Grand Theft Auto 5, which released over seven years ago, brought with it the release of the massively popular GTA Online game mode. Through the help of modded clients, GTA Online has developed a dedicated and active 3rd party server community, and some of the most fun GTA Online custom games available can be found in these communities. With little direct support from Rockstar Games and not a whole lot of YouTube coverage, it can be difficult to find information on how to join and which modded servers to choose for the best custom games experience.
Over the past seven years, GTA Online has received frequent updates from Rockstar Games, from small updates like new radio stations that keep the game feeling fresh to more expansive updates like brand new heists and land to explore. While new content is always welcome and is enjoyed by plenty of fans, others have criticized recent updates for lacking depth and feeling "uneventful".
Despite reservations about official content from Rockstar, countless players still love playing GTA Online in their own way, whether that's setting up private lobbies with some friends to mess around in or joining a modded GTAO roleplay server, many of which exploded in popularity after exposure from YouTubers and streamers like Treyten, Elanip, and Summit1g. Others find their fun by playing GTA Online's many modded custom games servers.
The Best GTA Online Custom Games
Busted: Busted is a classic cops and robbers style custom game in which players are split into two teams. One GTA Online team is the police, and the other is made up of robbers - typically having just robbed the main bank building in Los Santos. The goal is simple - the robbers have to escape to Los Santos International Airport to board their getaway plane and the cops have to stop them, either by boxing their getaway car in or by destroying it (without weapons).
The Weakest Link: No, not *that* one. Fortunately, players aren't quizzed on their trivia knowledge in this custom GTA Online game. Players, either split into teams or as solos, spawn in cars on a cross-shaped building floating in the sky. On all four outward points of the cross are gates and each round one of the gates is randomly selected to open and a countdown from 10 seconds begins. Players must reach the gate and pass through into a room within the 10 seconds, and anyone that fails to make it to the gate within that time or is bumped off the building by other players is eliminated. Each round the amount of time players have to reach the gate gets shorter, and the last player or team alive wins.
Gun Game / Kill Quota: Versions of this custom game, widely popularized by the Call of Duty franchise, have been recreated on an endless number of other games including GTA Online. In its simplest form players are spawned into a map and all given the same gun with unlimited ammo. The goal is to kill other players with the gun as quickly as possible, and each time a player gets a kill their gun is replaced with a different gun. The first player to reach a certain number of kills, and therefor a kill with each available gun, wins the game.
Bomb Runners: This GTA Online custom game exemplifies classic childhood fun. Effectively a variation on a game of Tag, players spawn on a map in a car and two players are selected as the "bombs," which are set to explode after a certain amount of time. Their goal is to crash into another player in order to pass the bomb onto them. Whichever player is unlucky enough to be tagged with a bomb when the timer runs out will, of course, explode. The rounds repeat until there is just one player left alive, making them the winner.
Qub3d: This fun game of balance and sabotage is very reminiscent of one of 2020's star games, Fall Guys. Players are spawned, in cars, onto a giant Rubik's cube floating in the sky. The Rubik's cube slowly tilts and rotates, forcing players to carefully balance and reach the next side of the cube all while being bumped and blocked by other players. If a player is too slow they'll succumb to the cruel forces of gravity as their car slides off the cube into the abyss. The last player able to stay on the cube wins the game.
Highspeed Demolition Derby: The game's goal is simple: stay above a certain speed. It may sound easy, but with GTA Online players trying their best to hit and flip other player's cars, and the lower speed limit increasing each round, it's far from easy. Players will need to find the fastest car in GTA Online and get ready to hit full throttle because if anyone is under the speed limit for too long, they explode. The game can be played in teams or as a solo player, and in either mode the last team or player alive wins the game.
Bomberman: Pay attention while playing this GTA Online custom game, because there are far too many ways to lose. All players in GTAO's Bomberman are split into two teams, with the Bomber team made up of just 1 or 2 players and the Runner team made up of everyone else. Runner players are spawned into a small map in the sky in their cars, with the special ability to leap by pressing their horn key. Bombers are given a sky view and the ability to drop bombs onto players and the map from above.
If a bomb hits a Runner, that Runner is out, but bombs also create holes in the map Runners are able to fall through. That's where the leap ability comes into play, allowing Runners the chance to leap over holes in their path. If the Bombers are unable to kill all the Runners within a certain timeframe they lose the game, and if any Runners were able to survive the full length, they win.
How to Play GTA Online Custom Games
In order to play a custom games server in GTA Online players will have to download a modded client. There are two popular modded clients for GTA; FiveM and RageMP. A lot of the best custom game servers can be found through the FiveM client, but it's worth exploring both clients for the full experience. Once the client is installed, launch the client and search for any of the above game names or 'minigames' in the search bar to find custom game servers.