Nearly Years Later Only One GTA Cover Actually Shows The Titular Crime

The Grand Theft Auto series began in 1997, and every game in the series lets you commit the titular crime--sometimes stealing a parked vehicle, but often carjacking a driver in the middle of the street. But with the recent reveal of the Grand Theft Auto VI cover art, we realized something pretty remarkable: Only one game in the series actually features a grand theft auto on the cover.

As you can see, Grand Theft Auto 2 appears to show a carjacking in progress, with someone rushing into a taxi while people scatter nearby. It's an excellent cover just from a vibes perspective, but it also gives a bird's-eye view of the action, just like the original GTA and GTA 2 do in-game.

In contrast, the GTA games released in the decades since this have been collages of characters you can meet (or play as) and activities you can do. GTA VI's cover, for instance, includes a shot of a speedboat, a motorcycle, a helicopter, a supercar, and a crocodile, along with several characters. But it doesn't feature a grand theft auto! GTA: San Andreas features a drive-by shooting--a crime committed from a car--but also doesn't show the titular crime. Grand Theft Auto IV, meanwhile, features a cop car pulling a driver over, possibly for a grand theft auto, but it's also possible he was just going 55 in a school zone.

Judging by how long GTA 6 took to develop, it's very likely we're going to be waiting a decade or more for GTA 7. When that time comes, however, I would very much like Rockstar to put a grand theft auto on the cover. Hell, there could be seven of them.