What are the best GTA 5 mods? There’s no need to navigate through mod databases for dodgy links and unclear mod descriptions as we’ve done the legwork for you, hunting down the most popular GTA 5 mods to transform your gameplay experience.
After a decade as one of the best PC games, the Grand Theft Auto 5 mod scene is more than just a few cheats and trainers-it’s rife with incredible additions, useful tweaks, and big transformations. GTA 5 mods are guaranteed to keep you entertained during the wait for the GTA 6 release date in 2026. If you’re stuck on which ones to install, take your pick from our list of the best mods, scripts, and add-ons for Rockstar’s landmark sandbox game.
Here are the best GTA 5 mods:
God of War
Take to the Los Santos skies as Kratos with another character overhaul mod from JulioNIB, the creator of the Hulk mod (which you can also find in this list). The God of War mod equips you with the Blades of Chaos and the Icarus Wings, setting you free to cause mayhem and havoc across the city. If anyone tries to stop you, simply put a stop to them with a barrage of intense melee attacks.
The Contract in SP
There’s always been a slight disappointment with the GTA devs for not giving us the single-player DLC that a large part of the community has always yearned for. Fortunately, HKH191 has done what Rockstar refused to do, adding all the content from The Contract to the main game. This includes the entire Dr. Dre VIP quest line, giving you access to 13 missions featuring voice lines from Franklin, Lamar, and, of course, Dr. Dre himself.
LifeInvader Business
You’ve mastered the criminal world; now it’s time to conquer the tech giants. Take control of LifeInvader, the Los Santos equivalent of Facebook, as you earn millions of dollars running your social network empire. Jaydenwasd, the creator of the LifeInvader Business mod, has recently updated this mod to add whistleblowers who attempt to leak sensitive information, forcing you to track them down before it’s too late.
CarControl V
Like with the Lockpicking and Hotwiring mod listed below, GTA automates so much of the carjacking and driving process that you might not realize how much control you’re inadvertently relinquishing. MNHC’s CarControl V mod gives you total control of your vehicle, enabling you to open each individual door, move between seats, and even turn off the engine if you wish.
Lockpicking and Hotwiring
Carjacking is the easiest thing in GTA; all you need to do is press a button and you’re ready to drive. With the Lockpicking and Hotwiring mod by ViceCityVigilante, you can add some realism to your joyride adventures, forcing you to complete a minigame every time you attempt to steal a locked vehicle. There isn’t a lot of risk when you steal a car, but now you’ll have to think twice and act fast if you plan to jack a stranger’s vehicle.
Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid
Prolific GTA 5 modder HKH191 has released the Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid mod, porting the GTA Online raid to the single player mode. Once you load up the mod, all you need to do is wait for a phone call from Vincent, and he’ll tell you all the details about the raid on the corrupt cartel syndicate operating out of the Cluckin’ Bell farm. With action-packed missions to get through, this is the closest thing you’re going to get to story mode DLC.
Policing Overhaul
After more than three years of development, 11john11 and his community have put together the San Andreas Policing Overhaul Vehicle Pack, creating custom models for several LPSD vehicles. As you can see from the screenshots, these models fit in perfectly with the existing vehicles, expanding the law enforcement’s fleet with more cars, trucks, and helicopters than ever before.
Truckers V
Depending on where you live, the job market can be tough to break into, and that is certainly the case in Los Santos. Truckers V from reeeeeeeel places four truck depots on the map and offers you the life of a trucker. You’re provided with a truck and a destination to take you between Los Santos and Blaine County. Depending on the length of your journey, you can earn between $5,000 and $12,000 per job. Trucking is hard work, but it’s an honest career that will keep you off the hard streets.
’70s Flashback Pack
Take Los Santos back in time with clutit’s impressive ’70s Flashback Pack mod, providing you with plenty of clothes and hairstyles to suit the retro vibe. From bell-bottom jeans, letterman jackets, and even a suite a Black Panther Party outfits, there’s bound to be something in this collection to suit your fancy.
