Games like GTA, by the part you play for

Watch Dogs, Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row and Red Dead Redemption 2 are the classic games like GTA. Jailbreak on Roblox is the free pick, and Roam has car-theft and city games for iPhone.

GTA in one paragraph

Grand Theft Auto is Rockstar Games' open-world crime series. GTA V came out in 2013 and, with GTA Online, is one of the best-selling games ever. GTA VI follows on November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

People play GTA for different reasons. Some want the cars, some the story, some just want to cause trouble with friends online. Pick your row.

For the driving and police chases

Watch Dogs 2. Ubisoft's San Francisco sandbox. Mess with traffic lights from your phone, lose the police, drive everywhere.
Need for Speed Heat. Street racing at night with cops on your tail.

For the story

Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar's western, with the same open-world craft as GTA.
Sleeping Dogs. An undercover cop inside a Hong Kong gang. Great street fighting.
Mafia: Definitive Edition. A 1930s mob story, remade in 2020.

What to check before you pick one

Map size. A big map is fun to drive. A dense one, like Sleeping Dogs' Hong Kong, is more fun to walk around.
Police. In GTA the police chase is a game of its own. Most games here have some kind of wanted system, and Red Dead Redemption 2 uses bounties.
Online play. If you want friends in the same city, check for an online mode. Red Dead Online and Jailbreak have one, many story games do not.

For free chaos with friends

Jailbreak (Roblox). Badimo's cops-and-robbers city from 2017. Break out, rob stores, get chased. Free on phones.
Saints Row: The Third. The silliest open-world crime game. Not free, but often cheap.
Steal Every Car (Roam). A top-down car-theft sandbox. If it has wheels, it can be yours.
Rush Order (Roam). Crazy Taxi-style delivery: take the order, hit the gas, get paid.
Vault Breaker (Roam). A voxel bank heist for when you want the robbery without the drive.