhorn: “Leonida’s forgotten coast”
- Ambrosia: the heart of the state, with a sugar refinery
- Mount Kalaga: a national landmark near the northern border
What Rockstar has not given is a size. There is no official figure for the GTA 6 Map and no comparison with GTA 5, so any “twice as big” claim is a fan estimate. Every confirmed place is on our GTA 6 map page.
Release dates and delays
Both games slipped. Take-Two’s January 2013 release says GTA 5 moved from “its original projected release window of spring 2013 in order to allow additional development time”, and it then launched on 17 September 2013 on PS3 and Xbox 360.
GTA 6 slipped twice. It was first planned for autumn 2025, then moved to 26 May 2026, and in November 2025 Rockstar set the final date of 19 November 2026. Rockstar Support confirms the unlock: “Grand Theft Auto VI will release midnight local time on November 19, 2026, in all regions for both PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series X|S.”
| Milestone | GTA 6 | GTA 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Original window | Autumn 2025 | Spring 2013 |
| Final release | 19 November 2026 | 17 September 2013 |
| Number of delays | 2 | 1 |
How long GTA 6 has been in development is not something Rockstar has put a number on. The closest official detail is from Rockstar staff speaking to The Guardian on 11 November: the team’s first research trip to Miami was in 2015. More dates are in our GTA 6 release date guide.
Platforms: current consoles only, no PC
GTA 5 launched on two consoles, PS3 and Xbox 360, and was later released on PS4, Xbox One and PC according to Rockstar North, and on PS5 according to the PlayStation Store. GTA 6 also launches on two consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. There is no PS4 or Xbox One version to play natively.
No PC version has been announced. Take-Two’s product list from 9 November names only PS5 and Xbox Series X|S for GTA 6, and CEO Strauss Zelnick said on the same day’s earnings call that “GTA VI is available on two consoles when it launches on November 19.” Our GTA 6 PC page tracks anything new.
Price and editions
GTA 6 costs $79.99 / €79.99 for the Standard Edition and $99.99 / €99.99 for the Ultimate Edition on official store pages. UK prices have varied between stores, so check your local store. Ultimate can also be bought later as an upgrade.
We have not found GTA 5’s 2013 launch price in an official Rockstar or Take-Two source, so we leave it out rather than quote a number from memory. The full GTA 6 breakdown is in our GTA 6 price guide.
No disc: code in a box
This is one of the biggest practical changes. On launch day in 2013, Take-Two said “more than 8,300 stores” in North America alone opened at midnight to sell GTA 5, which was also out as a PSN download.
GTA 6 has no disc. Rockstar Support states that “A disc will not be included in the box”: the physical version is a download code, and only the Standard Edition is sold physically. Rockstar confirmed on 12 November that code-in-box copies are now in stores worldwide. Details in our GTA 6 physical edition guide.
File size and storage
PlayStation’s GTA 6 page asks players to clear “a minimum of 212GB of storage space on your PlayStation 5”. Rockstar’s pre-load post says up to 212 GB “depending on device”. No official Xbox Series X|S figure has been published.
We did not find an official storage figure for GTA 5 from Rockstar, Take-Two or PlayStation, so there is no number to compare it with here. See our GTA 6 file size guide for storage tips.
Performance: 30 fps and PS5 Pro extras
Rockstar’s 10 November pre-load post says GTA 6 is “targeting 30 frames per second” on the current consoles. PS5 Pro gets “improved clarity through PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) and ray-traced shadows only available on PlayStation 5 Pro”. On PS5, the game also uses DualSense haptics, Tempest 3D Audio and “improved load times”.
“fully developed from the ground up to provide the best possible experience for the current generation of consoles, targeting 30 frames per second”
Rockstar Newswire, 10 November 2026
We found no official frame rate figure for GTA 5 on any platform, so this row has no comparison. More in our GTA 6 30 fps explainer.
Xbox Cloud Gaming from day one
GTA 6 is on Xbox Cloud Gaming from 1am ET on 19 November, on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, using Series S graphics settings. That is the only way to play it on Xbox One. You still have to buy the game, but Xbox Wire says that from 11 November players in supported markets “can buy cloud playtime” without a Game Pass subscription.
GTA 5 is not there yet. The same Xbox Wire post says GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 come to Xbox Cloud Gaming “in the coming months”. Our Xbox Cloud Gaming guide has the times.
