{"id":68078,"date":"2026-08-28T16:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/?p=68078"},"modified":"2026-09-01T16:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T08:29:38","slug":"ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games","title":{"rendered":"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brace yourselves: we’re about to be hit with an entertainment event that’ll make\u00a0Avengers: Endgame<\/em>\u00a0look like a niche indie release. That’s\u00a0Grand Theft Auto VI<\/em>, the latest instalment in the series of open-world crime games created by Rockstar North, set to make the equivalent of the GDP of a small state on its opening weekend. To date, the first trailer has over 290 million views on YouTube, backed by Tom Petty’s \u201cLove is a Long Road,\u201d which saw the\u00a0dad rocker go nuclear on Spotify<\/a>. It’ll soon be the first game in history to be previewed with an \u201cextended look\u201d on Netflix. The 19th of November, the day it finally comes out, is guaranteed to mark a world-record for collective sick days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, when a new GTA<\/em> comes out, everyone goes batshit. Not that much elaboration is needed as to why: we’ve all spent countless hours zipping around in cars, committing gleefully entertaining acts of vandalism, parachuting from mountains and evading our five-star wanted levels. It’s the pinnacle of escapism. No other gaming franchise allows us to explore such fully-realised worlds, nor to do what we want, when we want. Especially<\/em> when that means shooting some poor store clerk in the face. Bloodshed, baby!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They’ve also evolved into some of the funniest satires of American culture and politics seen anywhere, let alone in the gamesphere, thanks to the Britain-born Rockstar’s outsider lens: the modern games skewer everything from rampant U.S. consumerism to vacuous Hollywood influencers, while all of them have taken a few pops at the country’s gleeful gun culture. But no\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0is the same: some come with a gritty tone akin to a Sunday night\u00a0HBO\u00a0show, while others are blockbuster adventures aping Hollywood’s greatest crime epics. As such, the debate as to which mainline game is the greatest will rage on until the heat death of the universe. Some will die on a hill for the gritty realism of\u00a0GTA IV<\/em>. For others, you’ll never top cruising around a sun-kissed\u00a0Vice City<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0Laura Branigan or Hall & Oates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s one of those rare examples of a series where all of the games are genuinely masterworks; nostalgia, no doubt, will play a part in your personal favouritism, but it’s really like trying to pick your favourite drug-addicted child, who also happens to be a serial killer. (And yet you still<\/em> love them.) Nonetheless, we’ve had a bash at picking ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 & 6.\u00a0GTA 1<\/em>\u00a0&\u00a02<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The games that started it all, though they bear little resemblance to the monolithic franchise that would follow them \u2014 being top-down shooters on the original PlayStation wherein you’d have to accrue points to advance, arcade-style. Mostly, they were carnage, though you can see the first seeds of the later\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0games in there: driving around huge cityscapes, shooting people in the streets, doing missions for crime lords \u2014 accessed, in very late ’90s fashion, via telephone boxes \u2014 and yourself climbing the greasy pole. The first\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0is based in crude versions of the cities (and later, states) that would dominate the\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0series moving forward, from Liberty City, to San Andreas, to Vice City; the second set itself in a near-future metropolis, Anywhere USA, that Rockstar is yet to revisit. A bit of fun for an hour or two. But oh, if we knew what was to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.\u00a0GTA III<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Photo: Rockstar Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One step from the bottom spot and we’re already at the point where to rank any of these games so \u201clow\u201d feels sacrilegious.\u00a0GTA III<\/em>, the fifth-best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto<\/em>\u00a0entry in the mainline series? As in: the one that essentially started it all, made an art form of the open world, and established the blueprint of ruthless criminality and sandbox chaos that these games are still based upon today? Cheers lads. Nice one. Claude’s crying.There’s no question of\u00a0GTA III<\/em>‘s revolutionary status in gaming history, up there with the likes of\u00a0Half-Life<\/em>,\u00a0The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time<\/em>, and\u00a0The Last of Us<\/em>: a dark, funny, rain-smeared descent into the criminal underworld of Liberty City (at that point, less of a direct New York knock-off). The game places players in the shoes of a voiceless, expressionless sociopath, the then-novel idea being to do missions for the mob, race around the streets and, if your heart should desire, blast people down with an M16 for funsies. Oh yes, incredible for its time. But playing it now, it almost feels like a tech demo for the other games of the 3D era\u00a0Vice City<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0San Andreas<\/em>, which whacked a ton of meat on its brilliant bones with more expansive, organic worlds, improved customisation, refined satirical identities and gripping storytelling. Another mark against it, on reflection: Rockstar hardly licensed any actual music for the radio stations, and you just can’t do a drive-by without The Buggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.