History YMMV / GrandTheftAutoV

** Michael. He is either a deeply troubled man who only wants the best for his family and to become a better person, or an unsymphatetic selfish hypocrite who uses the fact that he has a family to pretend he is a better person than he actually is. While he isn't as psychotic as Trevor, Michael is implied to have cheated on Amanda first, and he screws over Franklin so he could meet his idol, but he also seems to genuinely love his family.

* Dave Norton is a corrupt FIB agent and the brains of Steve Haines' unit. Making a deal with Michael to get him into witness protection if he betrays Trevor and Brad, Dave successfully kills Brad and uses him to fake Michael's death and then poses as Brad through emailing Trevor to keep tabs on him for the next 10 years. In the present day, he plans out the majority of the FIB's secret missions that involve raiding other government buildings and stealing valuable cargo that the protagonists take part in. Being the last member left of his unit by the end of the game, [[KarmaHoudini Dave gets away with everything he does and even reaps a couple of benefits through the death of Steve]], ending things off with Michael by telling him to live his life and not return to being a criminal.

** Also in Story Mode, returning players can grab a Railgun from Ammu-Nation. It takes a bit to unlock and costs an arm and a leg, but players who do get it are effectively set, since all they have to do is point and click and an explosion will appear. No surprise, then, that this weapon is nowhere to be seen in Online.

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** Trevor's constant carping about how the crew doesn't need Lester and they should just save the 20% by planning the heists themselves is meant to be just more evidence of what a dick he is. Except...both he and Michael demonstrate, in "The Merryweather Heist" and "Blitz Play," that they are perfectly capable of planning their own scores without Lester's help. Sure, they don't get paid for either job, but not because said jobs were poorly planned. In fairness, when the crew does make a score that isn't money Lester's the only one who can fence the stolen goods without drawing attention. This is mentioned as pretty much the only reason Trevor [[spoiler:can't make off with the portion of gold he carries in the big score even though he wants to]]. Of course, in every case a heist was planned without Lester something wound up going wrong... [[labelnote:A full list]]North Yankton got Brad and the driver killed, the Merryweather Heist saw the crew having to return what they stole before they got killed by the government, the Merryweather arms plane got shot down, and Blitz Play saw a whole lot more resistance than expected and only succeeded because the FIB was was covering for them... and even ''that'' didn't work because Haines was working with a mole, which necessitated the Bureau Raid.[[/labelnote]]

** Killing Peter Dreyfus after what he's done to poor Leonora Johnson and being a KarmaHoudini for a long time is satisfying.

** The themes also get involved with issues of money and power are also heavily tied into the current Recession and UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, to the point that the main enemies end up being: a [[CorruptCop Corrupt FIB Agent]] who isn't above ColdBloodedTorture and egging on InterServiceRivalry with the IAA for the sake of his career, and CorruptCorporateExecutive [[SmugSnake Devin Weston]], who scams and screws over his business partners and employees for maximum profit, and practically ''owns'' his own private army in [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Merryweather]], a near NGOSuperpower of mercenaries who are notorious for committing war crimes, but are given free license to operate at will by the American government - a blatant TakeThat to Blackwater's messy attempts of "security consulting" in the Iraq War.

* FanNickname: Before his name was revealed, Michael was referred as the "Balcony Guy" because he was standing on a balcony in the first trailer.
** Similarly, Franklin was referred as the "Red Car Guy" because he was also seen in the first trailer while driving a red Rapid GT.

** Floyd (See ButtMonkey, Main Page). While all the other characters are either criminals, corrupt law enforcement officials or just general sleazebags who deserve whatever fate befalls them, Floyd is a meek, hen-pecked, blue-collar guy with no criminal connections and no desire to be part of the criminal underworld. Trevor shows up, invites himself to stay and then systematically destroys his apartment, his job and his personal life. He leaves Floyd to get beaten to a pulp as a distraction during one heist set-up mission, and it's heavily implied that Trevor repeatedly rapes Floyd during his stay at the apartment. Floyd, meanwhile, has done '''nothing''' to deserve any of this, apart from having the bad luck to be related to Wade and to be living in a city Trevor wanted to relocate to...[[spoiler:Making the fact that he was brutally murdered by Trevor for standing up for himself even more tragic]].

** "The Wrap-Up": What starts off as a simple meeting between Michael and Dave escalates very very quickly in a matter of minutes. What happens? Well, Haines and Sanchez arrive to arrest the aforementioned pair, leading to a 4-way standoff. Next, a group of rogue federal agents appear to arrest the four...and then another separate FIB squad comes in, called in by Sanchez. Then ''fucking Merryweather'' pulls up in a chopper. A free-for-all gun fight erupts when Haines shoots Sanchez dead, leaving Michael and Dave having to survive hordes of agents and mercs on their own...at least initially. Trevor shows up to provide cover the two by first shooting down a chopper. The fact that only three people managed to take down waves of private militia and the FIB is amazing to say the least.

