The best GTA 5 mods will help make the game a lot more fun.
Sure, the game is a great game on its own. The vanilla campaign will have you skiing hours into it. Plus, with the success of Grand Theft Auto Online, there are dozens if not hundreds of hours of fun to be had playing the game.
However, there’s just something to be said about playing GTA 5 single-player mods that make it such a good idea.
Should You Mod GTA 5?
Yes. You should.
The GTA V community has come up with some pretty great Grand Theft Auto 5 mods.
Sure, not every mod is good. Some are just downright bad. While others are unfinished. Some can even break your game and corrupt your save files. This is why you should do it carefully and follow guides so that you only end up installing the best GTA 5 mods available out there.
Will GTA 5 Mods Get You Banned?
The game’s developers, Rockstar Games, have stated numerous times in the past that you won’t get banned for using GTA 5 PC mods.
In one of their statements, Rockstar Games clarified that they believe in “reasonable fan creativity” and that they want “creators to showcase their passion” for their game, which is Grand Theft Auto V.
In the same statement, however, Rockstar Games clarified that multiplayer mods for Grand Theft Auto V might be subject to legal action.
So, as long as you’re doing mods to enhance the single-player experience, you should be fine.
25 Best GTA 5 Mods In 2022 & Beyond
1. Gang and Turf
One of the most missed features from previous Grand Theft Auto games, in particular, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, was its gang warfare system. The ability to defend your turf and drive off other gangs was so much fun, even if it was a bit clunky and cumbersome at times.
The “Gang and Turf” mod helps introduce that squad-based mini-game in all of its glory to Grand Theft Auto V.
The mod works similarly to the original material. You’ll have your death squad, complete with registered members, crew colors, and even patches of land that you have to defend. You’ll also get access to vehicles that you’ll use to roll around with your squad, and you can also call in help or backup by having them parachute in or drive to your location if things get dicey.
This all culminates in the occasional all-out gang war that scratches for miles and miles, which is chaotic and a lot of fun.
Also Read: What’s the Fastest Car in GTA 5?
2. Los Santos Truck Simulator
Have you ever played Grand Theft Auto V just to drive around, follow the traffic rules, and wander around? Well, with the Los Santos Truck Simulator you can do that. At least, minus the aimless wandering part.
The mod essentially puts the game, Euro Truck Simulator, into Grand Theft Auto V, with the main difference being that you’ll be traveling all around Los Santos.
You’ll receive all sorts of trucking contracts from people you know to the government, and you’ll even get your own office somewhere in Sandy Shores.
The mod even lets you experience the occasional frustration stemming from damaged or lost cargo.
3. Home Invasion
Sure, you can burgle stores and hold people at gunpoint in Grand Theft Auto V, but you can’t exactly barge into their homes and strip them clean.
At least, not if you haven’t installed this mod.
The “Home Invasion” mod lets you rob certain houses. You can choose to pull off your best Rambo impression or do it sneaking around. Either way, you’d best be careful. Because, while some houses are easy pickings, there are others whose owners come packing.
4. GTA 5 Redux
The “GTA 5 Redux” mod is pretty self-explanatory.
What it does is that it adds beautifully re-done 4K textures to Grand Theft Auto 5 to make your game look more beautiful. However, before you install it, you’ll want to make sure that your PC is up to the task.
In addition to visually overhauling your game, the mod also fixes many issues with the game, from the police system to NPC behavior, weapon feel, and even how your vehicle handles.
Also Know: Is GTA 5 Crossplay Enabled In 2022
5. Warfare MOD
Yes. This mod is named “Warfare MOD”, and also, yes, it’s every bit as glorious as it sounds.
Words simply just can’t do the 20v20 military-themed war justice. This is a mod where people literally bring out the big guns.
This includes everything from tanks to choppers and the war spills on over to pretty much the entirety of a single Los Santos district.
The mod also adds a “Survival Mode” where you go up against an endless number of baddies.
