With fans hunting for the real-life woman behind the new brunette, the timing lines up for a look back at every major cover girl the series has used. Since Grand Theft Auto III, every mainline Grand Theft Auto box has featured a woman in one of its collage panels. These women are almost always promotional-only, meaning they rarely appear as major characters in the actual game. They function more as marketing icons than story figures, but that has not stopped fans from obsessing over every one of them for two decades.
How the ranking was built
Placement in the list is based on visual impact, cultural staying power, fit with the game's vibe, and fan reception.
Every GTA cover girl ranked worst to best
From the crowded San Andreas collage to the newly revealed GTA VI brunette, here is the full countdown.
- Rochell'le (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) The Vinewood-style girl lands in last place not because she is bad, but because the cover is so stuffed with iconic imagery that no single woman in it became a standalone icon. The green Grove Street palette and the collage of CJ's world make the art brilliant and busy, and Rochell'le blends into it rather than standing alone.
- The Twins (Grand Theft Auto: Vice City) Pure 80s set dressing for the neon-soaked Vice City, the Twins never really developed any identity beyond being anonymous cover girls.
- Misty (Grand Theft Auto III) The OG that started it all in 2001. She gets credit for setting the template. The black-and-white panel style was groundbreaking at the time, even though the panel itself is simple by modern standards.
- Lola Del Rio (Grand Theft Auto IV) The Grand Theft Auto IV cover leaned grittier and more grounded, matching Niko Bellic's grim Liberty City. Lola Del Rio fit that tone, offering a more realistic, less cartoonish presence than the 80s and 90s covers.
- Selfie Girl (Grand Theft Auto V) The defining image of Los Santos from launch in 2013 onward. She captured the smartphone-era, social-media satire at the heart of the second-best-selling video game of all time. Her real-life tie is the most documented of any cover girl, and the imagery grew controversial after Lindsay Lohan claimed Rockstar used her likeness.
- The GTA VI brunette, "Vice Baby" (Grand Theft Auto VI) The upcoming release's brunette takes the crown. Recency bias is not ruled out. She also earns the top spot for driving a real-time fan investigation. Within days of the cover reveal, she became the most-discussed cover girl in series history.
Marketing faces, not main characters
Again, most of these women are marketing. Misty had a small Grand Theft Auto III role, but the rest are largely promotional faces who never became playable or central. The new GTA VI brunette may turn out to be a real character, a minor NPC, or pure box art. That remains unknown, and Rockstar will not say.
Ranking them is fun, and Rockstar's continued use of these figures all but confirms that it is staying true to the series' controversial themes and its new writers are not pulling their punches.
What comes next for GTA VI
With pre-orders opening June 25 and a likely gameplay reveal close behind, the GTA VI cover girl is going to stay in the conversation for months. Whether she ends up being Gabriela Chiquin, a composite, or someone Rockstar never names, she already continues a tradition that goes back to 2001 and has made it bigger than ever.
