Yes, GTA 5 is still worth it in 2026, which is faintly ridiculous for a game that came out in 2013, and I am giving it four and a half because the city still behaves. I spent an evening in Online in a flying car, trolling people who had come for a normal drive, which is not the argument I thought I would lead with and is also the argument. Los Santos still holds up, and the only people who should skip it are the ones who have already played it into the ground. If you have never finished it, or you bounced off years ago and forgot, the warm-up before GTA 6 on 19 November 2026 is sitting there on sale.
The remarkable thing is how little it has aged where it counts, because Los Santos is still one of the densest, most believable open worlds in the genre, and the driving still feels great. The whole thing runs like silk on modern hardware, while games a fraction of its age feel clunkier, which is the part I notice every time I come back. That is what a landmark release looks like, a bar set so high that a decade of competition still cannot make it feel old, and Steam will sell you the bundle when what it is actually selling is a city that still talks back. I would rather you heard that from a night in the car than from a list of features that have not changed since the last time someone asked.
The story I would send you through first
The single-player is the part I always come back to, because switching between Michael, Franklin and Trevor on the fly was clever in 2013 and it is still one of the best structural ideas in the genre, with the heists, the chaos, and the sheer personality of it. It holds up as a complete campaign you can play start to finish on your own, and I would rather send you through that story than park you in a lobby and call it a warm-up. The flying car evening was funny, and it was not the game, which is why the three of them still get the first recommendation whenever someone asks what to do with the months before November.
What the room decided, and the evening I still launch
The internet has decided, in that particular way the internet decides, that GTA 5 is either a sacred text you must replay until November or a corpse you should ignore because GTA 6 is 19 November 2026, and both takes have a crowd. People follow people, they follow a date on a Rockstar page, and they follow the joke that this game has been sold too many times, while I try to follow the session. I have a habit of loving the game in front of me while the room is still calling it over, and then watching that room arrive years later with a recast. Red Dead got treated as too slow and then as the greatest map ever made, and Days Gone got written off and then forgiven, which is the same habit wearing a different jacket.
GTA 5 never needed forgiveness, which is a different problem, because it needed people to stop pretending a 2013 city is either holy or dead. If it is a warm-up ritual for you, that is fair, and if you finished it in 2014 and have been in Online ever since, that is a fair shrug too. My take is smaller than either headline, since for one more evening in Los Santos this is still the GTA I actually launch, funny when it is trying to be a crime film, and the date can wait its turn. I keep coming back because the city still behaves, not because a calendar told me to rehearse.
The price is almost silly, and Online is the other half
This is the easy part, because GTA 5 discounts constantly and regularly sells for a few quid, often bundled with GTA Online credit on top. For a game with a full cinematic campaign and the biggest online sandbox going, that is one of the best-value purchases in the genre, and there is no world in which you feel short-changed at that price. I would not pay full price out of nostalgia, while on a sale it is close to an impulse, the sort of spend you make because the city is still there and the alternative is staring at a November date.
GTA Online is the other half of the package, and it is enormous, years of updates, heists, businesses, cars and mayhem, still actively played by a huge community, and it is a different beast to the story, more of an endless multiplayer playground than a campaign. Whether it is for you depends on whether you want that, and the flying car evening was Online being Online, funny and loud and slightly embarrassing, and nothing like the three-hander story. My honest advice is to play the story first for the real GTA 5 experience, then wander into Online if you want it to never end, which is the order I would give anyone who has not already lived in both.
Who should save the money for November
If you have already played GTA 5 to death, finished the story years ago and sunk hundreds of hours into Online, there is nothing new here for you. You would be better off saving your money for GTA 6 in November, because I am not going to dress a thirteenth year as a new game. This piece is for the surprising number of people who never actually played it, or who bounced off it years ago and forgot how good it is. For them GTA 5 in 2026 is a very easy recommendation, a landmark open world, a brilliant solo campaign, and a bottomless multiplayer sandbox, all for pocket change. There has never been a better reason to play or replay it than right now, because it is the closest thing there is to GTA 6, it reminds you exactly why this series matters, and it will keep you busy until the real thing arrives.
Count down to that at the GTA 6 HQ, see the full list in what to play before GTA 6, and if you want to know how GTA 5 stacks up against Rockstar’s other giant, read GTA 5 vs Red Dead Redemption 2, because the date can wait and the city is the argument.
FAQ
Is GTA 5 still worth it in 2026?
Yes, because more than a decade after release it is still one of the most polished open worlds I play, it runs beautifully, and it is dirt cheap on sales, while between the three-character story and GTA Online there is a huge amount of game here. I would skip it only if I had already worn it out, and for everyone else it is an easy four and a half.
Is GTA 5 worth buying before GTA 6?
It is one of the best things you can play before GTA 6, the closest feel to the real thing, cheap, and a reminder of why the series is special, so if you have somehow never played it, buying it now to fill the wait until 19 November 2026 is an easy call. I would not sit on my hands until the trailer does something new, because the city that is already live is the warm-up.
How much does GTA 5 cost now?
It discounts constantly and regularly sells for a few pounds or dollars, often bundled with GTA Online credit, and for the amount of content on offer it is one of the best-value games you can buy. I would not pay full price out of nostalgia, and on a sale it is close to an impulse, which is the only way I would hand over money for a 2013 city in 2026.
Should I play GTA 5 story mode or GTA Online?
Both are worth it and they are very different, because the single-player story with Michael, Franklin and Trevor is a tight cinematic campaign you can finish solo, and that is the one I always come back to, while GTA Online is the endless multiplayer sandbox. Play the story first for the real GTA 5, and dip into Online if you want it to never end.
Who should not buy GTA 5 in 2026?
Anyone who has already played it to death, because if you finished the story years ago and poured hundreds of hours into Online, there is nothing new waiting for you and your money is better saved for GTA 6. I am not going to sell you a thirteenth year of a city you already live in, and for everyone else it still holds up.
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