Grand Theft Auto has some infamously difficult entries in the franchise to 100% due to complex or time-consuming challenges that most people simply don't have the patience, time, or willpower to finish. If you're looking for a challenge and trying to get your GTA fix before GTA 6 launches next year, these GTA games will absolutely keep you busy for a while. While some of these games are hard to reach 100% completion for due to their complex or overly challenging missions, others simply require tedious fetch-and-find tasks that present a different sort of challenge to a player's fortitude.

With GTA 6 being delayed for another year, fans of the series are probably looking for something to keep them preoccupied, and replaying some of the old GTA games is probably the best bet. If you're up for the challenge, completing each game to 100% is entirely doable, but you'll need to be ready to commit some serious hours before fully completing any of the GTA entries on this list. Persistence does pay off, however, and reaching 100% completion on any of these will give you some well-earned bragging rights.

5 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories Is An Uphill Battle

RC Missions, Wonky Jump Mechanics, & Odd Camera Angles Make This One A Serious Challenge

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is notoriously difficult to 100% complete due to a combination of demanding gameplay mechanics, hidden content, and technical limitations of its original platforms. One of the primary challenges is the sheer volume and variety of side content. Players must complete all story missions, side missions (like vigilante, paramedic, and taxi missions), unique jumps, rampages, and collect all hidden packages, many of which are located in obscure or difficult-to-reach places with clunky and awkward jump mechanics.

Additionally, some missions have tight time limits or punishing fail conditions. For example, RC missions and certain races are highly sensitive to player error, and failing them can lead to repeated attempts that also end in failure. These take real persistence and are arguably some of the most annoying missions in the franchise. Adding to the difficulty, Liberty City Stories lacks some quality-of-life features found in later GTA games, such as mission checkpoints and accessible GPS systems, making navigation and mission repetition even more tedious.

"Completionists also have to take on time-consuming tasks like the pizza delivery side mission."

Another hurdle lies in the game’s outdated and clunky controls and camera mechanics, especially on the original PSP version, which could make combat and driving feel imprecise. Completionists also have to take on time-consuming tasks like the pizza delivery side mission. Finally, the game is less forgiving in how it tracks progress. Missing just one requirement, like a stunt jump or side mission, can stall a 100% completion, often forcing players to double-check every detail. All these factors together make Liberty City Stories one of the more challenging GTA titles to fully complete.

4 Grand Theft Auto 5 Is Massive

The Masterminds Trophy Might Be One Of The Hardest In GTA History

Grand Theft Auto 5 is hands-down one of the most challenging GTA games to 100% for several reasons, the first being the "Masterminds" trophy, arguably the hardest trophy in GTA history. To get it, you need to complete the infamous Doomsday Heist three different times without dying. Each attempt can take upwards of eight hours to complete, with enemy AI being unpredictable and extremely challenging. It's easily one of the most difficult trophies in the franchise, if not the hardest, and it's only one of several you'll need in order to get GTA 5 to 100% completion.

Aside from this one huge hurdle, completing GTA 5 to 100% is also a challenge due to the sheer volume and variety of tasks required. The game isn't just about finishing the main story missions, which are only a fraction of the work. Players must also complete numerous side missions, random events, stunt jumps, and track down a ton of collectibles scattered across the massive open world. Many of these tasks are easy to miss or don’t appear until certain conditions are met, making tracking progress difficult.

The original Grand Theft Auto, GTA: London 1961, and GTA 2 are all considerably challenging games to 100% from the 2D era of GTA, but this list focuses on the "modern" GTA titles.

What really makes 100% completion hard is the demand for thorough exploration and attention to detail. You need to find hidden letter scraps, spaceship parts, and complete offbeat missions like wildlife photography or submarine parts collection. Some of these take place in hard-to-reach or obscure locations. Even after completing everything listed in the in-game checklist, you still need to achieve gold medals in specific missions for true mastery. Altogether, the mix of diverse objectives, the scale of the map, and the lack of guidance for some tasks make 100% completion in GTA 5 a serious test of patience and dedication.

3 Grand Theft Auto 4 Has Exhausting Collectibles

200 Flying Rats, Need I Say More?

Grand Theft Auto 4 is difficult to 100% primarily due to the sheer number of tasks required. Players must complete the main storyline, various side missions, and activities with each of the friends, along with several hidden objectives like random character encounters and car thefts. These objectives are scattered across Liberty City and require significant time and effort. The most notorious challenges are the 200 pigeons (aka "Flying Rats") and 50 unique stunt jumps. These collectibles aren’t tracked properly in-game and are often hidden in obscure locations, making them extremely frustrating without a guide.

Friendships need careful management through multiple activities, and ignoring friends can lock you out of needed interactions. Further, certain stunt jumps are simply ridiculously challenging, and many people will not have the desire to land these, as they require quite a bit of practice. Overall, 100% completion is less about game difficulty and more about enduring long, repetitive tasks with little in-game , requiring external guides and a lot of patience. This game is less challenging than others on the list, but it will take a great deal of patience nonetheless.

2 Grand Theft Auto 3 Lacks Conveniences

No Map Means No 100% For Me

Reaching 100% completion in Grand Theft Auto III is a formidable challenge due to the game’s demanding structure, lack of modern conveniences, and high-stakes side content. Unlike later entries in the series, GTA III lacks detailed progress tracking, fast travel options, or a GPS mini-map, requiring players to memorize routes or use the paper map, which is incredibly annoying. Many collectibles are tucked away in obscure or hard-to-access areas, and collecting them without a guide can be time-consuming and frustrating.

Complicating things further, some collectibles become accessible only after progressing far enough in the story to unlock all areas, requiring players to revisit previous zones multiple times. Unique jumps and Rampages pose additional challenges. These require not just knowledge of locations but also precise execution. A single failed stunt or death during a Rampage can mean starting over from scratch. Moreover, Vigilante, Paramedic, and Firefighter missions must all be completed to 100%, each requiring uninterrupted success across multiple levels, with failure resetting progress. These missions are made harder by the clunky vehicle controls and limited health system.

Adding to the difficulty, certain missions become unavailable if specific story choices are made, meaning players can lock themselves out of 100% completion without realizing it. Frequent, punishing difficulty spikes and the lack of autosave force players to repeat large sections or even restart entirely if they make mistakes. Altogether, these factors create a grueling but rewarding path for completionists willing to master the game's intricacies, but it's going to take some serious commitment, and more importantly, time.

1 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Is The Toughest

Notoriously Tough Side Missions Make It One Of The Hardest To 100%

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is widely regarded as the most difficult GTA title to 100%, and for good reason. While every game in the series has its share of challenges, San Andreas pushes completionists to the limit with unforgiving requirements. The map is massive, covering three entire city locations —Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas — along with vast rural and desert regions. Each area is packed with side missions, collectibles, and obscure tasks, many of which are easy to miss if you don't know where to look.

What truly sets San Andreas apart is the diversity of its completion requirements. Unlike later titles, where 100% often means completing story missions and a handful of side content, San Andreas demands far more. Players must finish every side mission, from taxi driving and vigilante work to freight train delivery and lowrider dancing. Collectibles include tags, horseshoes, oysters, and snapshots and are spread across the gigantic map, many in hard-to-reach or well-hidden locations.

GTA: San Andreas remains one of the largest open world maps in the GTA franchise and in open world games writ large, even by today's standards.

Then there are the stats and skills: CJ must improve driving, cycling, flying, shooting, and even maintain physical fitness. Certain story missions won’t unlock unless you’ve ed flying school or improved lung capacity by diving. Add in the requirement to buy properties, win races, and complete some of the toughest missions in the series, like “Supply Lines” or “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” and it’s clear that San Andreas is a true gauntlet that is not for the faint of heart. No other GTA game demands this level of commitment and/or skill.

With San Andreas, it’s not just about finishing the game, it’s about mastering every mechanic, visiting every corner of the map, and doing it all without skipping a beat. That’s what makes GTA San Andreas the undisputed hardest game in the franchise to fully complete. Overall, there are significant challenges in completing each of these Grand Theft Auto games to 100%, but San Andreas takes the cake, as it includes every challenge from the other games and then some.