6. Better Deformation + More Durable Cars
Doesn’t it bother you that it only takes a couple of crashes to put a huge dent on your car in Grand Theft Auto V?
We’re all for realism here, but that’s not exactly what the developers should have gone for in a game as unrealistic as Grand Theft Auto V.
This mod fixes that by, well, making the visual damage to cars more appropriate, but at the same time, making it harder for you to damage or total your car.
7. Niko Bellic
It would’ve been nice if Rockstar Games actually added Carl Johnson into Grand Theft Auto V instead of basically confirming that he’d already died at the time of the game.
With that said, the mod does add the next best thing by adding the Grand Theft Auto IV protagonist into the game.
You pretty much have full autonomy on what you want to do to Niko Bellic in the game with this mod. This means that you can add voice lines if you want, or even change his outfit, among many others.
8. LSPD First Response
From someone on the other side of the law, the “LSPD First Response” mod puts you in the shoes of someone who is walking a straight line.
The mod actually lets you create your own character that you’ll use to respond to everything from car chases to robberies and everything in between. This way, you’ll know exactly how it feels like when someone tries to disrespect the law.
9. World of Variety
The world of Grand Theft Auto V is huge and detailed, but it can get pretty boring after a while.
This is what the “World of Variety” tries to fix by adding all the assets, including vehicles, that’s been added to Grand Theft Auto Online since into the base single-player campaign to make it look like the game is constantly evolving.
10. Open All Interiors
“Open All Interiors” is a small but significant mod that helps add to the immersive feeling of Grand Theft Auto V by letting you go inside buildings that were previously locked and closed off from you.
11. Basic Needs
Turn Grand Theft Auto V into a survival sim by adding the “Basic Needs” mod.
Instead of worrying about how you’re going to wreak havoc in Los Santos, the mod will make you think twice before heading out as you worry about whether you’ve already eaten or rested yet.
12. The Red House
“The Red House” is less like a mod and more like a DLC in how it adds more than twenty missions to Grand Theft Auto V that capture the original feel of the game. This includes everything from assassinations to even a heist.
13. Iron Man Armor
Even if you haven’t played Grand Theft Auto V with mod before, you’ve no doubt heard of this. This is one of the best GTA 5 mods out there, and it actually went viral a couple of years back because of how it was able to capture the experience of playing as Iron Man in Grand Theft Auto V.
The mod adds the Mark III armor to the game, and you also have the option to use the Hulkbuster in case you need more firepower.
14. Expanded Field of View
Playing Grand Theft Auto V is a great and novel idea, but it is restrictive. You can’t really see a lot, and the most you can adjust the camera settings slider is to 55 degrees, which isn’t really that much.
Luckily, this mod changes that by letting you set your field of view however you please.
It does require a bit of tweaking with the fov.txt, but it is so worth it if you want to play Grand Theft Auto V in first-person.
15. No Water + Tsunami + Atlantis
Which one do you like better? The desolate deserts of Mad Max or the watery world of Aquaman in Atlantis?
If you happen to like both, then the “No Water + Tsunami + Atlantis” mod is for you.
You can choose whether to completely submerge all of Los Santos in water or completely drain it of water. The best part of the former is how you can literally see how the Tsunami envelopes the entire city.
16. Simple Passenger
Do you know what’s more relaxing than following the traffic rules and driving in a game so chaotic? Riding in one of the NPC-driven cars as a passenger.
The “Simple Passenger” mod switches up one of the most iconic features of the Grand Theft Auto V and instead of kicking out the drivers when you open the car doors in the middle of traffic, you hitchhike. You can either set where you want the driver to take you, or you can let them drive away.
You can also do drive-by shootings, and with just a simple press of a key, you can take over and be the driver.
17. Mobile Radio
Anyone who has ever played a Grand Theft Auto game knows that listening to the radio is part of the experience.
It’s not unusual for some people to drive cars just so they can listen to the radio. This is because the radio is limited to when you’re riding a vehicle, which is a travesty that the “Mobile Radio” mod aims to fix.
