Should you still buy GTA 5 in 2026?
Buying a 2013 game months before its sequel sounds absurd. On PC, it's actually the right call. Here's why, player profile by player profile.
Buying a game from 2013 a few months before its sequel arrives: on paper, that’s the worst purchase decision available. Except the actual calendar changes the maths entirely, especially on PC. Straight answer: yes, it’s still very much worth it — and it’s one of the best hours-per-euro deals in gaming. With exceptions, which we’ll get to.
The one fact that changes everything
GTA 6 releases on 19 November 2026, for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only. No PC version has been announced: no date, no pre-order, no system requirements.
Rockstar’s history gives the order of magnitude: GTA V went from console (September 2013) to PC (April 2015) in roughly 18 months; Red Dead Redemption 2 took about 13. Applied to GTA 6, that produces an estimate — and only an estimate — of somewhere between late 2027 and mid-2028. The full reasoning is here: GTA 6 on PC, how long you’ll be waiting.
In practice: if you play on PC and your plan was “I’ll just wait for GTA 6”, you’ve committed to one to two years of waiting. That’s what makes “should I buy GTA 5” a completely different question depending on who you are.
Profile by profile
You want the single-player campaign
Yes, no hesitation. The three-protagonist story is still one of the best campaigns the genre has produced, it runs around 30 hours, and the writing and direction have aged remarkably well. At today’s price it’s the most obvious purchase on this list. Zero risk too: it’s finished, offline content that depends on no server anywhere.
You want GTA Online
Yes, but go in with your eyes open. The mode is enormous and still busy. Two caveats.
First, GTA Online is built around grinding: the big vehicles and properties cost millions of in-game dollars, and the economy is tuned to make the store look appealing. If you hate grind loops, you’ll hit the wall fairly quickly.
Second — no, it isn’t shutting down in November. That’s the fear of the moment and it doesn’t hold up: Rockstar has announced nothing, the service is still profitable, and the only shutdown precedent involves obsolete consoles. We took that apart in will GTA Online shut down when GTA 6 launches?.
You want to play FiveM RP
Yes — and this is the single best reason to buy. It’s also the part comparison articles keep missing: the PC version of GTA V isn’t just a game, it’s the entry key to an entire ecosystem.
FiveM means thousands of community servers — roleplay, racing, chases, freeroam — each with its own code, its own rules, its own vehicles. The client is free, the servers are free; the only thing you have to buy is GTA V on PC. Details in how to play FiveM for free.
And that content doesn’t run dry, because Rockstar isn’t the one producing it. The community is, continuously. Which is precisely why a 2013 game is still full of people in 2026.
You want competitive driving
Yes. GTA V’s driving model, flaws and all, remains one of the most readable and most enjoyable in the open-world space. More importantly, the competitive scene lives on PC: racing, drifting, player-versus-player pursuits. None of that exists on console with anything like the same level of customisation.
About the price
The dumbest and most decisive argument: GTA V is permanently on sale. It shows up in every PC storefront’s seasonal sales several times a year, at a price that has nothing to do with a new release. We’re talking about the cost of a takeaway, for a full campaign, a still-active online mode, and the whole FiveM world.
Two things to do before buying:
- Wait for a sale if you’re not in a hurry. They come round often.
- Buy from a legitimate store (Rockstar’s own store or the usual PC platforms). Three-euro keys from nowhere get revoked, and a revoked account takes FiveM down with it.
Hardware-wise GTA V is still very approachable, but if you’re aiming at FiveM on the Enhanced version, check the PC requirements first.
When the answer is actually no
We’re not going to sell you the game regardless. There are cases where it’s a bad buy.
- You only play on PS5 or Xbox Series and you’re waiting for GTA 6. Your wait is short — November 2026 — and buying GTA 5 now for three months makes little sense unless the campaign appeals on its own merits.
- You already own it on console and don’t care about FiveM. Re-buying on PC gains you nothing decisive.
- You hate live-service games and you’ve already finished the story. There’s no new campaign waiting for you.
Quick reference
| Your profile | Buy in 2026? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Single-player, PC | Yes | Full campaign, negligible price |
| GTA Online, PC | Yes | Still active, no shutdown announced |
| FiveM / RP | Yes, top priority | The only purchase the whole ecosystem needs |
| Competitive driving | Yes | The scene is on PC |
| Console, waiting for GTA 6 | Probably not | Only three months to wait |
| Already own it on console, no PC interest | No | Nothing new to gain |
The real question isn’t “buy”, it’s “to do what”
A twelve-year-old game isn’t judged on its launch content any more, but on what the community built with it. And on PC, what the community built is considerably more interesting than the base game.
That’s our case with Chased, on GTA 5 Enhanced through FiveM: 1v1 duels, one hunter against one hunted, with a shared car drawn at random — same model for both players, no garage to grind, zero pay-to-win. You don’t buy an advantage and you don’t need 200 hours to be competitive: you connect and you drive. For the price of a takeaway and twenty minutes of setup, it’s playable tonight — while everyone else waits for 2028.