GTA 6 vs San Andreas: what changed in 22 years, side by side

GTA 6 launches on November 19, 2026 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, 8,059 days after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas reached the PlayStation 2 in North America on October 26, 2004. The clearest link between them is a gym: CJ could bulk up or put on a belly in 2004, and Rockstar says Jason and Lucia can do the same.

	San Andreas	GTA 6
Release	October 26, 2004	November 19, 2026
Launch platforms	PS2, then PC and Xbox on June 7, 2005	PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Playable characters	1: Carl “CJ” Johnson	2: Jason Duval, Lucia Caminos
Setting	State of San Andreas, in 1992	State of Leonida
Cities or regions	3 cities plus countryside	6 named destinations
Map area	36 km² (14 sq mi)	not published by Rockstar
Wanted stars	6 at most	6 at most
ESRB rating	M, then Adults Only on July 20, 2005	Mature 17+
Sales	27.5 million by 2011	not published
Budget	under $10 million	not published
Voice cast	861 credited actors, a Guinness record	not published

San Andreas figures come from Wikipedia, checked on October 6, 2026. GTA 6 figures come from Rockstar Games, Take-Two, the PlayStation Store, and Engadget for the wanted stars. The whole series, game by game, is in our GTA series history, and the 2013 comparison is in GTA 6 vs GTA 5.

The body: back to the gym, with a lighter touch

Wikipedia sums up the 2004 system: “Balancing food and physical activity impacts CJ’s appearance and physical attributes; eating and exercising maintains health, while losing muscle lessens combat effectiveness.”

Rockstar told Dazed on August 26, 2026 that GTA 6 works the same way: the gym builds and defines muscle, overeating adds weight. ComicBook reported two days later that working out grants RPG-style bonuses, with a visual effect deliberately less pronounced than in San Andreas. Muscle also fades, as it did for CJ. Rob Nelson, co-studio head of Rockstar North, told YouTuber TGG that gains go “once you stop maintaining it,” as GamesRadar reported on September 5, 2026. Our story on how bodies change has the rest.

The gangs: from Grove Street to the Southside

San Andreas set CJ’s Grove Street Families against the Ballas, and let players take over neighborhoods: attack a rival gang, then survive three waves of counterattacks.

GTA 6 names two gangs so far. Rockstar’s product page describes the PTT Youngin$ compound, an Ultimate Edition extra: “Raid the compound of one of Southside Vice City’s loudest and most socially active gangs and escape safely to score some special items and distinct contraband.” The Ambrosia page, posted on May 6, 2025, adds a biker gang that provides “almost everything else” beside the sugar refinery. As of October 6, 2026, no first- or second-tier source says whether turf wars return. Our GTA 6 gangs guide keeps the list current.

The map: three cities against six regions

San Andreas packed three cities into one state: Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas, modeled on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, with countryside in between. Its 36 square kilometers made it four to six times the size of GTA III or Vice City, per Wikipedia.

Leonida goes back to the whole-state idea. Rockstar has named six destinations there: Vice City, Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park, each covered in our region-by-region map guide. On size, Rob Nelson told Kotaku on August 27, 2026 that GTA 6’s world is twice as big as GTA 5’s. Rockstar has given no area figure.

The rating: from Adults Only to Mature 17+

The Hot Coffee mod, released on June 9, 2005, unlocked a sex minigame left on the San Andreas discs. On July 20, 2005, 267 days after launch, the ESRB re-rated the game Adults Only, and Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Circuit City pulled it the same day. Patched versions followed from August to November 2005.

GTA 6 starts with its final rating in place. Since October 1, 2026, the PlayStation Store has shown ESRB Mature 17+ in the US and PEGI 18 in the UK, as covered in our rating story.