All GTA games in chronological order: Rockstar’s timeline explained

❘ Published: 2024-10-16T16:37:10

Niko and Trevor keyart from GTA 4 and 5.

Rockstar

Grand Theft Auto is one of the longest-running and most iconic series in gaming, but with so many releases throughout its history, it can be tough to figure out which order they launched in, or how the timeline plays out.

As of 2024, Rockstar has published 13 GTA games across consoles like the PlayStation and Xbox, handhelds like the PSP and Nintendo DS, and PC. Each game is its own self-contained story, though, which means the developers have bounced around to different locations and times, making it hard to figure out the chronological order.

With GTA 6 on the horizon, here’s every Grand Theft Auto game in chronological and release order.

Every GTA game in chronological order

Game	Setting	Location
GTA: London 1961	1961	London
GTA: London 1969	1969	London
GTA: Vice City Stories	1984	Vice City
GTA: Vice City	1986	Vice City
GTA: San Andreas	1992	San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto	1997	Liberty City, San Andreas, Vice City
GTA: Liberty City Stories	1998	Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto 2	1999	Anywhere City
Grand Theft Auto Advance	2000	Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto 3	2001	Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto 4	2008	Liberty City
GTA: Chinatown Wars	2009	Liberty City
Grand Theft Auto 5	2013	San Andreas

GTA: London 1961 & 1969

A purple car crashing into a red phone box, with a man in a yellow shirt running.

Younger GTA fans may not even know the series used to be top-down.

Grand Theft Auto has only left North America once, and that was in two expansion packs for the original GTA game. Heading to London, England, players are dropped into Britain’s capital in the 1960s, complete with iconic landmarks like Big Ben and red double-decker busses speeding down the left-hand lane of the road.

In these mission packs, you take control of one of eight young criminals hoping to take over London and become the city’s new organized crime kingpin.

GTA: Vice City Stories

Victor Vance wearing an orange suit and shirt in front of a red sports car.

Vice City in the 80s, what’s not to love?

In the prequel to Vice City, you arrive in the sleazy city as Victor Vance, a dishonorable discharge from the army after being caught up in a botched drug deal with his corrupt sergeant Jerry Martinez. With the help of his brother Lance, Victor gets wrapped up in Vice City’s criminal underworld, ending in an explosive rooftop shootout with the Forelli crime family – including Tommy Vercetti.

GTA: Vice City

Tommy Vercetti wearing a blue suit, walking out of a hotel

Tommy rises through Vice City’s criminal ranks.

Set two years after Vice City Stories, we’re reunited with Tommy Vercetti, who’s back on the streets after a stretch in prison. Sent to Vice City by Sonny Forelli, Tommy is ambushed in a drug deal, leaving him with no money and no prospects. Rather than lay down, Vercetti decides to take over the city, going after gangsters, biker gangs, and even politicians in his quest to reestablish himself back on the outside.

GTA: San Andreas

CJ walking away from a maroon lowrider holding a rifle

For many, San Andreas is one of our core childhood gaming experiences.

San Andreas is one of the most popular GTA games of all time, taking players away from the east coast settings of Vice and Liberty City to a reimagined version of California. CJ, our protagonist, returns to the city after five years following the murder of his mother.

Framed for homicide, CJ falls into the world of gang warfare, waging battle on the streets while trying to keep the rest of his family together.

Grand Theft Auto

RockstarEvery series has to start somewhere.

The very first entry in the series is the only one to take place across three locations, with San Andreas, Liberty City, and Vice City all featured in Grand Theft Auto. Set in the late 1990s, you take control of a silent criminal working for the Vercotti Crime Family, acting as a hired goon and getaway driver.

GTA: Liberty City Stories

A GTA character riding a blue motorcycle while driving away from a cop car

This prequel gives us a look at Liberty City before GTA 4.

