Every GTA trailer - see how the GTA VI trailer compares to Rockstar's previous reveals

The first GTA VI trailer has dropped but not quite how Rockstar had envisioned it. Given it’s been some 10 years since GTA V - a game that has earned a whopping $7.7 billion - the anticipation for the new trailer was at 5 Star Wanted Level.

Thankfully, Rockstar revealed that the new GTA VI trailer would launch 9am ET, 5 December. Except a leaker had other ideas, somehow finding the trailer and leaking it some 12 hours before.

Knowing the trailer was out, Rockstar put out the following Tweet:

Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube: https://t.co/T0QOBDHwBe
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) December 4, 2023

It’s a massive shame that someone tried to spoil Rockstar’s reveal but at least the trailer is glorious. It’s a return to Vice City and follows female lead Lucia, just out of prison, who teams up with Jason and goes on a robbing spree.

The graphics are jaw-dropping, the faux Florida setting sunny and superb, and the music, Tom Petty’s Love is a Long Road, is inspired.

It’s 90-ish seconds of perfection and a fantastic tease for GTA VI which comes out in 2025 (we’re guessing Christmas which may mean a two-year wait!).

It got us thinking: what were the other GTA trailers like? Well, we’ve listed them below - while the graphics may change with each one, given there are sometimes 10 years between them, they are all still fantastically epic.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a trailer for the original Grand Theft Auto but we have found 7 minutes of glorious footage of the top-down game, which launched in ‘97, some 26 years ago…

GTA VI trailer (2023)

The look of GTA VI is stunning. Even through the game is not being released until 2025, the detail on show here is incredible, updating Vice City for next-gen consoles. From the sun-kissed visuals to the Tom Petty soundtrack, this is just one glorious ride. While we don't know much about the plot, there are glimpses of gators, gangs and some lovely vehicles to steal. We also get the first reveal of our two protagonists: Lucia and Jason, a bank robbing couple.

We can't wait for this one, but we will have to - it doesn't come out until 2025.

GTA V trailer (2011)

Like the GTA VI trailer, the GTA V trailer came out some two years before the game - debuting in 2011, while the game was released in 2013. This was the most complex GTA game ever, interweaving three stories of bank robbers Michael, Brad and Trevor in an open world game, where you could jump in and out of each person's story.

The first trailer is superb, setting up Michael's story of living the high life in San Andreas and hinting at the carnage to come.

GTA IV trailer (2007)

"Things will be different." That was the hook for the GTA IV trailer which revealed an epic gangster fantasy, where Niko Bellic, an Eastern European war veteran, heads to Liberty City to start anew. What he finds though are mobsters, violence and his money making cousin, Roman.

GTA: San Andreas (2003)

Los Santos was the destination for the next GTA which was released just a year after Vice City (see below). This LA-like city was a fantastic backdrop for the story of CJ, who comes back to the city and has to save his family from the violence on the streets.

Bigger than any other game out at the time, with a story that could have easily been a Spike Lee joint, and packed with mini games, this was Rockstar at its most epic and a game that cemented the PS2 as one of the best consoles ever made.

GTA: Vice City (2002)

Perhaps the greatest GTA game ever made, Vice City is a glorious match of visuals and storytelling, with a soundtrack that is just banger after banger, and the inclusion of new vehicles - motorbikes, boats and planes - was inspired!

It's hard to believe - especially after the decade long wait between V and VI - that this one came out just a year after GTA III. Add to this, Ray Liotta voicing the main protagonist - the first to have a voice - and what you have is gaming perfection.

GTA III (2001)

This is when everything changed for Grand Theft Auto. The top-down look was ditched, in favour of a 3D open world game with small-time crook Claude as the protagonist. At the time this open world gameplay was pretty unprecedented, as were the graphics. Here you can see the roots of the games going forward, with GTA IV even revisiting the world of Liberty City.

GTA 2 (1999)

The cars were faster, the streets were busier and the missions were a lot more complex with GTA 2. The game still had the top-down look but the graphics were sleeker and, as this trailer shows, Rockstar had aspirations for the franchise to be as cinematic as possible - the problem was, they couldn't do this with the graphics at the time, so just teased us with a live-action trailer instead.

GTA (1997)

Where it all started. While the first game is a far cry from the blistering visuals of GTA VI, it's still a lot of fun (we still play it on the PS1 Classic). The thrill of robbing a car, shooting at some things and maybe running a few people over never grew old. Even though the top-down visuals are tame, there was still controversy surrounding the game's release - something that the franchise hasn't managed to shake since.

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