* AccidentalAesop:
** Trevor, serving as a kind of AntiRoleModel, inadvertently makes a case for legalization during his "Grass Roots" mission, complaining it would put him out of business.
** The singleplayer's critiques of rampant greed and capitalist excess contrast sharply with the multiplayer's encouragement to the players to spend money both in-game and [[{{Microtransactions}} in real life]] by appealing to materialism. This creates another inadvertent aesop in the meta sense: [[{{Hypocrite}} The products of capitalism are ill-equipped to criticise it.]]

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome:
** In terms of weapons, many weapon classes have one weapon that is perceived as absolutely better compared to the other weapons in its class. Expect players to always gravitate towards such weapons while ignoring the rest. Notable examples include the Special Carbine in the Rifles class and the Marksman Sniper in the Snipers class.
** For the Cayo Perico Heist almost everyone will be doing the Kosatka approach with the storm drain entry. This is because it's not only incredibly easy, but also ridiculously fast compared to other entry methods as it practically spawns you right next to the compound at the start of the mission. The drainage tunnel also has the added benefit of providing you with a hand torch that also substitutes for bolt cutters, eliminating the need to scope those out on each run if you want to crack the loot lockups near the docks.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The game has gained a considerable amount of fans in Japan thanks to WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'s Vtubers streaming the game to the point that there's been a surgence of Japanese players playing Online. This has not gone unnoticed by Rockstar themselves and their voice actors that noticed the game's rise in popularity in Japan, despite the sandbox genre being a niche market there.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FBObaFUUqA The gate glitch]], which is the successor to the "Swingset of Doom" glitch of ''IV''. Like the swingset glitch, ramming a vehicle up against the house gates at Rockford Hills can cause it to be swung very high into the air, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8aKsR_gXv8 much higher and faster]] than the old glitch in ''IV'' ever could. The sliding gates are hard to do the glitch at but are the only ones that can be done in single player. The swinging gates [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITMLknk0JIc are much easier]] to ram up against and can even fling people that walk into them as well.

** [=#JusticeForVincent=][[labelnote:Explanation]]A hashtag that made the rounds on [[Website/{{Reddit}} /r/gtaonline]] before and shortly after the release of the Diamond Casino Heist. Vincent's story in the Diamond Casino contact missions ended with him losing his job as Head of Security after ownership of the Diamond was handed over to the Duggan family, much to the dismay of the remaining staff there. [[spoiler:He gets his time in the spotlight again in the Diamond Casino Heist, having found a job as a bog standard security guard at the Rockford Plaza mall and assisting the protagonist in their robbery by leaking security intel pertaining to the casino.]][[/labelnote]]
** Lester's whiteboard[[labelnote:Explanation]]In the cutscene where the protagonist takes a tour of their newly-purchased arcade and casino heist planning room, Lester starts scrawling his ideas on a whiteboard in the basement. A [[https://www.reddit.com/r/gtaonline/comments/eap5qw/so_i_made_a_template_like_uh_like_this/ screenshot]] of him standing in front of it before he starts writing has been making the rounds on GTA-related sites because of its exploitable nature.[[/labelnote]]
** Yellow Dog With Cone.[[labelnote:Explanation]] The Casino DLC added a vanity item that could be placed in your Penthouse, which was a mere yellow balloon dog with a cone around its "neck". For some reason, the fanbase loved it so much that Rockstar has [[AscendedMeme made it a running gag]] within GTA Online, with Madam Nazar [[https://i.redd.it/kjlcmyemqt441.png mentioning it]] and, most recently, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-OtvvtnkxA shirts]].[[/labelnote]]

* {{Misblamed}}: The soundtrack was a common criticism of the game, saying it was too repetitive and that Rockstar made bad choices with each station. However, each station was ''actually'' curated by their respective DJ, not Rockstar. Which means if you don't like a song in the game, your blame goes to the DJ of the station, not Rockstar. It was lightened up with the next-gen version, due to there being much more songs in the game.
** Likewise, the character striping glitch in ''Online'' was actually caused by bugs in a specific [=NVidia=] driver. This was eventually fixed in a driver update. Unfortunately, said update is not compatible with certain motherboards...

* ObviousBeta: How many players feel about ''Online'', since there are several {{Game Breaking Bug}}s and exploits that ''still'' haven't been patched, several GameBreaker vehicles and weapons that still haven't been balanced, and the pervasive use of mods that can easily give one GodMode with virtually zero repercussions. Most speculate that this constant rebalancing and bug-fixing is the #1 reason why heists, the most-anticipated feature of ''Online'', were MIA over a year after ''Online'''s unveiling.

