How to Download and Play GTA 5 on Mac
So, you want GTA 5 on Mac. As a predominantly Windows PC game, it can be quite taxing to try and understand how to download, install, and successfully run the action-packed AAA game from Rockstar Studios. Fret not, for we have the answer along with everything you’ll need to know to play GTA 5 Mac version.
Technically, GTA 5 is not supported on macOS. It’s only supported on Windows versions 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11. To run GTA 5 natively on a Mac machine, it’s first needed that you setup a Windows installation on your Mac. This can be done in different ways. Intel-based Macs can use Boot Camp to run a Windows OS in their Mac and non-Intel Macs can utilize virtualization or other third-party “layers” and utilities that allow the hardware to interact with a Windows installation.
- Setup is generally complex and time-consuming.
- Adding a wholly different operating system to your machine uses a lot of storage space and might make the machine clunky.
- Emulating or running a different OS on a machine not meant for it is not 100% clean. Meaning there could be FPS drops, lag, performance issues, lag, etc. not just in the gameplay but anything you do in Windows inside a Mac.
But generally, once you have set it up, you’re very likely to have a smooth experience in playing GTA 5. Your mileage may vary as a lot of factors determine how smooth the game experience is. Let’s learn more about running Windows on Macs as well as other methods you might be able to try to play GTA 5 on a Mac such as CrossOver and cloud gaming.
GTA 5 Mac download free
The first step is to actually get the game’s files – Windows on Mac or not.
GTA 5 Mac download is pretty easy, though not abundant. A free copy can only be acquired from platforms that host the core game files and not many do. To download a copy for yourself, you’ll need to find a reliable source such as ourselves.
GTA 5 Mac free download is available from many sources and you need to choose the most reliable option.
The Boot Camp method
The preferred way to play GTA 5 on a Mac machine is to use BootCamp. Boot Camp is a utility that allows Windows to be installed on a machine running macOS. This, however, is limited to Macs with an Intel processor (and not M1-based machines). You cannot use Boot Camp on M1 and M2 machines.
Boot Camp is a tool that allows you to install Windows on your Mac without changing your Mac’s system files. You can also use Boot Camp to run Windows programs on your macOS system.
To be able to run GTA 5 on the Mac, you need to first download Boot Camp and install it on your computer. Once installed, run it and launch the application from the menu bar at the top of your screen.
Select “Create a Windows Bootable Drive” from here and follow the instructions to create a bootable USB flash drive for installing Windows. This process may take some time, so be patient until it’s done.
Once done, insert this USB drive into your computer’s internal optical drive and reboot into Recovery Mode by pressing Command + R when booting up from the USB drive (this will erase everything on your hard drive). Then select Disk Utility from here and select the option “Restore from Backup.” Select the backup file that contains GTA 5 installation files and click OK in order to restore them
Make sure you have an account connected online with Rockstar Social Club account or if not create one now!
How to play GTA 5 on a Mac without an Intel processor?
Boot Camp cannot be installed on non-Intel machines. Windows simply doesn’t support Apple’s M1 and M2 processors. So, what are your options if you have a non-Intel Mac machine?
Option 1: Cloud gaming
According to many, cloud gaming might be the best way out.
Now, cloud gaming in and of itself isn’t very easy to set up. You still need to buy a game, connect your game library with a cloud gaming platform that supports said library and hope it’s well-optimized for GTA 5 to actually enjoy the benefits.
But the best part about all this is as long as you’re going with a known cloud gaming platform, researching all this compatibility and optimization is pretty easy. Also, a well-known cloud gaming platform that allows you to stream your own games will also very likely support GTA 5 properly as it’s a wildly popular game.
Note that the vast majority of cloud gaming related talk revolves around providers such as Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PlayStation Plus. These services have their own games and don’t include AAA titles such as GTA 5 and many others. With these services, you cannot play GTA 5. You need a service that connects to a game library that has GTA 5 (such as Nvidia’s GeForce Now that connects to Steam and Epic Games – both have GTA 5) or rent cloud hardware to set up your gaming environments such as Shadow Tech, Paperspace, or Boosteroid.
Essentially, cloud gaming is all about playing a game with your inputs (keyboard and mouse) on somebody else’s computer (basically a high-performance server that has sufficient hardware to run games at high FPS). The gameplay is executed at the remote server (the “cloud”) and streamed back to you via the internet. Your Mac is essentially only streaming or viewing a video of a game being played elsewhere while sending instructions to it thereby controlling the actions.
You need a reliable and fast internet connection for any kind of decent cloud gaming. The minimum recommended is 4 Mbps.
Option 2 – Virtual Machine
Setting up a virtual machine on your Mac is like setting up a different system within a system. This virtual system communicates with the hardware available. It interacts normally with the system hardware (virtual machine software to hardware) and converts all instructions and processes into another form, feeding it into the internal system (between the virtual machine software and the installed operating system).
The idea is similar to using Boot Camp. A virtual machine will run Windows on your Mac. Once you have Windows installed, you can play GTA 5 using a normal downloaded file, through Steam, or any other means just as if your machine is a Windows PC.
Drawbacks include performance and optimization issues which differ from machine to machine.
Parallels is a good virtual machine option to run Windows virtually inside a Mac. It has a 14-day free trial for you to test things. There are other virtual machine platforms as well with different features, focuses, pros, cons, and pricing.
Option 3: CrossOver
CrossOver is a utility for Macs and Linux machines to run Windows natively. It’s not an emulator. Whereas an emulator emulates (quite rightfully) an instance of an operating system, CrossOver actually directly converts Windows commands to Mac commands to use software meant for Windows.
The utility costs $24 but it liberates you from buying a Windows license. There’s also a free trial.
CrossOver is a “platform liberator” meaning it liberates you from the platform-limited nature of many productivity apps, typical software, as well as games such as GTA 5 (platform-limited to Windows).
It works as a normal app on your Mac. As mentioned, it’s not an emulator, virtual machine, or an environment that runs a full Windows operating system inside your Mac machine. It’s a simple Mac app that just converts commands so you can directly and natively run applications meant for Windows on your Mac.
The general process of using CrossOver to play GTA 5 on Intel-based or non-Intel-based Mac machines will be as follows:
- Install the CrossOver app from the official CodeWeavers website.
- Install the game using a free download or install a library such as Epic Games where you own the game already.
- Hit play and enjoy the game without actually running Windows.
With CrossOver, you can run the game in various compatibility modes and also set up additional components required to run the game such as Visual C++ Redistributables, Rockstar Game Launcher, etc.
FAQs
Can I play GTA 5 on MacBook Air?
You can play GTA 5 on MacBook Air, but it will not work as expected. In order to do so, you will have to use a virtual machine or a separate Mac that is running Windows 10.
After downloading the game, run it on your computer and make sure that you have installed all of its components.
How to get GTA 5 on Mac?
If you want to play GTA 5 on your MacBook Air, then you can install the game using a third-party tool called EmuApps. The process is fairly simple, but it requires some expertise in setting up an emulator on your computer.
GTA 5 MacBook download
There are many GTA 5 for Mac free download. You can be sure that they will work on a MacBook too. Depending on how you’re planning to play, you can get GTA 5 from a normal free game download platform, Steam, Epic Games, the official Rockstar website, and so on. The process will differ for each method.
