How Long is 5 Days in GTA 5?
5 days in GTA 5 equals 4 hours of real-life time. This is because 1 GTA day takes 48 minutes in real-life.
Compared to the real world, time progresses much faster in GTA 5. This compressed timeline allows players to pack more action into 24 in-game hours. Over just 5 GTA days, you can complete story arcs, side quests, and open world escapades that would take weeks or months in reality.
How Time Progresses in GTA 5 vs Real Life
The rate of time in GTA 5 is sped up significantly from real life:
- 1 GTA minute = 2 real-life seconds
- 1 GTA hour = 2 real-life minutes
- 1 GTA day = 48 real-life minutes
This table illustrates the differences:
| Real Life | GTA 5 |
|---|---|
| 1 minute | 1 GTA minute |
| 1 hour | 1 GTA hour |
| 1 day | 1 GTA day |
So when 5 GTA days pass in the game, only 4 real-life hours goes by.
To put this in perspective, here‘s what you could accomplish in 5 GTA days compared to 5 real-life days:
5 GTA Days
- Complete 10 story missions
- Unlock new weapons and vehicles
- Travel across the entire Los Santos map multiple times
- Pull off elaborate heists and escapes
- Buy businesses and properties around the city
- Play through hours of side content and activities
5 Real-Life Days
- Commute to and from work
- Cook meals and sleep
- Spend time with family and friends
- Relax after work each day
- Run errands on the weekend
As you can see, the rate of time allows you to pack way more action into 5 GTA days compared to reality!
How Game Mechanics Advance the GTA Clock
In addition to the baseline flow of time, certain mechanics will fast forward the in-game clock:
- Saving the Game: Advances time by 6-12 hours depending on the character
- Completing Missions: Jumps the time ahead to the next key moment
- Skipping Cinematics: Skips ahead to the end of lengthy cutscenes
Utilizing these during 5 GTA days could progress the timeline even further, allowing you to power through more quests and events.
The Impact on Gameplay
So in practical terms, the accelerated passage of time enables the signature gameplay of GTA 5. Over the course of just 5 in-game days, you can participate in:
- Hours of story missions, side quests and open world escapades
- Dozens of activities like theft, combat, racing, stunt jumps and base jumps
- Exploring the massive open world of Los Santos and Blaine County
- Building criminal empires through heists, drug trafficking and assassinations
- Unlocking new gear and properties to fuel even more over-the-top action
All of this happens over 240 minutes of real-life time thanks to the compressed GTA timeline. It allows the game to deliver ridiculous amounts of content and shenanigans without dragging on for months or years of in-game time.
So in GTA 5, 5 days flies by quickly both in and out of the game – but it packs the punch of weeks worth of open-world chaos!
