GTA 5 Collectibles: Every Item and What It Unlocks

There’s more to San Andreas than its missions. Underneath the GTA 5 map sits a second layer of gameplay, built from items stashed in the unlikeliest corners: alien capsules perched on rooftops, letter scraps tucked under bridges, radioactive barrels at the bottom of the Pacific. Hunting them down is the true completionist marathon, and it pays off with unique vehicles, a serious stack of cash and a handful of achievements. Here are the seven collectible families in Story Mode, where they hide and, above all, what they’re worth.

Released on September 17, 2013, GTA 5 turned this hunt into a ritual: its map is so huge and so dense that Rockstar North locked part of its secrets behind collecting, a carrot that gets you combing every cliff and every stretch of seafloor. Twelve years later, the mystery-hunting scene is still going strong, as we covered in our deep dive on why GTA 5 is still holding up in 2026.

How GTA 5 collectibles work

Every collectible is picked up in Story Mode, with any of the three protagonists, and progress is shared across all three: a part grabbed by Franklin counts for Michael and Trevor too. Most of them give off a soft glow and a quiet hum when you’re nearby, a real help for spotting them. To track your progress, open the Pause menu, go to the Stats tab and pick 100% Checklist: every category shows its own counter there.

Two classic traps. First, some sets only kick in after a specific story mission. Second, a few items sit out of reach on foot: bring a helicopter or a plane for the high spots and the backcountry. Budget several hours to wrap it all up, and spread it across your playthrough rather than grinding it in one sitting.

The 50 letter scraps: the Leonora Johnson case

Letter scraps are torn bits of paper scattered across the whole state. Pieced together, they spell out the confession of Leonora Johnson’s killer in a cold case. Collecting all 50 reveals the culprit, film director Peter Dreyfuss, and unlocks A Starlet in Vinewood, a Strangers and Freaks mission played as Franklin. The payoff: the A Mystery, Solved achievement and one more box ticked toward 100%.

This is the most spread-out set on the map, so it’s best handled in the background, grabbing every scrap you come across on your drives rather than making it a dedicated hunt.

The 50 spaceship parts: Omega’s Space Docker

Spaceship parts are small glowing capsules hidden inside buildings and caves, on rooftops or underwater. They only show up once you’ve finished the mission Fame or Shame and then started the Far Out quest with Omega, the conspiracy theorist who lives in Sandy Shores. Six of them can only be reached by helicopter, so keep one close by.

Once you’ve gathered all 50, Omega calls you in: the mission The Final Frontier hands you the Space Docker, a dune buggy with a flying saucer body, and pops the From Beyond the Stars achievement. It’s the most iconic collectible set in the game, and a must for 100%.

The 30 nuclear waste barrels: the submarine hunt

This is the most lucrative set, and the most technical. The 30 nuclear waste barrels rest on the ocean floor and can only be retrieved by submarine. First you need to buy the Sonar Collections Dock, a property that becomes available for $250,000 after the mission The Merryweather Heist. The dock unlocks the Submersible and the Trackify sonar app, which marks each barrel with a red blip on the minimap. Along the way, the Stranger Abigail kicks off her mission, Death at Sea.

As for the payout, each barrel is worth $23,000, and a $250,000 bonus drops once all 30 are collected, for roughly $940,000 in total, plus the Waste Management achievement. That more than pays for the dock. Keep an eye on the sub’s oxygen gauge and on the sharks prowling the deep water.

Stunts: stunt jumps, Under the Bridge and Knife Flights

Three sets reward your driving and flying skills. They overlap with the achievements and count toward 100%, but with looser thresholds than the others.

Stunt jumps are ramps hidden all over the map: land 25 for 100%, and all 50 for the Show Off achievement. Under the Bridge means flying under 50 bridges across the map, while Knife Flights have you roll a plane onto its side, wings vertical, and slip it between two buildings (15 spots). The Close Shave achievement requires every bridge and every Knife Flight combined. For the latter, a slow plane like the Duster biplane, flown by Trevor, the best pilot of the trio, makes the maneuver much easier.

Monkey mosaics and peyote plants: the hidden bonuses

The 50 monkey mosaics are graffiti pieces you photograph with your phone. Once all 50 are captured, monkey-themed outfits land in Trevor’s wardrobe. A related random event lets you win the Go Go Monkey Blista, a unique compact car, but only for returning players, meaning those who transferred a save from the last-gen versions.

Separately, the 27 peyote plants only exist in the Enhanced versions (PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series and PC): eating one turns your character into an animal. Once you’ve hit 100%, they lead to the famous Beast hunt, a secret we break down in our roundup of GTA 5 easter eggs and mysteries. If you’re still torn on which version to pick up to enjoy it, check out our breakdown of which version of GTA 5 to buy.

What collectibles pay out, and how they fit into 100%

Here’s the bottom line in a single table.

For the 100% bar, collectibles are only part of the deal: you also have to finish the 69 story missions, 20 Strangers and Freaks missions, 42 Hobbies and Pastimes (bronze medal or better), 14 random events, and own 5 income-generating properties. In other words, going for 100% leaves you some slack on collectibles, but collecting everything is still the only way to get the Space Docker, the Go Go Monkey Blista and the achievements that come with them.

Once you’ve maxed out the bar, you’ll also unlock new secrets, like three of the game’s four UFOs. And if you’d rather finish the story first, our guide to which GTA 5 ending to choose and our look at how long the game takes to beat will help you size up the job. Until you can start a whole new treasure hunt in GTA 6, San Andreas still has plenty to keep you busy.