** Any online character you make may have black stripes running down their model like a referee shirt for no reason at all[[note]]This was eventually revealed to be a bug in the [=NVidia=] drivers. Sadly, however, the driver update that fixes it ''isn't compatible with all computers, especially older ones''[[/note]].

* {{Sequelitis}}: ZigZagged with Online DLC. Many updates resemble the previous one a bit too much - a few new cars, a few guns, and a new business that [[SoLastSeason becomes almost useless in the next update]]. That said, there have been a few huge updates that introduce brand new content (Doomsday heist, Casino heist) that break the mold and are better received.
** Some long-time Rockstar single-player fans feel this about most Online DLC; ''[=GTA IV=]'' and ''[=RDR1=]'' both had single-player DLC that completely changed the feel of the game and introduced new stories and some entirely new gameplay elements, while most ''Online'' DLC contents requires large amount of money, can only be enjoyed with friends, or both.

** In some ''Los Santos Tuners'' contracts, many players take pleasure [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential by blowing up [=KDJ=] and Sessanta with throwable explosives like sticky bombs]]. Though it will lead to "contract failed" message to pop up, so WorthIt. It's even funnier when they detonate while a cutscene plays, as generic character models will take place instead (the same thing also happen if you [[CarFu run them over]] with a little bit of good timing).
* ThatOneLevel: Due to its ''Online'' mode, it has enough to get its own page [[ThatOneLevel/GrandTheftAutoOnline here]]. The single-player missions can be found [[ThatOneLevel/GrandTheftAutoV here]].

** Some of the more difficult and time-consuming multiplayer missions can generate a lot of frustration there are no mid-mission checkpoints in online. Failure will result in having to start the mission completely over.
** ''Formation Flying'' from ''Online'' Flight School. Imagine [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Freefall]], but it a jet that loves to fall out of formation thanks to the jetwash from the other three jets. And the final portion. Which requires you to stay in formation, pull a half-loop, and fly upside down. Which basically requires knowing how to reverse the controls in a split second or be sent flying away from the formation and failing.
** ''Formation Flying'' was bad, but ''Ground Level'' from ''Online'' Flight School is so ''NintendoHard'' that it can have you yanking your hair out, speaking gibberish and throwing your gamepad/keyboard/mouse out the window. The quest requires you to fly low under bridges and along structures, less than a meter off ground. On a rather fast aircraft. With lots of sharp turns. With controls that don't stabilize themselves. Those without quick reflexes need not apply.[[note]]The level is also buggy as hell- when launched from the flight school, the plane has the tendency to get stuck in mid-air after the introductory video plays, and the only way to get it to proceed is to reset by pressing the abort button and retrying. Also, the averaging height counter doesn't reset between tries, and collision with water is bugged to heck and back that even touching the water for a split second is enough to have the game announce that you've destroyed the aircraft[[/note]]
** The first setup for Humane Labs in ''Online'' is basically [[LuckBasedMission "good luck not dying"]]. While the lookouts have good to decent cover and an elevated position, the buyer and the bodyguard are immediately surrounded on all sides with very little cover and only a garage to take cover in, which even then has questionable protection at best. And ''then'' you have to grab the briefcase, exposing the group to enemy fire, and get away in whatever crappy vehicles happen to be in the parking lot - oh, yeah, and all the group's personal vehicles will literally disappear when the shootout starts, which means absolutely no improvised cover or blockades, and no armored cars (particularly the Kuruma and Insurgent, which would make this setup far easier) to use as protection.
** The fifth setup for Humane Labs is delivering an Insurgent containing an [=EMP=] to the eponymous location in the middle of the night. This is a stealth-enforced mission in a game where you go in guns blazing 90% of the time. To begin with, there are no checkpoints and being spotted by any of the twenty or so guards (plus a couple of scientists) instantly fails the mission. Upon reaching the Labs, a time limit starts which will fail the mission if it runs out. A good number of guards and/or personnel are within sight of each other, requiring synchronized shooting to avoid raising the alarm. Using guns that are too high caliber to kill the guards will let them hear the murders. And just to round it all off, unlocking the garage where the Insurgent is supposed to go has a harder than usual hacking game locking the door. By this point the time is likely to be running out, which makes calmly doing the hacking even worse. All of this is relying on random people online working together and understanding that silencers are important.
** The second setup in Series A. You have to go around collecting garbage bags with drugs stashed in them with a trash truck. First off, you are stuck with flimsy garbage collector outfits which do nothing to protect you, unlike the other setups where you have the option of choosing your own clothes. Secondly, the collectors have to stand on platforms on the rear of the truck, exposing them to gunfire. Finally, the collection points offer little to no cover from the swarms of enemies surrounding you, and one of the locations is a gas station, which carries the risk of an explosion blowing up the truck or killing one of your teammates. Oh yeah, this setup has a time limit, so you can't just hunker down somewhere and kill everyone.
** The first setup in Pacific Standard is an interesting case. You drive around town taking pictures of vans to find the one with a transponder inside. No combat of any kind involved. How hard can it be? The difficulty comes not from the actual gameplay itself, but [[FakeDifficulty getting people to join you]]. Yes, you still need four people to start even though it is easily doable solo. Unfortunately, much of the playerbase views this setup as one of the most boring and unnecessary setups out there (the driver role does virtually nothing, and it's far easier to just have the navigators do all the work instead of being a BackseatDriver like it's intended). As a result, people will leave the instant they join your lobby and find out it's this setup. Expect to wait quite a while if you don't have friends, possibly longer than any other setup.
** The Second Setup in Pacific standard. First, the "proper" way to do the mission has you driving Jetskis for several minutes with nothing else to do. Most players opt to drive their personal vehicles past this point to one of the re-spawn points on the map and taking the jet skis from there. Second, for a painless run you have to do the rest of this next part without dying. Otherwise your personal vehicles despawn and things become difficult. Then there's a shootout on the island, after which the players must escort Avi to the drop off located in a boat. The clincher is that there's a time limit, and you have to lose a three-star wanted level near the end in an area choked with cops. In order for the job to go smoothly the players either have to take an alternate route in supper cars and lose the cops, which doesn't always work. The other method involves taking the slow ass police boat all the way to the end of the lake and avoiding the police helicopters. This method still relies on personal vehicles as you must now escort Avi from the edge of the lake to his destination. If you steal a car, you'll go right back to three stars, and good luck losing the cops afterwards. The mission somehow both incredibly difficult and incredibly boring
*** You could also have one character drive around in an armored personal vehicle while the other takes Avi away offroad, as all the police are paying attention to is the character on the road this makes it easier for the character with Avi to avoid detation long enough to lose the wanted level, or but this requires coordination and an expensive car, neither of which the team might have.