Liberty City Stories takes us to 1998, where Toni Cipriani is introduced to Vincenzo Cilli. Convinced to do some work for him by Salvatore of the Leone Crime Family, Toni ends up in the middle of a dispute between the Leones and the Sindaccos, which escalates into battles across the city including the Triads, the Colombian Cartel, and the Sicilians.

Grand Theft Auto 2

A top down look at a street in GTA 2, with a yellow cop car, red fire trucks, and more.

GTA 2 has an odd place in the franchise’s history.

Grand Theft Auto 2 is a strange entry in this list, as it doesn’t tell you when it is set. There are lots of theories, some suggesting that it takes place in 2013, but the most popular idea, and one that we agree with, is that it is set in 1999. This is because a host on the radio commented that the “millennium is coming,” which took place in 2000.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

A red pick-up truck stopped at a zebra crossing in GTA Advance

The prequel to GTA 3, Grand Theft Auto Advance takes place in the year 2000 and follows Mike as he fights to get vengeance for the death of his friend. Taking place across Liberty City, Mike fights his way through the crime gangs that inhabit the city, leading to a dramatic showdown with the Uptown Yardies.

Grand Theft Auto 3

GTA character wearing a black jacket and green pants running from a helicopter, holding an SMG

The first 3D Grand Theft Auto game.

GTA 3 is a landmark moment in the series, as it’s the first time we got a 3D version of the game. Set in Liberty City in 2001, directly after the events of GTA Advanced, fans play as Claude, who is searching for his ex-girlfriend Catalina who brutally shot and betrayed him for the Colombian Cartel during a bank heist.

Grand Theft Auto 4

Niko riding a red motorbike while driving away from cops

Bowling would have been more fun that getting shot at.

GTA 4 took us back to Liberty City, although takes place seven years later in 2008. You play as Niko Bellic, who has become one of the series’ most iconic characters, a Serbian who has traveled to live the American dream after a life of crime and war in Eastern Europe.

As all GTA games go, however, Niko falls back into the world of loan sharks and drug deals, while also finding time to go bowling with his cousin Roman.

GTA: Chinatown Wars

A police car driving around Liberty City, stopped at a crosswalk.

A modern take on GTA’s top-down titles.

Developed for handheld consoles and mobile, Chinatown Wars is set in 2009 and follows Huang Lee as he tries to find out who killed his Triad boss father and retrieve the Huang family sword, an heirloom stolen from him.

Grand Theft Auto 5

Trevor, Franklin, and Michael sytanding in a forest, holding weapons and binoculars.

San Andreas could barely contain these three.

GTA 5 takes place in 2013 and follows the stories of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, three very different personalities brought together in Los Santos to pull off a series of heists, wage war against gangs, and try to survive as the corrupt Feds try to make them pawns in their own sinister game.

GTA games in release order

Game	Release Date	Platforms
Grand Theft Auto	November 28, 1997	PC, PS1, Game Boy Color
Grand Theft Auto 2	February 13, 1999	PC, PS1, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color
GTA: London 1969	April 30, 1999	PC, PS1
GTA: London 1961	June 1, 1999	PC
Grand Theft Auto 3	October 23, 2001	PC, PS2, Xbox, iOS, Android, macOS
GTA: Vice City	October 29, 2002	PC, PS2, Xbox, iOS, Android, macOS
GTA: San Andreas	October 26, 2004	PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, iOS, Android, macOS
Grand Theft Auto Advance	October 26, 2004	Game Boy Advance
GTA: Liberty City Stories	October 25, 2005	PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, PS Vita, iOS, Android
GTA: Vice City Stories	October 31, 2006	PS2, PSP
Grand Theft Auto 4	April 29, 2008	PC, PS3, Xbox 360
GTA: Chinatown Wars	March 17, 2009	PSP, Nintendo DS, iOS, Android
Grand Theft Auto 5	September 17, 2013	PC, PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

For a bunch of incredibly useful GTA guides to help you, take a look at these below: