San Andreas is the undisputed GOAT so what is your second favorite GTA game? 
For me it's 4, I know, I know, people have their gripes with the game but personally thats the one I grew up with and I have to give it to Rockstar for the way they captured the essence and feel of NY in the late 2000's, (same way they did LA in early 90s, LA in early 2010s, Miami in 80s, NY in late 90s) and created a "realistic" game that while did sacrifice a lot of the trademark loony GTA fun and had arguably the WOAT protagonist, also set the blueprint for all these super "realistic" games studios are making nowadays.
The story was also dope, and it was cool how they incorporated every sphere of NY in the game. Something vital to the GTA games IMO is the progression when you make it from the shanty areas of the city eventually to the more posh and grand parts, like from Bronx to Manhattan or South Central to Hollywood, and that's something that was missing in GTA 5. Ballad expansion was also piff

For me it's 4, I know, I know, people have their gripes with the game but personally thats the one I grew up with and I have to give it to Rockstar for the way they captured the essence and feel of NY in the late 2000's, (same way they did LA in early 90s, LA in early 2010s, Miami in 80s, NY in late 90s) and created a "realistic" game that while did sacrifice a lot of the trademark loony GTA fun and had arguably the WOAT protagonist, also set the blueprint for all these super "realistic" games studios are making nowadays.
The story was also dope, and it was cool how they incorporated every sphere of NY in the game. Something vital to the GTA games IMO is the progression when you make it from the shanty areas of the city eventually to the more posh and grand parts, like from Bronx to Manhattan or South Central to Hollywood, and that's something that was missing in GTA 5. Ballad expansion was also piff