Online: GTA Online came with GTA 5, nothing announced for GTA 6
Take-Two’s launch release for GTA 5 said every copy included access to GTA Online, “launching October 1, 2013”, two weeks after the game.
For GTA 6, the PlayStation Store page says “Grand Theft Auto VI is a single-player experience.” and lists “1 player”. Rockstar has announced nothing about online play for GTA 6. Take-Two has said it will keep supporting GTA Online after GTA 6 is out. Follow it on our GTA 6 online page.
Music: The Album, Justice and new radio
GTA 6 launches with a full album of original songs and a separate score. Rockstar’s music page lists:
- Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album: 34 original tracks, out 19 November, with singles from Yung Lean, Travis Scott, Morgan Wallen, Cardi B, Tove Lo and more
- Original Score by Justice: 30 tracks plus digital bonus tracks, out 11 December on streaming, CD and vinyl
- Radio: six stations previewed so far: Cocoteo FM, Back Country Radio, AfroBank FM, The Chamber, Flash FM and Dirty South Classics
Rockstar calls it “the biggest and widest-ranging selection of in-game radio and podcasts yet”, which by definition includes GTA 5. It has not given a total number of stations. Every confirmed song is in our GTA 6 soundtrack guide.
Age rating: the same ESRB descriptors
Both games are rated Mature by the ESRB, and the PlayStation Store lists the exact same seven content descriptors for both: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs and Alcohol. GTA 6’s PEGI rating was still shown as unconfirmed on the PlayStation page when we checked.
Sales: GTA 5’s numbers, GTA 6’s pre-orders
GTA 5 set the bar. On 18 September 2013 Take-Two said the game reached “first day sell-through of more than $800 million worldwide”, the highest first day in the company’s history. Its lifetime total is about 235 million copies as of 30 September 2026, according to Insider Gaming’s report on Take-Two’s November earnings. We could not find that number in Take-Two’s own press release, so treat it as reported.
GTA 6 has no sales figure yet. What is official: PlayStation Blog says it is “the most pre-ordered game in the history of PlayStation Store”, and Xbox Wire calls it the most pre-ordered title of all time on the Microsoft Store. Take-Two said on 9 November that pre-orders were “continuing to reach unprecedented levels”.
Not confirmed yet
These are the comparisons people search for most, and none of them has an official answer before launch:
- Map size: no official figure or GTA 5 comparison. GTA 6 map
- Online mode: nothing announced. GTA 6 online
- Crossplay and cross-progression: not mentioned by Rockstar. GTA 6 crossplay
- Cheat codes: not mentioned by Rockstar. GTA 6 cheats
- Switching between Jason and Lucia: not described by Rockstar. GTA 6 characters
- PC version: not announced. GTA 6 PC
We will move each one up into the table when Rockstar confirms it. Everything else known before launch is in GTA 6: everything we know.
GTA 6 vs GTA 5 FAQ
Is GTA 6 bigger than GTA 5?
Rockstar has not said. There is no official map size for GTA 6 and no comparison with GTA 5. Leonida has six named regions, but how large they are will only be known after launch.
Can you play GTA 6 on PS4 or Xbox One?
Not on PS4. On Xbox One, only through Xbox Cloud Gaming, which Rockstar and Xbox confirm runs on Xbox One from launch day. The game itself is made for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Does GTA 6 have three characters like GTA 5?
No. GTA 6 has two lead characters, Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos. GTA 5 had three: Franklin, Michael and Trevor.
Sources: Rockstar Games: Grand Theft Auto VI, Rockstar Games: GTA VI music, Rockstar Newswire: Pre-Load Grand Theft Auto VI Now, Rockstar Newswire: pre-load begins, Rockstar Support: GTA VI release time, Rockstar Support: GTA VI physical edition, PlayStation Store: Grand Theft Auto VI, PlayStation Store: Grand Theft Auto V, Xbox Wire: GTA 6 on Xbox Cloud Gaming, Take-Two: GTA V release date (31 January 2013), Take-Two: GTA V now available (17 September 2013), Take-Two: GTA V first day sales (18 September 2013), Rockstar North: GTA V, Insider Gaming: GTA 5 sales, Take-Two Q2 fiscal 2027 results and earnings call (9 November 2026), PlayStation Blog and Xbox Wire (10 November 2026), The Guardian (11 November 2026).
