My favourite game in the series is Vice City.

*  It was based in the 80's, and as my growing up was based on that decade, the feel of the game (and the music) had an incredible pull on me.

*  It wasn't over the top with bad language (no "F-Bombs")

*  Content was edgy, but enjoyable.

*  Later games in the GTA series had many physical aspects and additions that are awesome (car mods, tattoo's, body mass, skill trees), but unfortunately, I found the content too over-the-top to enjoy (excessive language use with no option to filter it out).

*  I mainly played on PS2, but the migration of the GTA games to PC gave opportunity to incredible mods.

(list of games taken from Wikipedia: Accessed 24 April, 2014 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_%28series%29)

I also consider Vice City to be my favorite. In part it's because the reasons you cited. But I also like it because I pretty much played it constantly from its release until IV came out. I've memorized the entire map, and it just has that familiar feeling because I've played it so much. And I also think that simpler with less random features is sometimes better (no Roman, I don't want to go bowling).

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, because there are so much to do.. Clan wars, tuning the cars, lots of side quests, huge map, training CJ in gym and buying him new clothes and more, which gives the game lot of interest to play it again and again..

Haven't tried the new GTA V yet, I was thinking to buy it and hopefully it's almost good as San Andreas.

San andreas was the best for me. No gta before or after allowed you to do so much, nor were as groundbreaking. It had a good plot, a nice progression, fun gameplay, and so much to do even after completion. Gta3 was too simple (still very fun), vice city too restrictive(didnt enjoy much),Gta iv was really repetitive (most boring gta i ever played), and gta v was fun and intuitive, but so much more constrained than previous titles(no gambling, cant get in most buildings, felt no desire to continue playing after completion etc ).

thenumberone : Make sure you vote!  I'm waiting for GTA V to come out on PC, and go on sale.  That's when I'll probably get it

My two favorites:

1. San Andreas
2. Vice City

These games are great. Both have the best that a game could offer...especially for their time. I love San Andreas so much I played through the game on my Ps2...then bought it again and played through it AGAIN on my Xbox when it came out. Soon I will buy it on Steam.

San Andreas is easily one of my favorite games of ALL TIME.

I've heard a lot of great things about 5 but I have only played it for a few mins. Waiting to get it on PC now that I've built my new gaming rig (currently too involved in Elder Scrolls Online ATM)

I would probably have to say that GTA IV was my favorite. Everyone else listed others, but I have not really played many GTA games, and have tended to steer away from the series in general. The only two I have played are GTA IV and GTA: Chinatown Wars. Chinatown Wars was one of the most awful games I have ever played. I am not kidding. The mechanics were horrible, it was just a simple top-down view, and the story was exceptionally short. So, my only other option is GTA IV which was decent. Swearing also does not really throw me off, but it can be irritating when every other word that someone says in a sentence is an f bomb. I don't remember there being an excessive amount, but I also have not played the game since 2010, so there's that. I probably will not be playing V because it is literally the same thing as GTA IV. 

I absolutely just loved GTA Sand Andreas when I had it. It had the biggest world and the best part was how controversial it was!

As far as Vice City is concerned I loved that game as well. Honestly I loved 3 through San Andreas. Each game just built on top of what was already a great game.

Vice City was fun just because of all the 80's pop culture stuff and that Decade lends well to exciting storylines regarding drug smugglers and fast cars, etc.

The music in the game was fun as well.

It's a great game that's totally a game that any GTA fan HAS to experience. Good thing it's available on Steam (for those of you that want to purchase it) You can buy the "Trilogy" On steam for 30$usd. (or you could wait till it goes on sale, which I'm sure it will) It comes with 3, Vice City and San Andreas.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/12110/

I wanted to name it my favorite, but San Andreas just had everything I wanted in a game. Great 90s pop culture stuff (I graduated HS in the late 90s) And all of that. Not to mention the sheer size of the map you could explore. So much to do and so many hours spent to completing that game 100%

GTA: SA was awesome, and so was GTA 2....

But GTA: VC was THE GTA game.

It had everything you wanted. Great music, great cars, and a bunch of fun. Definitely the definitive GTA game.

I think they each have their own unique charms, but campaign-wise, 5 has been my favorite. But I love Vice City. The overall style is really sweet. And it's good fun, of course.

Gta san andreas  because they have the best mods on pc

naruto mod

sonic mod

dragon ball z mod

halo mod

superman mod

jadin/alloy : Thanks for your post man.  I love what you've done with your layout, but it would be best to remove the text in your header and footer boxes (currently they say [box 1] and [box 3])

My favorite GTA game is definitely San Andreas. I just love it, it allows you to do so much, it was so innovating for it's time, and it still holds up to be an amazing game to this day.

maguc : Do you still play GTA: SA?  Are you using any mods for it (if on PC)?

Meatsim009 : I do still play San Andreas. I play with some mods on it (I am on PC) Nothing too big though. Mostly graphics mod, though I do use the Arm/Weapons mod which gives me any weapon with infinite ammo.

GTA Vice City

My favorite was either GTA3 or GTA SanAndreas. I am really unsure which I like best since they both had things I liked which couldn't really make me lean to the other side except for jets in SanAndreas.

Well, I for one am quite surprised that no one has voted for GTA V!? To me it seemed to receive rave reviews, which is why I am surprised.? Perhaps our Vizzed members are a) too young to play it, b) haven't played it yet, or c) been around for a while and prefer the older games in the series.

Get voting people.? Huzzah!