With this mod installed, you can take your favourite radio stations and tunes with you wherever you go.
It’s as life-changing as using wireless earbuds for your smartphone.
18. Complex Control
This mod completely overhauls the gameplay of Grand Theft Auto V and puts you in the control of a random avatar that must try and survive an onslaught of NPCs as the map shrinks around him or her.
Does this sound familiar? It should be. The “Complex Control” mod is inspired by arguably the most popular game genre today, battle royale titles.
However, what makes this mod different is that it adds rogue-lite elements to the mix.
The resulting gameplay experience is nothing short of amazing albeit admittedly quite the challenge.
19. Psychokinetic
Have you ever wondered what life would be like in GTA V if you could control things with your mind?
Well, say no more! With the “Psychokinetic” mod, you can bring those dreams to life and become the psychokinetic superhero (or villain) that you’ve always wanted to be. This includes floating around the city as if you’re like a god and picking up dozens of cars as if they were nothing and making them float in the air.
You can even throw literal fireballs towards your enemies just in case you run out of trucks and cars to pick up and send their way.
20. GTA V RPG
The open-world narrative of GTA V is one of its biggest strengths, and so is its open world. One of its biggest weaknesses is how linear your progression is. It’s basically you doing errands for people and remaining the same person from the start. But, with the “GTA V RPG” mod, this all changes.
Right from the start, you’re allowed to choose from three different character classes that follow a more traditional RPG-like skill progression system. The game then switches missions for “quests”, with dialogue trees available for NPCs, as well as randomly generated loot popping up every now and then.
TLDR; the mod turns GTA V into something like a Bethesda open-world RPG title.
21. Endeavor
Whereas the “Psychokinesis” mod makes you feel like a god in-game, the “Endeavor” mod gives you the power to be a literal in-game god.
Using a well-designed debug menu, you can summon anything from guns to vehicles or anything that the game supports. You can even max the stats of your characters, or better yet, remove law enforcement completely. There’s even an option to make you shoot bags of cash as ammo or drive across water, which pretty much one-ups one God most of us probably know.
22. Chaos Mode
“Chaos Mod”, also known as “Ped Riot”, is a mod that transforms every living citizen in the game into a more dangerous and armed version of themselves.
Basically, it devolves Los Santos into a lawless city where cops have hightailed it out of there.
Whether you join in on the war or let them wreak havoc on their own, the mod makes GTA V a lot more fun.
23. Grand Theft Space
The “Grand Theft Space” mod takes the words “out of this world” a bit too seriously.
With this mod installed, the game transports you from Los Santos to outer space, where you gain access to a fully functioning space shuttle, a couple of planets, some moons, and traces of alien lifeform.
It’s not exactly the grandest mod on our list, but it’s one worth installing for the heck of it.
Not to mention, should the project fully utilize its potential, you’ll have helped in creating what’s essentially GTA V in space.
24. Simple Zombies
The citizens of Los Santos could use a bit of livening up, or in this case, unliving.
With the “Simple Zombies” mode, you can turn the hundreds of pedestrians walking all over Los Santos into the living undead. That’s not all. There are still people too, all of which can be recruited into your own shelters as you try to help what remains of the human civilization to survive.
The mod also lets you play the part of a management game as you try to manage the sleep, hunger, and health levels of those you rescue.
25. Map Editor
The mod is as simple as it sounds. It lets you play god and edit the map of GTA V however you please.
Using the free-roaming cam of the game, you can place anything from cars to animals all in an intuitive and easy-to-use map editor that’ll have you wasting hours upon hours watching your experiments in live-action.
Conclusion
Grand Theft Auto 5 is a game that just keeps on keeping on. In addition to the constant updates to Grand Theft Auto Online, the number of best GTA 5 mods only keeps on growing by the day with how robust the game’s modding community is.
With that being said, installing our recommendations for the best GTA 5 mods is all but a rabbit hole into something that will admittedly eat up hours of your life.
From these mods, we won’t be surprised if you find yourself trying out others just for the heck of it.