Abstract: Gastric cancer is a malignant tumor with high prevalence worldwide and limited therapeutic options. Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy has emerged as a promising approach for gastric cancer treatment; however, its application faces substantial challenges. This review provides comprehensive summary of the recent advances in CAR-T cell therapy for gastric cancer, systematic analysis of critical break throughs and core challenges from target discovery to clinical translation, and outlining of future perspectives. We describe the criteria for ideal target selection and highlight the current research landscape of major targets, including CLDN18.2 that demonstrated efficacy, and targets facing distinct challenges, including HER-2, CEA, EpCAM, and MUC1. This review also finely dissects three central barriers restricting CAR-T cell efficacy, and discusses corresponding countermeasures: overcoming the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment through strategies such as local delivery, armored CAR-T cells, and combination therapies; engineering approaches including affinity modulation and logic-gate designs to mitigate on-target/off-tumor toxicity; and optimization of manufacturing processes and reduction of costs via early leukapheresis, rapid production platforms, and universal CAR-T cell strategies. Future multidimensional, integrative, and innovative strategies are pivotal for achieving comprehensive break throughs in CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors.