Grand Theft Auto V

What’s it about?

The game is the fifth instalment in a very popular, sometimes notorious, free-roaming action adventure game. Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) is set in the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California. The game follows three protagonists: Michael De Santa, a retired bank robber; Franklin Clinton, a street gangster; and Trevor Philips, a drug dealer and gunrunner. Together, they navigate the criminal underworld while attempting to pull off a series of heists, all while being pursued by corrupt government agents and powerful criminals.

The facts

• Directed by Adam Fowler
• English and Spanish language
• Distributed by Take 2 Interactive
• Released in 2013 and continues to be one of the best-selling and most played games internationally (as at 2025)
• Previous iterations are, in almost all cases, classified R18 in New Zealand
• Console game released for different console platforms as well as online gaming
• We consider the accompanying soundtrack when viewing/playing content

Why did it get this rating?

This video game was classified by Te Mana Whakaatu, Classification Office. You can find out more about classification process and ratings here.

Violence

The player can enjoy sports, from golf to skydiving and mountain biking. And, as with previous versions, the player is also free to break the law and face the consequences - arrest or "death", temporary states that costs the player a small amount of money and inconvenience.

The game play itself also offers unlimited possibilities for rampant acts of extreme violence and cruelty on regular citizens and the police using an array of weaponry.

The game depicts acts of torture and the infliction of extreme violence and extreme cruelty. The strongest material includes when Trevor tortures a man at the behest of a corrupt government official in order to gain intelligence that will be used in an assassination attempt. The victim is strapped into a chair and tortured with up to four techniques which include water-boarding with gasoline, tooth extraction with pliers, battery with a wrench, and electric shock treatment.

The scene of torture is presented as mildly horrific, yet at the same time with a degree of black humour that softens the impact.

While the game does allow the player to go on rampages through urban environments with weapons, the ability to do so is entirely unrealistic - the player's avatar can withstand damage from bullets and explosions and car accidents, and civilians all tend to look and behave uniformly. After "death", the player's avatar always re-emerges from the hospital, either to do the same again, or progress the storyline by completing missions. There is no sense that the game promotes or supports, or tends to promote or support, any of this behaviour in general.

The strongest types of cruelty and violence occur during missions, or outside game play when the player runs amok.

The three characters in the game become armed with a large arsenal of high-powered weapons, including sniper rifle, shotgun, automatic rifles, as well as rocket and grenade launchers. Victims respond similarly when targeted with these weapons by reeling backwards, then falling to the ground with small blood bursts on their face or body. The bodies and blood disappear over time, and post-mortem damage cannot be inflicted. The impact is less from the graphic quality of the violence depicted than it is the ability to inflict violence on numerous civilian characters in familiar urban settings.

Cut-scenes also contain violence and cruelty. One example is when Trevor violently attacks a man who had been complaining about Trevor having sex with his girlfriend. Trevor knocks the man to the ground and stomps repeatedly on his face while calling him a "c*nt." The stomps land off-screen. The man's bloodied face is shown afterwards - he is not moving.

Drug use

Drug use is shown in several situations. Trevor smokes a crack pipe and Michael uses a water bong he finds in his son's bedroom. The characters' vision blurs for several seconds before returning to normal, and there is no incentive (and little opportunity elsewhere) to take drugs. There is also a character, Barry, in Los Santos who is an advocate for marijuana law reform. Barry offers the player character a marijuana cigarette which, upon smoking, leads to a surreal, hallucinatory gun battle with clowns or aliens. Overall, the treatment of drugs is not serious and it is not a focus of the game.

Sexual material

There are several moments in the game when sex is either shown or implied. For instance, a cut-scene shows Trevor engaged in standing rear sex with a woman in a kitchen. Trevor's buttocks are visible in shot, but we don’t see his genitals. In another cut-scene, Trevor masturbates in a bathroom and afterwards wipes his hand on the wall. No genitals are shown.

During game play the player can pick up sex workers and have sex with them inside a car. The sexual acts include fellatio and intercourse, but these are implied by body positioning and sounds; the acts are obscured because of the low-angle of the camera outside the vehicle.

The player can also choose to visit strip clubs. Scantily-clad women dance onstage and around poles. For a fee, the player can sit in a secluded room with one of the dancers and receive a lap dance. The dancer stands close to the player's fixed point-of-view, her breasts prominently in shot as she moves seductively around the player's avatar. Should the player character attempt to touch the dancer's body during this time he receives a warning that it is against the rules. Continued touch results in the character being thrown out of the strip club by two bouncers.

Offensive language

The game contains a wide extent of highly offensive language, in particular use of the words "c*nt", and "f*ck" and its derivatives.

Other content that may disturb

The game has the ability for characters to suicide in online multiplayer mode. The player can make their avatar shoot himself in the head or swallow a pill that results in immediate death. This act costs the player $500 and is only present as a convenient way of returning home. Suicide as an issue is not explored in the game and is not glamorised or promoted in any sense.

When content stays with you:

We all have our boundaries, and it’s completely okay if something you’ve watched is weighing on your mind. If certain content lingers with you, consider having a chat with friends or whānau to debrief about what you’ve just seen. But if you’re still feeling affected, please reach out to any of the following helplines for support.

• 1737
• Safe to talk
• Lifeline
• Youthline

Further information

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?
• Gaming resource hub Aotearoa (resource)
• What is Grand Theft Auto and how can I talk with my child about the game? (blog)
• Keeping it safe in the gaming space (blog)