Time flies when carjacking someone, which is why it's so hard to believe that Grand Theft Auto V has been out for eight years at this point. The game continues to sell well, and players around the world haven't given up sucking every juicy morsel out of it that they can, before the inevitable Grand Theft Auto VI arrives.
The modding community has gone a long way towards refreshing the game year after year. Whether it's a graphics mod, a collection of hot new vehicles, or a total conversion system that literally flips the script, there are ten that can provide a massive fun factor boost to GTA V during 2021, and beyond.
GTA Remastered 2.0
There's a lot of visual mods for GTA V that seek to pump up the graphics with higher fidelity lighting, particle and shading effects, but few affect the in-game world quite like GTA Remastered. This mod sprinkles a bunch of props around the sprawling game world in order to flesh out the interactivity and immersion of the environment.
The results may not be immediately noticeable, but side-by-side comparisons are pretty shocking. Huge palm trees, shrubs, extra vegetation and other items help flesh out the world and give it a little more sense of realism and life. Couple it with a nice graphical overhaul mod, and it's practically real life.
Vice Cry: Remastered
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City fans swear by the game as one of, if not the best in the series, and it deserves to be held in high regard. Modders have taken that to another level with the Vice Cry: Remastered mod, which is a port of an older creation brought into GTA V. It accurately remodels Vice City as a sort of add-on DLC pack.
Unfortunately, this is not a total conversion for Grand Theft Auto V, which means no original missions, voice acting or cutscenes, etc. This is a mod that seeks to recapture the spirit of that particular city, and its aesthetics. Where it goes from there, remains to be seen.
Crime and Police Rebalance & Enhancement
One of the biggest complaints GTA V players have is the lack of responsive AI, particularly when it comes to the fuzz. Crime and Police Rebalance & Enhancement seeks to fix all that by turning the city's police force into something resembling the real deal. The entire system has been reworked with a sense of realism in mind.
Cops will no longer swarm in fully armed, but will respond in realistic fashion to each felony level. Gunfights are balanced out better, which allows players to hang in firefights longer, while stealth mechanics have been amped up. Oh, and animals no longer report crimes, which should go without saying.
Simple Zombies
The zombie craze is still pretty hot, despite having run its course through the last two decades. It's no shock that someone would capitalize on the sprawling open world of Grand Theft Auto V to create a playground for the post-apocalyptic survivalist. The result is Simplified Zombies, which is admittedly a very cool conversion mod.
In this world, the city is a wreck, and the undead stalk every alley, highway and neighborhood. Survival is the name of the game, and that means moving carefully, not making noise, and adhering to basic needs like food, drink and sleep. That's just scratching the surface of this great package.
LSPD First Response
The entire premise of the Grand Theft Auto series is to live out criminal fantasies in a consequence and victim-free environment. Satire and deadpan humor is used to sell the package, which is the franchise's main draw. However, lots of gamers want to know what it's like to play the game in a different pair of shoes.
Enter LSPD First Response, a total conversion mod that turns GTA V into a law enforcement game. The mod allows for an unprecedented level of freedom, giving players the ability to abuse their authority, or act as righteous protectors of the community. High speed pursuits, shootouts and arrests are part of the game, as well. If nothing else, it's a fun way to swap the narrative.
Gta5KoRn Car Pack (48 cars)
Veteran GTA V modders know they can add new custom cars to the game at any time, including real-life makes and models like Porsche, Ferrari and Bugatti. This is a fantastic option for those seeking ultimate real-world realism, not to mention some cruising in their favorite real life ride.
There are many packs to choose from, but Gta5KoRn's 48 Car Pack is a well-balanced option. This adds a plethora of new cars into the game from various manufacturers to create a nice mix of wheels to choose from. Make sure to follow the installation instructions to the letter, as car mods require precise steps.
GTA Realism
GTA Realism represents one of the most popular visual overhaul mods for GTA V, and it's been a favorite for a while. The mod adds multiple features into the game, including a high resolution Crystal Reality visual texture pack. This mod goes way beyond just eye candy, however. It overhauls major gameplay elements as well.
Bug fixes, optimization enhancements and script changes to the game's weapons, AI and enemy systems are built right in. Cops are more lethal, combat and physics systems have been given some TLC, and weapons now affect the in-game environments in a more realistic manner. Definitely worth a look-see.
Real Life Mod
Another mod that tries to encapsulate realism in its purest form is Real Life Mod. As the name implies, various changes have been made to the game's play mechanics to immerse the player in a more realistic world. This affects everything from vehicles to health, as well as AI and interactions.
Walking around with a drawn weapon will earn the ire of police, and a potential felony rating. A new adrenaline burst system has been implemented to the health mechanics, and cars can be exited with the engine running, or turned off entirely if the Exit key is held down longer. There's plenty of new changes to be seen which can spice up gameplay and make GTA V a bit more hostile to the irresponsible player.
Visual V
Visual V is considered one of the most popular graphics overhaul mods in the GTA V modding community, and it's got the chops to brag about it, too. This mod is a major update to the game's visuals, lighting and weather system to create a much more realistic and beautiful representation of the in-game world.
A bunch of fixes have been included as well, including draw distance of lights, higher quality shadows, elimination of dithering effects and a better cloud system. Side by side video comparisons are stunning, and it's hard to go back to playing the vanilla game after getting spoiled by Visual V.
Open All Interiors
One of the biggest gripes about huge open world games is their cardboard cutout nature. While many of the buildings are rendered beautifully from the outside, very few have interior modules to explore. This ends up betraying the rather paper-thin plot, and eliminating a sense of personal freedom and exploration.
Open All Interiors strives to change all this by adding fully explorable interiors wherever possible. It may not seem like much, but it can go a long way towards selling the believable nature of the game world. It can also affect gameplay by giving players room to hide during police chases and shootouts, among other things.