\u00a0GTA V<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Photo: Rockstar Games \/ IGBD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Good god, take me back to late 2013, when the anticipation for\u00a0GTA V<\/em>\u00a0hit a crazy fever pitch, Rockstar drip-feeding the masses with trailers showcasing the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of n\u00fc Los Santos: based on Southern California, a living-and-breathing satire of the vapid Hollywood lifestyle, materialist excess, and the perma-cringe of the early social media age. The game that arrived teemed with innovation, its city and northern countryside packed with things to do, people to meet, and crimes to commit, from boosting sports cars to full-on bank robberies, the final mission being a homework-copying homage to the final score in\u00a0Heat<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also the first GTA<\/em> that let you play as more than one character, each of them providing a unique perspective on the world. They were Michael, an ex-robber in the throes of a midlife crisis; Franklin, a street hustler from Los Santos’ equivalent of Compton; and Trevor, the psychopathic embodiment of GTA<\/em>‘s signature bloodshed and chaos. The story saw them rise the ranks in the Los Santos criminal underworld, executing an increasingly convoluted \u2014 and extremely Mission: Impossible<\/em>-coded \u2014 heists. The men come off pretty well, menaces to society so they are. But one wonders if Rockstar had to make the game’s female characters so unlikeable, with Michael’s wife falling into the Skyler White trap, weirdly vilified for having the audacity to disapprove of his lawless lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the trio are indisputable video game icons, and\u00a0GTA V<\/em>\u00a0itself is one of the greatest games of all time, even if its 13 years as the only current-gen (and\u00a0last<\/em>-gen) instalment has allowed some fatigue to creep in. It’d also help if\u00a0GTA Online<\/em>\u00a0hadn’t become a complete shit show full of 13-year-olds killing everyone on those rocket-powered flying murder bikes. Still, there’s a reason we’ve all clocked a bazillion hours on the thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.\u00a0GTA: Vice City<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Photo: Rockstar Games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Basically\u00a0Scarface: The Game<\/em>, with the player placed in the shoes of a rising drug lord in the titular Vice City, a neon-soaked stand-in for\u00a0\u201880s Miami, with more palm trees than you\u2019d find on a desert island. Even the eventual home of the player character, the Hawaiian shirt-wearing Tommy Vercetti, is basically the mansion owned by Tony Montana, with a major set piece in the game mirroring that film’s climactic shootout. (Funnily enough,\u00a0Scarface<\/em>‘s famous montage song, \u201cPush It To the Limit,\u201d was previously on\u00a0GTA III<\/em>‘s in-game radio, one of the few actual tracks included.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps this is the\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0that most wears its cinematic influence on its billowy suit sleeve, but that’s not the main reason it holds so many of us in its nostalgic clutches. Etched into so many brains is the image of rolling down Vice City beach with the top down, the radio blasting \u201cVideo Killed the Radio Star,\u201d \u201cBillie Jean\u201d or, for the\u00a0V-Rock\u00a0faithful, Twisted Sister’s \u201cI Wanna Rock\u201d and Judas Priest’s \u201cYou’ve Got Another Thing Comin’\u201d. It was also the game wherein Rockstar began to properly refine its blend of satirical humour and cartoonish violence, exchanging its predecessor’s dreary mood for a world more colourful and vibrant, bristling with references to the pop cultural staples of the \u201880s. It\u2019s a stylish ode to the MTV generation. And, yes, a killer sandbox in which you can commit plentiful mass murder with a chainsaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\u00a0GTA IV<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking a few cues from the then-burgeoning staples of prestige TV, like\u00a0The Sopranos<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Wire<\/em>, the fourth mainline\u00a0game\u00a0in the\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0franchise leapt onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a grittier, more grounded tone, centring on Niko Bellic, a cynical, weary veteran of the Yugoslav Wars who ships over to Liberty City \u2014 now a bustling, like-for-like parody of 2000s New York \u2014 in pursuit of the American Dream. He starts out doing odd jobs for his bowling-addicted cousin, who owns a taxi firm operating out of the city’s equivalent of Brooklyn, and before you know it, he’s rubbing shoulders with Jamaican drug lords, Irish bank robbers, and the mob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game was like an incredibly jacked, super-next-gen\u00a0GTA III.