Arthur Morgan
Ever wondered how Arthur Morgan would behave if he was transported to the future? Using the Arthur Morgan mod from SirDesse, you can play with the same model from Red Dead Redemption 2, giving the cowboy an opportunity to explore the modern world. It’s worth mentioning that this mod doesn’t include any voice lines from RDR2 when you interact with the world; it’s purely a visual mod.
Chaos Response
We’ve seen GTA 5 mods in the past that let you play as the police, but the Chaos Response mod takes things to a whole new level by creating a highly detailed experience that could be its own game. Featuring 10+ crime types, from your standard ‘Suspect on Foot’ and ‘Gang Drive-By Activity’ to the weird and wonderful ‘UFO Sightings,’ you need to approach each situation differently to get the job done.
Drug Boat Heist
Though some people swear by how much fun GTA Online is, sometimes you just want to experience the thrill of a good heist without having to arrange something with your friends. The Drug Boat Heist mod is set at night under the cover of darkness, as you scope out a heavily guarded boat filled with illegal drugs.
To seize the opportunity, you’re going to need to infiltrate the boat, steal the hidden valuables, and make it out without getting torn to pieces by the armed henchmen. This mod is entirely playable offline, so you can sit back and relax as you retry the mission repeatedly after getting caught within the first few minutes.
Six Stars
Remember when the wanted system in the Grand Theft Auto games used to escalate to six stars? GTA 5 toned this down to five, but if you want to push the police to their limits, the Six Stars mod by nj5050 calls in the army when you become a real nuisance.
There are two versions of this mod depending on what other mods you’re using: base and ultimate. Base gives you a stock experience, relying on stock models for the army. Ultimate uses a host of other mods to summon in unique army vehicles and models, giving you an experience like no other police chase.
CoordSaver
This mod certainly will not be for everyone, but the ones that can utilize something like this will consider it to be a lifesaver. The CoordSaver mod from harshil saves the X, Y, and Z coordinates of wherever you’re standing, making it easy to recreate scenarios. Moviemakers will want to combine this with the Scene Director mod, unlocking a plethora of options for budding directors.
Shootdodge
It doesn’t look like there’s going to be a new Max Payne any time soon, so if you want to relive the glory days of leaping directly into your enemies at full speed, mbahdokek’s Shootdodge: The Sequel mod is here to save the day. Based on Shootdodge’s original mod, mbahdokek has updated and expanded it with new features, including a bullet meter HUD element like in Max Payne, new sound effects, and support for the dual wield mod.
Scene Director
One of GTA 5’s most underrated features has to be Director Mode, Rockstar’s in-game video maker that lets you create your own movies. We’ve seen some impressive creations come out of this mode already, but if you’ve ever wondered how some of the biggest creators can do things you can’t, it might be because they’re using elsewhat’s Scene Director mod.
This mod massively improves on Director Mode by giving you a new set of tools to create the scene you’re after. Couple this with the Updated Animations List mod by Nerax to give yourself a host of new effects to work with.
Real California Architecture
Add another layer of immersion to GTA 5 with the Real California Architecture mod by _Vlad_(Desmond98), bringing real life signs and logos to Los Santos. We all know Rockstar was definitely inspired by California when building Los Santos, so it’s no surprise that certain buildings and locations look like 1:1 recreations when you slap their original signage back on.
Cruise past your local FedEx office, take a walk through Griffith Park, and enjoy a trip to the Santa Monica pier. Even the iconic Hollywood sign has been added to the game, giving you the perfect backdrop as you fly around the city in your helicopter.
White LED Streetlights
Lighting plays a large role in the way things are presented, and while it may be easy to understand how this works in real life, it’s slightly more difficult to explain in a virtual space. GTA 5 modder Venkeyy has utilized High Dynamic Spot-Range Lights to replace the stock streetlights in Los Santos with high-quality white LEDs. This drastically changes the look of GTA 5, especially at night when you’re cruising around the city in a shiny car. You’re going to need a powerful computer to run this mod, but the result is more than worth it, as it adds a layer of realism to the game.