** Much of the in-game pop culture references several trends of the early 2010s, such as an InUniverse FranchiseZombie [=FPS=] series clearly based on ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', ''VideoGame/FarmVille'', ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey'', the New Atheism movement, {{Hipster}}s, and electronic cigarettes. This makes ''Grand Theft Auto Online'' updates supposedly taking place during the year they were released jarring, as while the radio gets updated with recent music allowing the citizens of Los Santos to listen to artists whose careers started after 2013 like Music/MeganTheeStallion, there's an occasional glimpse at a Windows 10-esque desktop, and ''The Criminal Enterprises'' included a Weazel News broadcast mentioning a heat wave and rising gas prices, they're still stuck on Righteous Slaughter 7 (despite the series being said to get sequels at an even faster rate than ''Call of Duty'', ironically) with no [[HeroShooter Hero Shooters]] or [[BattleRoyaleGame Battle Royales]] taking over the shooter market.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: With the addition of mission checkpoints, regenerating health, and special abilities, this entry has the most accessible missions in the franchise.

** The Beat Off headphones advertized in-game are a dig at [[Music/DrDre Dr. Dre]]'s range of Beats headphones. In December 2020, Dre himself makes a cameo appearance during the introductory mission for the Cayo Perico Heist and then plays a prominent role a year later in The Contract update.

* ThatOneLevel: Due to it's ''Online'' mode, it has enough to get its own page [[ThatOneLevel/GrandTheftAutoV here]], which includes the single-player missions as well.

** [[TheDitz Wade Hebert,]] the {{Juggalo}} of Trevor Philips Enterprises, has gained a lot of love from the fanbase for his humorous lines and endearing innocence.

* ThatOneLevel: Due to it's ''Online'' mode, it has enough to get it's own page [[ThatOneLevel/GrandTheftAutoV here]], which includes the single-player missions as well.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Being released and set in 2013, the game has themes heavily inspired by then-contemporary American politics and pop-culture, all of which dates the game to the early 2010s:

** In terms of politics, the San Andreas gubernatorial election features parodies of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger (as Jock Cranley, a former stuntman and jingoistic conservative) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (as Sue Murry, a former schoolteacher with burdening policies). Schwarzenegger retired from politics two years before the game's release and is still more widely known as an actor, whereas Clinton faded as a political power-player after her loss in the 2016 presidential election.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTAGtQJ1Dp0 This.]] Just...this. Words can't describe how hilarious it is, so just watch.