A mega-mod is kicking GTA 5 into 2026 thanks to one hobbyist creator and roughly 20,000 aggressively placed trees and street props

GTA5 V4EVER mod — (Image credit: Rockstar/Pluma_1980)

How does that song by the Welsh rock back Stereophonics go, again? It only takes one tree to make a thousand matches; it only takes one match to burn a thousand trees. Lest I murder this shoehorned comparison any more than necessary, it seems as though Pluma_1980's bid to drag GTA 5 into the modern era requires just one hobbyist modder and 20,000 trees.

Named GTA5 V4EVER, Pluma's project strives to "update the atmosphere of the entire map" by stuffing Los Santos with more environmental detail than any game from 2013 probably deserves. Far from a simple reshade or texture swap, this pretty massive undertaking adds 20,000 new world objects—from trees to plants, shrubs, fences, poles, signs, street clutter, roadside scenery and more.

Moreover, outdated props such as phone booths have been whipped out entirely; while neighbourhoods have been given a fresh lick of paint or a new coat of grime depending on their economic standing—with Pluma's end game being to craft a world that feels "alive and renewed, without losing the original spirit."

The outcome is indeed a re-densified Los Santos and Blaine County, whose main thoroughfares feel refreshed and its peripheries reinvigorated. Pluma_1980 adds: "My goal is just to refresh the world — to make every part of the map feel alive again, like a game built for today."

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