Hair Pack
When it comes to Black representation, an area many developers seem to get wrong is hairstyles. Black people know that most of the time, players have access to cornrows, an afro, and the ‘Killmonger’. The Mega Hair Pack mod adds ten Black hairstyles to the multiplayer game, giving players considerably more options to customize their character. These hairstyles are exclusive to the male character preset in multiplayer, so you won’t be able to use them on Franklin in the story mode.
Single Player Heists
This is going to sound sad, but in our personal experience, we’ve found that the hardest part of heists is bringing together a squad of real-life mates to play GTA V. Luckily, there’s another way to play through these missions without having to rely on numerous people. Single Player Heists is officially out of beta, and the recent updates have added lots of content to get through, including 18 full heists. There are some bugs to deal with; however, it’s worth trying out if you want to experience the thrill of a heist on your own.
Realistic Gun Sounds
Are you a little underwhelmed by the gunplay in GTA 5? The Realistic Gun Sounds mod takes audio from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Battlefield, and other military FPS games to add an extra kick to your favorite guns. These sound effects comprise weapon fire as well as reloads, shell casings, melee attacks, and even weapon handling, to create a more immersive experience that’s perfect for military heads. It even comes with improved muzzle flash textures for that final dash of authenticity.
Mayhem / Carmageddon
The Mayhem / Carmageddon mod delivers the chaotic vehicular combat from our favorite retro driving game, infecting the motorists of San Andreas with a serious case of road rage. With this mod enabled, you can expect copious explosions, cars flipping through the air, and a lot of public property damage in your near future.
We also highly recommend pairing this mod with cheats that grant invincibility to you and your vehicle – creator EnabledHD assures us that we “won’t last a minute without it.”
Mobile Radio
We love the GTA radio so much that it can be difficult to tear ourselves away from the driver’s seat when our favorite song comes on. Thankfully, with the Mobile Radio mod enabled, you can take the tunes with you on the go. It’s a simple mod, but it does make all the difference.
Open All Interiors
GTA 5’s Los Santos may be huge, but there are still plenty of closed-off areas. Frequently you’ll see huge tourist attractions that look like they’d be explorable, only to walk up and find the doors permanently locked. The GTA Open All Interiors mod opens up many previously locked buildings just for a little added authenticity.
Character Menu
If you’d rather keep your role-playing experience confined to single-player, you can run around the world wreaking havoc as an NPC instead. Character Menu allows you to turn into any NPC in the game – even animals! There are over 500 to choose from, with 350 being further customizable.
Crime and Police Rebalance & Enhancement
You’ve only got to accidentally clip a cyclist with your wing mirror in GTA 5, and suddenly the cops are chasing you down. No dialing 911, no getting away with a caution. It’s jail time for you, and you’ll be filled with bullets before the cuffs go on. Some would argue that this is a realistic depiction of US policing, but it isn’t fair gameplay.
The Crime and Police Rebalance & Enhancement mod adjusts the detection system – an NPC has to report your crime first, and you can prevent them from calling it in. Enemy firearm accuracy scales with speed, so in a car chase, they won’t be hitting you with pinpoint precision. Silencers are more effective too, allowing you to use stealth much more effectively. Your wanted level is also more logical; getting a single star won’t result in the entire LSPD hunting you down.
Pull Me Over and Better Chases
As we’ve mentioned previously, the way policing in GTA 5 is handled is hardly realistic. So long as you don’t crash into any vehicles, you can drive at max speed in the wrong lane on the highway and get away with it. With the Pull Me Over mod, patrolling cop cars will attempt to pull you over and give you a ticket for speeding, running a red light, driving against traffic, and many more.
The Better Chases+ mod takes this one step further, introducing arrest warrants that come into effect should you evade capture by the police, and granting LCPD far more responses based on your criminal actions. Traffic violations won’t be tricky to dodge, but hitting a pedestrian will stir up quite the chase.
Gang and Turf
One of the best features in GTA San Andreas was the turf war system that allowed Grove Street Families to steadily take over all of Los Santos. The Gang and Turf mod brings this system to GTA 5. You’ll be able to control a gang with a name and members of your choice, fighting other gangs for complete control of the city.
LSPD First Response
Ever wanted to play for the other team? LSPD First Response transforms GTA V into one of the best police games out there. To get started, head to a police station and create a character before heading out onto the mean streets and responding to robberies, dynamic crime events, and car chases. Find out what it’s like to be on the other end of a police chase!
ATM Robberies & Bank Heists
Satisfy your criminal cravings with ATM Robberies & Bank Heists, perfect for that handy injection of funds when your bank balance gets a little low. This mod lets you steal cash from any of 47 ATMs or 10 banks, but you’ll need to escape to a safe house to secure your haul.
Complex Control
Inspired by the best battle royale games, the Complex Control mod overhauls GTA 5 gameplay by putting you in the shoes of a procedurally generated avatar equipped with several special abilities who must battle against NPCs in an ever-shrinking map. By also incorporating rogue-lite elements to keep things interesting, Complex Control is an incredibly fun and challenging addition to the game.
The Red House
GTA 5 isn’t exactly short of missions, but you’ll run out eventually. Thankfully, modders are here to keep you well-stocked. The Red House mod adds more than 20 new missions, including assassinations and gang clean-outs to the game, plus a new heist.
Enhanced Train Driver
All aboard! The GTA 5 Enhanced Train Driver mod allows you to hop inside the cabin and take control of the infamous GTA 5 train. Speed up, slow down. Stop. Go. All the main train driving options are available to you.
Travel to North Yankton
Want to revisit the Fargo-like area of North Yankton featured in GTA 5’s prologue? The game doesn’t provide you with access to this area once you’ve advanced past that first mission and wound up in Los Santos. Fortunately, the Travel to North Yankton mod allows you to fly in via Los Santos Airport and even pick up and throw snowballs. Festive!
Army Five Stars
In older Grand Theft Auto games, the armed forces would arrive to take you down if your murderous rampage went on too long and reached a five-star wanted level. GTA 5 ditched this feature, but the Army Spawns at Five Stars mod puts it back in place. Get five-star notoriety, and you’ll be pursued by the nation’s finest. The mod’s pragmatic title sounds weirdly poetic too.
Fuel Script V
To add more realism to your urban sandbox, why not make vehicles burn fuel? The Fuel Script V mod adds tons of features, including a fuel bar above the minimap and a working interior fuel gauge. Ensure you’re fueled up before engaging in a wild chase because running dry with six cops ramming into your tail end won’t end well.
Better Deformation
Because no one in GTA 5 can drive properly, you can spend quite a lot of time involved in car crashes. They’re never quite as spectacular as they could be, though. The Better Deformation + More Durable Cars mod makes car destruction an art form and encourages you to make a mess of your vehicles.
Real California Architecture
It’s all well and good making GTA 5 look as close to real-life California as possible, but the architecture in-game is still pretty gamified. Real California Architecture aims to replicate buildings from the real world in-game, from One California Plaza to the iconic Hollywood sign.
Zombies
Everyone else is making zombie games, so why not GTA? The GTA Zombies mod allows you to fill the streets of Los Santos with crowds of the walking dead for round-based survival. Fend off each successive wave of corpses for bigger and better rewards.
GTA 5 Redux
While GTA 5 Redux beautifully upgrades the streets of Los Santos with new weather, skies, and many lush 4K textures, this mod is more than just a visual overhaul. GTA 5 Redux also includes tweaks to vehicle handling, a reconfigured police system, and an improved weapon feel to make the gameplay feel more refined after all these years.
Gravity Gun
It’s a well-known fact that if a third-person game exists on Steam, there legally has to be a gravity gun mod for it. We don’t make the rules. The Gravity Gun mod allows you to aim with the game’s stun gun to make objects hover in the air or blast through the skies.
Funny Vehicles
No one wants to drive normal cars, even if it’s the fastest car in GTA 5. Instead, we want to drive a DeLorean DMC-12 time machine or the Batmobile or even fly a TIE Fighter. Install the Funny Vehicles mod and you can drive all these cars and more in GTA 5.
Hulk
The Hulk script mod puts you in the ripped purple pants of the big guy himself, imbuing you with all the super strength required to Hulk Smash your way through San Andreas. As Hulk, you can grab helicopters right out of the sky, scale buildings, and even use a lamppost as a baseball bat. We hope the city has insurance.
