The 18-day GTA replay: Vice City to V before November 19, hours per game, and where to play each one today

Same rule as always. If Rockstar said it, we say so. If it's us guessin', we say that too. This one's a plan, not a prediction, so most of it is just arithmetic and opinion.

Bama here, with Rolo doin' the hardware half. Here's the deal. GTA 6 unlocks on November 19. That is 24 days away. Count back and there's a clean run of 18 days from November 1 to November 18, which is exactly enough to play every main GTA since the series went 3D, in order, and walk into Leonida with all of it fresh. It is also, if we're honest, more game than most grown adults can fit in 18 days. So there's two plans below. The full one, for the lucky and the unemployed, and the two-hours-a-night one for everybody else.

Why bother

Because GTA 6 is goin' back to Vice City. Not a city like it. The same one, 24 years later, rebuilt from the ground up. Rockstar has shown Ocean Drive, the beach, the neon and the hotels, and if you've never driven a Cheetah down that strip in 2002 you are goin' to miss half the jokes. The rest of the run is there because every one of these games left somethin' in GTA 6. III gave it the three-island city. San Andreas gave it the countryside and the swimmin'. IV gave it the weight and the phone. V gave it two leads and the heists. You will see all of it in Leonida, and you'll see it better if you remember where it came from.

The full run: five games, 18 days

Rolo here for the numbers. These are player-reported main-story averages from HowLongToBeat, rounded. Side content adds roughly half again on each, so if you are a 100 percent person, this plan is not for you.

• GTA III, November 1 to 2. Two days. Main story about 16 hours, so 8 hours a day.
• Vice City, November 3 to 5. Three days. About 18 hours, 6 a day.
• San Andreas, November 6 to 10. Five days. About 31 hours, 6 a day.
• GTA IV, November 11 to 14. Four days. About 28 hours, 7 a day.
• GTA V, November 15 to 18. Four days. About 31 hours, 8 a day.

That is about 124 hours, or seven hours a day for 18 days straight. GTA III is the one to rush. It is the shortest, the oldest, and the one where the controls fight you hardest, so two long days and out. Give San Andreas the most room because it is the biggest, and leave V for last so the one you remember best is the one you finish on November 18, the night before the unlock.

Rolo's note for the full-run people: pre-load for GTA 6 opens on November 12. That lands on your GTA IV days, so install IV and V early, and before you install anything, check your storage. You need 200 to 250 GB free for GTA 6 on top of whatever the old games take.

The two-hours-a-night run: two games, 18 nights

Bama again. Most of you have jobs, kids, a dog, or all three. Two hours a night from November 1 is 36 hours. That buys you exactly two games, and the choice is easy.

Vice City, November 1 to 9. About 18 hours, nine nights, two hours each. This is the one that matters. It is the city GTA 6 is built on, it is short, and the story has the same shape as every Rockstar crime story since: arrive with nothin', take a city, pay for it. Play it and the new Vice City turns from a map into a place you remember.

GTA V, November 10 to 18. About 31 hours in nine nights is a stretch at two hours, so you will not finish the story, and that is fine. Play the first act through the jewellery store heist and the move to Trevor. What you want from it is the feel of the last Rockstar game: the switchin', the heists, the way the world reacts to you. The rest of V will still be there in December, and honestly in 2036.

If you only have time for one, it's Vice City. Nobody at this site will argue with you, not even Vox.

Where to play each one today

Rolo. This is where the plan usually dies, so here is the honest list of where every game is available right now. Check the store on your own machine before you buy, because sales come and go.

GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas. All three ship together as The Trilogy: The Definitive Edition. It is on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC through the Rockstar Launcher, Steam and Epic. It is also on iPhone and Android at no extra cost if you have Netflix, which is the version I would point a phone player at. The Definitive Edition had a rough launch in 2021 and has been patched a long way since; it is now the simplest way to play all three, and the only way on a current console. The original PC versions are not sold any more.

GTA IV. The awkward one. On PC it is on Steam and the Rockstar Store as the Complete Edition, with both episodes. On Xbox One and Series X|S you play the Xbox 360 version through backwards compatibility, bought from the Xbox store or from an old disc. It was never released on PS4 or PS5, so a PlayStation-only household has no way to play it short of digging out a PS3. If that is you, skip IV, give its four days to San Andreas and V, and read our GTA IV page instead so you know what Liberty City did for the series.

GTA V. On PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as its own current-gen version, and on PC, where the enhanced version arrived last year. If you already own it on PS4 or Xbox One, the story mode is the same game.

General advice on sizes. The Trilogy is a bit under 50 GB on console. GTA IV through backwards compatibility is under 20 GB. GTA V on a current console is close to 90 GB, and that is the one to delete again on November 12 if space is tight. I am not quoting exact figures because the stores change them with every patch; look at the listing on your own console, it tells you.

What to look for in each city

Bama, last word. Don't just play 'em, watch 'em. Here's one thing per game to keep an eye on, because Rockstar has already told us it's comin' back.

• III: the way the city opens up island by island. Rockstar has not said Leonida is gated like that, but it has said the map is about three times the size of Red Dead 2's, and nobody hands you that on day one.
• Vice City: the beach, the hotels, the radio. Rockstar's own Vice City page talks about the same Ocean Drive and the same kind of money. Count how many places you recognise.
• San Andreas: the countryside and the swimmin'. Confirmed: GTA 6 has a national park, a swamp and open water with kayaks and scuba. My guess: the back country matters more in 6 than it did in San Andreas, and I've written about why.
• IV: the phone. Confirmed: Leonida has one, and a social feed on it. Niko's phone in 2008 is where that started.
• V: the switchin'. Confirmed: Jason and Lucia are both playable. Not shown: whether you switch mid-mission the way V did it. Watch how V handles it, then watch the launch trailer again.

See you in Vice City. The old one first.

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