GTA 5 Is Finally Playable On Phones Through Emulation

The feat took over a decade to be achieved.

Story Highlights

  • GTA 5 is now playable on phones via emulation. It was able to run at a steady 25-30 FPS on a Poco F3 with Snapdragon 870.
  • On the other hand, a Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 runs the open world at a staggering 40 to 50 FPS without issues.
  • A phone needs to be rooted to get Wine esync working in the native version. However, it may change in the future.

The new year has started with a huge achievement for the Android emulation community and GTA 5 fans. The open-world entry by Rockstar Games is now finally playable on phones through the power of emulation. As found on Reddit 3 days ago, it was able to run at a smooth 25-30 FPS on a Poco F3 phone with a Snapdragon 870 while reaching over 90% RAM overload. This is about the same FPS as the PS3 version of the game. 

GTA 5 is finally playable on our phones, on a SD870 no less, this is a moment in history
byu/Due_Teaching_6974 inEmulationOnAndroid

If the emulation performance on a Snapdragon 870 surprises you, then the relatively recent SD 7+ Gen 2 can already run GTA 5 at a smooth 40-50 FPS. The feat was tested by a Redditor on the aforementioned forum. However, certain hurdles need to be handled before emulating the title on Android phones. They need to be rooted to get Wine esync working in the native version, but the prerequisite could be removed in the future.

Nevertheless, the feat was always predicted to happen one day by the community; it just took over a decade for viable results. Many Android gamers are expected to emulate GTA 5 if the process of emulation becomes easier in the future. Modern devices can already reach close to 60 FPS without much hassle, as we have seen so far. I suggest checking out the video description to learn more and get links to all the required download files.


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Playing GTA 5 on the go will soon be easier. But things might not turn out as smoothly as expected; it is unclear how exactly Rockstar Games and Take-Two will react to the recent development. However, legal action is a possibility if illegal versions of the game are used. We also suggest exercising caution for your phones while installing the relevant software and files.

GTA 5 arrived to critical acclaim on September 17, 2013, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It also came to PC in 2015 before getting a last-gen and current-gen launch over the years, with major upgrades in each version. Recently, Rockstar Games has also released the first trailer for the sequel, GTA 6, which is set to arrive sometime next year for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. However, a PC release date remains to be confirmed.

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Shameer Sarfaraz is a Senior News Writer on eXputer who loves to keep up with the gaming and entertainment industries devoutly. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and several years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.

Experience: 4+ Years || Education: Bachelor in Computer Science.

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