After having successfully launched Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar North, the developers of the GTA game series are all geared up to release the next version of the action-adventure open world video game, Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5). The game will be the first major title in the GTA series since the release of GTA 4 in 2008. GTA 5 will mark the fifth “era” in the series, which is to be set in fictional Los Santos in the state of San Andreas and its surrounding areas, mostly based on the modern-day Los Angeles and Southern California.

Rockstar Games had previously published Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2004, which features Los Santos as one of the three cities in the game. Several speculations around the web indicated that the Grand Theft Auto 5 was to be released by the end of 2011, however, that did not happen. On October 25, 2011, Rockstar Games announced Grand Theft Auto 5 via a tweet, which included the #GTAV hash tag and a link to their homepage, which displayed the game’s logo. On October 26, the company put a GTA V trailer countdown on their homepage, which led the shares of Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games shoot up by seven percent.

On November 2, 2011, Rockstar released the debut trailer for GTA 5, giving its fans a first glance of the upcoming and most-anticipated game. The trailer revealed interesting features, like the setting to be in Los Santos, “Vinewood” (Hollywood) and rural hills and valleys.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick states the following:

“Looking ahead, Take-Two has the strongest development pipeline in the company’s history. At the cornerstone of our stellar line-up is the recently announced next installment of Rockstar Games’ iconic franchise that has sold-in more than 114 million units – Grand Theft Auto V. The creative team at Rockstar Games continues to set benchmarks for excellence with every new release and we’re confident that consumers’ enthusiasm will be rewarded with a breathtaking entertainment experience that can only be provided by Grand Theft Auto.”

Grand Theft Auto 5 Official Trailer

Here is the official trailer of Grand Theft Auto V released by Rockstar Games:

The trailer revealed a lot of information about the upcoming game. First of, we already know that the gameplay of Grand Theft Auto 5 is going to be based in Los Santos, a fictional city of Los Angeles and Southern California. The trailer opens with several scenes of the San Andreas beachfront, complete with palm trees, and scenes of the Vinewood sign.

Grand Theft Auto 5 may be set in the present day scenario, that is, there is an emphasis on the present-day recession where the trailer shows scenes of homes kept on sale, people begging for money on the street, and people sleeping in tenets next to an underpass. This, in a way fits the five-dollar bill of the ‘V’ in the GTA V logo. The trailer also shows an outdoor gym, similar to the San Andreas version of muscle beach.

There have been rumours indicating that GTA V would support multiple playable characters (played across three central characters). We assume that the man looking out across the city about halfway through the trailer is one of the main characters. Other features like flying aircrafts, Jet Ski rentals, fitness mag, and body piercing shops are expected to be featured in the game.

After the release of the trailer, Rockstar Games announced Grand Theft Auto 5 was in full development and would take place within Los Santos and its “surrounding hills, countryside and beaches.” It would be “the largest and the most ambitious game Rockstar has yet created”, with Sam Houser describing it as a “radical reinvention of the Grand Theft Auto universe”.

Here is a complete analysis of the official trailer:

Grand Theft Auto 5 System Requirements

I assume that the game might require slightly higher requirements and would not differ much to GTA 4 if in case Rockstar uses the same engine. Probably the game would require around 20 GB in space depending on the audio/radio, textures, maps, and so on.

Here are the predicted system requirements:

• OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 3 GHz or similar
• RAM: 3 GB
• HDD: 20 GB free disk space
• Graphics: 512 MB Graphics Memory
• Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
• DirectX: Version 9
• Supported Graphics Cards: Nvidia 8600 or ATI 3870

Grand Theft Auto V Minimum System Requirements

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 3.66Ghz or equivalent AMD Athlon X2 64 4.8Ghz
• Memory/RAM: 2 GB Ram
• Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 7900 or 512MB ATI X1900
• Hard Disk Space: 30 – 40 GB
• Operating System: Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 or Windows 7 SP1

Grand Theft Auto V Recommended System Requirements

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 3.66GHz or equivalent AMD Phenom X3 4.81GHz
• Memory/RAM: 4 GB
• Video Card: 1GB NVIDIA 8600 or 1 GB ATI 3870
• Hard Disk Space: 30 – 40 GB free
• Operating System: Window XP SP3 or Vista SP2 or Window 7 SP1

Rockstar has yet to announce the official system requirements of GTA V. The game will be first released on Xbox 360 and PS3.

Grand Theft Auto 5 Release Date

According to analyst Jesse Divnich, predicts that GTA V would be one of the top five games released in 2012, and it would be one of the biggest releases, coming out ahead of other big releases such as the next Call of Duty series.

This is what Divinich exactly had to say, “It goes without saying that GTA V will be one of the year’s biggest releases, but I will take it one step farther and say GTA V will be 2012’s biggest release.” He also said that people should not misunderstand what he had to say because “Call of Duty will undoubtedly be huge, as it is every year and it may even grow, but if I had to call what will be a photo finish race, I will go with GTA 5.”

From the trailer we have found something interesting and predict that the game will launch in May this year. Watch the trailer carefully again. At 0.55, you will see a man posting a “For Sale” sign and the number 2405 printed on the pane. The number 2405 can be interpreted as the 24th of May, and we guess that it could be the release date – May, 2012. This is simply a guess, and many fans on the web predict the same. The dates are yet to be officially announced and I guess it is worth waiting for Grand Theft Auto 5.