Does GTA Online take place before or after GTA 5?

[universetwisters]

It was pretty well established that GTA Online was a prequel to GTA 5, but then again, in the "Mole Hunt" mission from the Gunrunning update, Agent 14 specifically mentions that it's 2017, contradicting any notions that it's a prequel to GTA 5.

Or does this mean that GTA Online takes place in real time? If so, does this mean that any ending where Trevor lives at the end is canon?

[Mach1bud]

Both. Also, there is no canon. They are completely different stories, that have split from each other.

 

Kind of like the Undead Nightmare dlc for Red Dead. An alternate reality.

[DoomAkuma]

I think it's more like it started as a prequel and by now the story has progressed passed 2015 to 2017 where in two years our gtao character has started Gunrunning by that time.

 

Who knows what the cannon of the three main fellas are but C should be cannon

[Sky_Light12]

i think the GTAO plot starts 3 month before the event of V but the timeline moves like in real life

it may as well meant to give an excuse to add anachronistic cars

[lana_del_rey]

The drug den farm house that still stands, despite being exploded in story mode, is testament to Online being its own dimension.

[Prince_Polaris]

This is like the fourth thread about this so far

 

 

I assume they're just different serieses of events in the same world, multiverse kind of thing?

[III-Ari-III]

It was meant to be that way but after the unexpected success of gta online, it was forgotten and now it goes in real time.

[Florpus]

Before, up until the most recent update that is. Now after the Gunrunning update there is dialogue proof that we are in the after.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Starkoji

[Sanches]

At the beginning it took place like 3 months before the GTA V storyline.
Now, i guess Rockstar did lost it and it's 2017 in the game.

[saintsrow]

It is proof that there will never be a GTA6, just Online forever.

 

Ain't nobody gonna kill this golden goose.

[Mattoropael]

Up till I/E Online was still before V or at least taking place in early V, with Jay Norris (killed in Friend Request) being one of the collectors you can sell to. Gunrunning on the other hand charges ahead and say it's 2017.

 

My guess is they just don't f*cking care.

[TheHolyNZF]

I think it's more like it started as a prequel and by now the story has progressed passed 2015 to 2017 where in two years our gtao character has started Gunrunning by that time.

 

Who knows what the cannon of the three main fellas are but C should be cannon

The Heists Update dates back to the time before TP Industries.

The Canon surpassed GTAV somewhere before I/E (We are helping heisters out from the Union Depository, which was not robbed before GTAV)

The Gunrunning is set in 2017.

Edited June 23, 2017 by TheHolyNZF

[orangecop]

If you'll ask me then I think it actually started as a prequel to Grand Theft Auto 5 but as the updates arrived, years extended. It means 2015-2017. It means our gtao character has progressed.

 

In my opinion C should be canon.

[Solid Scorpion]

Resisting the urge.

Please don't set this lore and continuity freak off on a rant.

[JON22]

Since when did GTA become Elder Scrolls Lore with guns?

 

You just shoot stuff and piss each other off with hydras.

[saintsrow]

Up till I/E Online was still before V or at least taking place in early V, with Jay Norris (killed in Friend Request) being one of the collectors you can sell to. Gunrunning on the other hand charges ahead and say it's 2017.

 

My guess is they just don't f*cking care.

As I said in the other thread, IMO, canon was shot to hell with stunt races, since we never saw any fluorescent orange and purple hamster tubes floating in the sky in single player. So hamster tubes must be after single player.

[Vidya Cowboy]

I'm just telling myself that all of this is happening very quickly before GTA 5

[Arrows to Athens]

If it is after, then it would be strange, seeing as some people have chosen to kill off Trevor, but will still appear. There are three different endings to GTA, so how would it work?

[General_Z]

You sell cars to molly shultz and jay norris who are both extremely dead after the story mode in Import export, so I guess thats when the timeline starts to converge into 2014 then 2015 and 16 just happen and thats that, but who knows

[SinZer0s]

Both

[Zader]

The timeline has progressed. Technically, you can sell cars to dead people, yes, but Rockstar would have no incentive to go back and change those names or anything else that would contradict the current story.

 

Like others have said, I personally believe they exist in different canons, V having its own and Online featuring a unique one set in the same setting with different outcomes.

[FranklinAndChop]

But what about Dom? He kills himself in the strangers and freaks mission.

[Matrelith]

As has been confirmed by Rockstar, the original idea for Online was to take place six months before the single player. In the main story familiar characters, most notably Lester and Lamar, reference jobs they pulled with our character. 

Gunrunning was the first official confirmation that the timeline has moved on, with 14 mentioning that it's 2017. Of course all the content from before remained accessible, so one can wonder whether the timeline has moved on there as well or if they are "flashbacks" (for example one can still sell cars to Devin Weston as part of Import/Export after the Gunrunning update even though C is the most likely canon ending). 

In the end it's up to Rockstar whether the events of Online will be taken into the HD universe canon. I could see VI's single player referencing the online heists or maybe the Doomsday event, but obviously not the Cunning Stunts update as it adds nothing to the story and is just there as an activity to the Online player base. 

Edited August 4, 2018 by Matrelith

[AStiffBreeze]

2 hours ago, Matrelith said:

In the main story familiar characters, most notably Lester and Lamar, reference jobs they pulled with our character. 

Does anyone have a YouTube link to those? I'd be interested in checking them out now. 

[MarczXD]

There's a mission on the terrorbyte where you infiltrate the lifeinvader office, paige says that the security was expanded AFTER the jay norris incident, and we all know what incident that was....

 

 

[IceDree]

19 hours ago, AStiffBreeze said:

Does anyone have a YouTube link to those? I'd be interested in checking them out now. 

 

Lester's is during the planning for the Jewelry Score (first heist). He says something alongside the lines of having his eyes on young new, but unpredictable talent. He references Niko* in the same conversation as well.

 

I don't know about Lamar's though.

 

_____

He references Niko again during DDH.

[Sunny_D]

I think it started taking place after the story with lowriders. Or after FAF. Due to the whole “RIP” photo of clay on the biker contract wall.

[Skullkicker227]

Oh hey, a thread from the grave. Radical.

[Jimbatron]

Basically it’s a right old mess. Some parts must take place before and some after.

 

Pac STD must take place before sp, Lesters Garmant factory hasn’t been burned down yet.

 

Gunrunning and DD must be after.

 

The Devin Weston thing might be explained if he’s dead but the company retains his name (if I’m being kind to R*)

[Giantsgiants]

My theory is that it still takes place before and that SP has progressed as well.

 

Pretty much everyone says that all updates up to Heists for sure take place before SP. There tends to be more debate on whether stuff like Lowriders and Finance And Felony take place before or after.

 

But then if Doomsday Heist takes place after SP it wouldn't make sense for Lester to hire our GTA Online characters if he thinks we're too unpredictable for a simple jewel store job. It's like saying a mechanic is "too unpredictable" for a simple tune up and then asking him to help restore a million dollar classic car.