Grand Theft Auto Online Review (2026)

Enrolling in Grand Theft Auto Online in 2026 might seem like an incredibly daunting task, especially if you’re without the millionaire status of a high roller or the lavish lifestyle of a serial entrepreneur with a dozen businesses, garages, and penthouses to call your own. And, I almost hate to break it to you, but it is. Frankly, if you have yet to make your millions and develop a portfolio of assets, then you might as well bite the bullet and accept the fact that, unless you have a trick hidden up your sleeve to cash out on, then the chances of acquiring a foothold in San Andreas are slim to non-existent. And yet, even with all of the odds against you, you should still play it.

After a decade of fashioning diamonds out of thuggish turds, Los Santos is finally at the center of the world for business acumen and powerhouse operations. It’s a hot spot for the wealthy, if anything—a playground where cash can been spent in disgusting amounts, and ventures can be explored at the expense of others’ reputation. And while this is grand for the seasonal power horse, it isn’t great for the outsider—the thug who still needs to hold up local convenience stores to earn a quick dollar for so much as a new pair of polo shirts and what have you. Sadly, that’s where we currently are with Grand Theft Auto Online: in a world where the rich have little else to accomplish, and the poor have no chance in hell to earn a living without the support of a hefty online transaction or an infinite streak of wins at the casino. The reality of this situation is this: if you’re new to Grand Theft Auto Online, then you might as well cut your losses; Los Santos doesn’t want you.

I jest, in ways, because while the task of building a successful franchise in Grand Theft Auto Online is awfully difficult and expensive, the truth is, the game still has a tremendous amount to offer the average street thug. For example, if you’re eager to slip into a playlist of heists or races, then you can, in fact, do just that. Likewise, if you want to explore local business opportunities and collaborations, then again, you can. However, what bewilders most people is that, in order to unlock a profitable career, you either need to have had a stake in the game since its early teething period, or you need a lot of spare cash to invest in shortcuts. For the tight-fisted outsider, though, it isn’t an easy feat; it’s an uphill battle with no real footholds to sink your feet into. But, herein lies a question that has no real answer: is Grand Theft Auto Online still worth playing?

As we’re in the closing chapters for Los Santos’ epic saga of criminal enterprises and episodic stories, it’s difficult to recommend Grand Theft Auto Online to someone who might be looking to make a fresh start and develop their own journey. For the sake of seeing what it all looked like from a newcomer’s perspective, I figured I’d start from scratch, without the cash flow or the reputation to move mountains. And, lo and behold, it was almost as if I was a petty criminal in a world that had already been monopolized by the elite. Everything cost millions of dollars, and even the shirt on my own back came with a lofty price tag, funnily enough. The map, too, had thousands of blimps and mission roadmaps, most of which felt alien to me. In other words, it was almost as if I was entering a game during the final stages of its existence, with all of the DLC and content in one place. Yet, it wasn’t like being a kid in a candy store; it was like being subjected to an overwhelming variety of jobs that I just didn’t have the funds to explore, let alone capitalize on.

The good thing with Grand Theft Auto Online is that, where you would usually struggle to make ends meet and monopolize the world without the passive income and ironclad reputation, the game itself always has a series for you to carve through, whether it’s an episodic heist, racing series, or a custom anthology of creative courses and activities. And, to be honest, Grand Theft Auto Online still has a lot of these things to enjoy. Granted, it isn’t so much about learning the ropes with fledgling criminals anymore, but rather, it’s about flaunting your assets and deciding who has the most influence in Los Santos. The bitter truth here is that, being an online game that is over a decade old, most of Los Santos’ finest have an extremely large ego.

Of course, if you can remove yourself from the hustle and bustle of the criminal underworld and accept the fact that your odds of standing tall in a ruthless climate are dismally slim, then you can, in all fairness, find a lot to sink your teeth into here. It’s mentally taxing I’ll admit, as the sandbox has a huge amount of content for you to wrap your head around. That said, if you’re all for the idea of challenging the odds and enjoying the experience as it closes the book on San Andreas, then you should definitely consider slipping into it to build your legacy before it passes on to greener pastures.

Verdict

Grand Theft Auto Online remains a good choice for open-world multiplayer RPGs, as it incorporates a huge variety of heists, challenges, races, and business ventures, among other in-depth role-playing elements—a skill tree, character customization, to list just a couple of its primary strengths. For a newcomer, it isn’t all sunshine and daisies, as it does feature an incredibly steep learning curve and a lot of areas that require a hands-on approach to learning the ropes and establishing a foothold. If, say, you fall into that category, then you might be better suited for another online world. If, however, you aren’t set on monopolizing San Andreas, then you shouldn’t have an issue with enjoying Grand Theft Auto Online for what it is at its core: a highly entertaining sandbox with all of the bells and whistles of a timeless RPG.