GTA 5 100% Save
You’ve probably finished GTA 5 numerous times throughout the years, whether that was when it originally launched on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 or years down the line when it dropped on the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. If you own a copy of the game on PC, you’re in luck, as you don’t need to spend ages playing through the game again. Instead, download this save game and you should have 100% progress across Michael, Franklin, and Trevor’s story.
How do I install GTA 5 mods?
Installing GTA 5 mods is simple; all you need to do is download the mod files and copy them into the main GTA 5 folder. If you’re not using the Steam version, you’ll need to find the main game folder with the GTAV.exe file. For everyone else, the directory should look something like this:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Grand Theft Auto V
Some of the more complex mods require the installation of additional tools, such as Script Hook V. We’ve got information on how to install some of the more essential tools further down the page. These advanced mods aren’t all guaranteed to work harmoniously together – by all means, don’t be afraid to give it a shot, but you’ve got the best chance of a successful mod installation when working with the vanilla game as a base.
Are GTA 5 mods safe to install and use?
As with any online game, activating mods comes with a risk. Rockstar has stated that PC single-player mods are allowed, and the company has an agreement with Take-Two Interactive not to take legal action against anyone using mods that are strictly single-player, non-commercial, and respect the intellectual property rights of third parties.
Many of these mods use ‘memory hooks’ to enable them to tinker with the fundamentals of GTA 5, and if you try to play GTA Online with them installed, you’ll be swiftly banned on suspicion of cheating.
We recommend keeping a separate installation if you want to switch between GTA Online and a modded GTA 5 single-player experience frequently, and it’s always a good idea to back up your game files before making changes.
GTA 5 Script Hook V
Since many of the biggest and most popular GTA 5 mods run scripts, Script Hook V is needed for most of the more complex mods you’ll be downloading. It’s an essential tool if you’re getting serious about modding GTA 5, so it’s important to know how to get it working.
How to install Script Hook V:
- Download the ScriptHookV.dll file from your chosen website (be extra careful not to click any malicious links or ads).
- Open the game’s main folder and paste in ScriptHookV.dll. This will be wherever GTA5.exe is located.
- You’ll also need to have an ASI loader installed, which you can download separately or use the one that comes with most downloads of Script Hook V. To install, paste dsound.dll into the game’s main folder.
Most downloads also come with ‘Native Trainer’. You don’t need this file, but it allows for easy activation of many GTA 5 cheats. To install, copy NativeTrainer.asi into the main game folder.
GTA 5 LUA plugin
A few mods also require the LUA plugin, so depending on which you’re looking to install, it might be best to do this additional bit of housekeeping.
How to install the GTA LUA Plugin:
- Download the LUA plugin (once again, be careful to click the right links).
- Copy both the ‘scripts’ folder and the LUSA_SDK.asi file into your GTA 5 game directory.
- For any mods that use .lua files, drop the files into the ‘addins’ folder inside the ‘scripts’ folder.
There may already be a few .lua files in the ‘addins’ folder when you download it. If you don’t need these, it’s safe to delete them.
How to install the GTA OpenIV tool
It can get pretty tricky to keep track of all these mods, and chances are you’ll run into a technical error or two along the way. If you want to make your life a little easier, or if making mods is more your thing, get your hands on OpenIV.
OpenIV was the toolset used to access and edit the game files of GTA 4 and Max Payne 3, but clever PC gamers have managed to get the program to unpack GTA 5. The latest version – OpenIV 4.0 – also supports Red Dead Redemption 2. Ultimately, OpenIV is a multi-purpose editor and archive manager, and several mods run far better on OpenIV than independently.
Now that you have the best GTA 5 mods installed, give them a bit of extra flavor by activating the best GTA 5 cheats and codes. Alternatively, if you’re looking to spice things up in multiplayer, head over to our GTA RP server guide, apply to join a roleplay server as an NPC, and live out your dreams of roaming the streets as a vigilante grandma… or whatever.
Original article by Elliot Gardner.