<\/em>\u00a0It was also twice as depressing, with a bleak, often heartbreaking storyline, the player at one point forced to choose between the death of Niko’s cousin and his girlfriend. Not that it was entirely without Rockstar’s sometimes juvenile, oft satirically on-point sense of humour, from dumb street name gags through to the Statue of Liberty being modelled after Hillary Clinton, her torch replaced by a coffee cup. (That being both a joke about America’s proclivity for Starbucks and the \u201cHot Coffee\u201d hidden sex game \u00fcber controversy that hit the company following the release of\u00a0GTA: San Andreas<\/em>.) While it lacked some of the gameplay innovations brought about by\u00a0San Andreas<\/em>, dialling down from its insanely ambitious scope \u2014 you couldn’t bulk up at the gym anymore, and car customisation was out \u2014 it’s hard to argue that any of the other titles feel more like \u201cart,\u201d in that it’s the closest any of them have come to achieving the complex storytelling, and moral ambiguity, of the greatest movies or TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\u00a0GTA: San Andreas<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To date,\u00a0San Andreas<\/em>\u00a0is the only 3D\u00a0GTA<\/em>\u00a0wherein Rockstar has tried to replicate an entire state, with more than one major city: you start in a smaller version of \u201890s Los Santos, rendered in blocky PlayStation 2-era graphics, though hardly less recognisable as an LA clone. And as the story unfolds, you’re taken on a clockwise journey through the rural backwoods, onto the steep, hilly streets of San Fierro \u2014 a San Francisco stand-in with its own version of the Golden Gate Bridge \u2014 and then to Las Venturas, a hedonistic casino playground in the middle of nowhere, just like\u00a0Vegas\u00a0IRL. The scale of the map is actually smaller than\u00a0GTA V<\/em>, and yet it still feels like the more expansive world, with its variety of biomes and landmarks. Each city and town has its own distinct visual identity, from the Californian ambers of Los Santos to the scorching mustards and browns of the deserts you explore late-game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s just the world. The story, like most GTA<\/em>s, follows a rags-to-riches tale centring on CJ, a former gang banger who returns to his family home on Grove Street after the death of his mum. He’s reunited with his embittered brother Sweet, plus childhood friends Big Smoke and Ryder; the first chunk of missions make for a great hang, with some of the most interesting characters in a Rockstar joint, whether you’re heading out to the drive-thru for Smoke’s ludicrously big fast-food order, doing a bit of petty crime, or racing lowriders through the Los Santos streets. What unfolds is a conspiracy leading back to the Los Santos police, led by a villainous cop played by Samuel L. Jackson \u2014 a genuinely great voice performance. It’s piled high with betrayal, revenge and, eventually, bizarro adventures with a far zanier bent, one of which takes you into the steel belly of a top-secret government base called Area 69. (Rockstar, never change.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is just so much to do and explore, all packaged with an A-grade plot that felt revolutionary in 2004. Hell, it still stands up in our present era of cinematised video games; I’d argue that it’s just as rich and emotional as The Last of Us<\/em> or Red Dead 2<\/em>. Beyond all that, it’s just a gaming masterclass. For one session, you might fly around shooting people with a jet pack, get your hair cut, hit the clothes shop, and then throw yourself into missions running errands for an ageing hippie. On another, you can cruise around in a biplane listening to \u201cFree Bird.\u201d Like that song, it’s the apex of freedom. \u201cAh shit, here we go again,\u201d CJ bemoans on his return to San Andreas. But for us, it never gets old.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the new GTA VI, here are the best mainline GTA installments, from “Vice City” to “V” and “San Andreas”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":68079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[2992],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-68078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle-en","tag-grand-theft-auto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ahead of the new GTA VI, here are the best mainline GTA installments, from "Vice City" to "V" and "San Andreas".\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GQ Hong Kong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gqhongkong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-28T08:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-01T08:29:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/person\/4d532df38fda05845e11dbc1cca40f06\"},\"headline\":\"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-28T08:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-01T08:29:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games\"},\"wordCount\":2186,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Grand Theft Auto\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked\",\"name\":\"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-28T08:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-01T08:29:38+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Composite: GQ \/ Getty, Rockstar Games, IGBD\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\",\"name\":\"GQ Hong Kong\",\"description\":\"\u7537\u6027\u6642\u5c1a\u3001\u6587\u5316\u3001\u8155\u9336\u3001\u6c7d\u8eca\u3001\u79d1\u6280\u3001\u904b\u52d5\u3001\u751f\u6d3b\u98a8\u683c\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#organization\",\"name\":\"GQ Hong Kong\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GQ-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GQ-1.png\",\"width\":166,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"GQ Hong Kong\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gqhongkong\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/person\/4d532df38fda05845e11dbc1cca40f06\",\"name\":\"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5e848a94b36d2770e965ac8c5553e5cc04667b29e60b58c89ffa7cc7c44fa95?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5e848a94b36d2770e965ac8c5553e5cc04667b29e60b58c89ffa7cc7c44fa95?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5e848a94b36d2770e965ac8c5553e5cc04667b29e60b58c89ffa7cc7c44fa95?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/author\/alyanna-payos\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked","og_description":"Ahead of the new GTA VI, here are the best mainline GTA installments, from \"Vice City\" to \"V\" and \"San Andreas\".","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked","og_site_name":"GQ Hong Kong","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gqhongkong","article_published_time":"2026-08-28T08:27:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-01T08:29:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"http:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games"},"author":{"name":"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos","@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/person\/4d532df38fda05845e11dbc1cca40f06"},"headline":"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked","datePublished":"2026-08-28T08:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-01T08:29:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games"},"wordCount":2186,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp","keywords":["Grand Theft Auto"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/lifestyle-en\/ranking-the-best-grand-theft-auto-games","url":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked","name":"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp","datePublished":"2026-08-28T08:27:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-01T08:29:38+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/067-GTA-HP.webp","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Composite: GQ \/ Getty, Rockstar Games, IGBD"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gq-magazine.co.uk\/article\/best-grand-theft-auto-games-definitively-ranked#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Best\u00a0Grand Theft Auto\u00a0Games, Definitively Ranked"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#website","url":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en","name":"GQ Hong Kong","description":"\u7537\u6027\u6642\u5c1a\u3001\u6587\u5316\u3001\u8155\u9336\u3001\u6c7d\u8eca\u3001\u79d1\u6280\u3001\u904b\u52d5\u3001\u751f\u6d3b\u98a8\u683c","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#organization","name":"GQ Hong Kong","url":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GQ-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GQ-1.png","width":166,"height":90,"caption":"GQ Hong Kong"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gqhongkong"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en#\/schema\/person\/4d532df38fda05845e11dbc1cca40f06","name":"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5e848a94b36d2770e965ac8c5553e5cc04667b29e60b58c89ffa7cc7c44fa95?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5e848a94b36d2770e965ac8c5553e5cc04667b29e60b58c89ffa7cc7c44fa95?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5e848a94b36d2770e965ac8c5553e5cc04667b29e60b58c89ffa7cc7c44fa95?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alyanna Raiss Javier Payos"},"url":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/author\/alyanna-payos"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68078"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68100,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68078\/revisions\/68100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68078"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gqhongkong.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=68078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}