57 Fun Facts About Grand Theft Auto

GTA V's lead studio, Rockstar North, is headquartered in which UK city?

Edinburgh became the studio's home when a 25-person branch opened there, yet the Grand Theft Auto series itself was born in Dundee.

In GTA V, which friend works alongside Franklin Clinton repossessing cars for a corrupt car dealer?

Lamar Davis later needs rescuing, after rival gangbanger Stretch betrays him to the Ballas and tries to have him killed.

GTA V's main city is a satirical version of which real US city?

Los Angeles is the model for Los Santos, and Rockstar's team made research trips around the real city to gather footage before building it.

Which actor provides the voice and motion capture for Trevor Philips?

Steven Ogg had stepped away from acting to build a house in the country before Rockstar hired him to play Trevor Philips.

GTA V opens in 2004 with a botched robbery in the town of Ludendorff, in which fictional snowy state?

North Yankton is where Michael fakes his death through a secret agreement with the FIB, then resurfaces years later living under an alias.

When GTA V made $1 billion in three days in 2013, it broke records held by which game series?

Call of Duty: Ghosts shipped $1 billion to retailers on day one later that year, yet Activision said even that was down on the previous game.

Grand Theft Auto 2 opened with a cut-down version of what kind of promotional film?

A live-action short film followed a criminal taking jobs from the city's gangs, until an assassin from a gang he had robbed killed him.

By 2026, GTA V had sold over 230 million copies, but which game had sold even more?

Minecraft's maker, Mojang, was bought by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014, and its founders, including creator Markus Persson, left the company.

In GTA V, Franklin's special ability slows down time while he is doing what?

Driving is also how Franklin refills the ability's meter, since skilful moves such as drifting round corners top it up.

Michael's old friend Lester Crest, who plans the heists, is what kind of specialist?

Hacker Lester Crest helped Michael and Franklin rob a jewellery store to pay for repairs to Martin Madrazo's mansion, which Michael had wrecked.

Trevor Philips Enterprises, Trevor's meth-and-guns operation, is based in which small Blaine County town?

Sandy Shores is where Trevor settled while on the run, and he dreams of growing his small operation there into a large empire.

Which target does the trio hit for GTA V's final heist, 'The Big Score'?

The Union Depository job is the trio's biggest score, and afterwards Franklin is ordered to kill either Michael or Trevor.

Which private military company does Trevor go to war with in Blaine County?

Merryweather is the firm Trevor Philips keeps raiding for money and weapons to grow his business.

Rockstar's 2013 stimulus package for early GTA Online players made up for what?

A botched launch in October 2013 wiped some players' characters, so Rockstar paid the stimulus to everyone who had played since launch.

What brings Carl 'CJ' Johnson back home at the start of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?

His mother's murder brings CJ back home, where he finds his old street gang in decline and sets out to rebuild it.

In 2021, Rockstar paid a fan $10,000 for fixing which long-running GTA Online problem?

Slow loading times had dogged players for seven years until the fan, t0st, found the faulty code, and Rockstar made his fix official.

What do GTA Online's real-money Shark Cards give the buyer?

In-game currency is what Shark Cards sell, though the newer versions' Career Builder hands each new character enough of it to set up a business.

The Cayo Perico Heist requires players to buy what kind of vehicle to reach El Rubio's island?

The Kosatka comes with a one-man crew, ex-Russian Navy sailor Pavel, and the heist was the first that could be finished solo.

In GTA Online's The Contract, whose stolen phone of unreleased music does Franklin's agency recover?

Dr. Dre also made new music for The Contract, and his fresh tracks were added to the game's radio stations.

Which German electronic group co-composed GTA V's original score, the series' first?

Tangerine Dream's founder Edgar Froese first turned down the idea of scoring a video game before joining Woody Jackson, The Alchemist and Oh No.

Which actress sued over GTA V in 2014, claiming the game's starlet Lacey Jonas was based on her?

Lindsay Lohan's case was thrown out in 2016, when a New York appeals court called the game a work of fiction and satire.

Before living under the alias De Santa, Michael's real surname was what?

Townley is the name on Michael's supposed grave, where Trevor later discovers their old partner Brad buried instead.

In GTA: Vice City, what goes wrong that leaves Tommy Vercetti needing to repay his mob boss?

His drug deal is ambushed in a setup by drug lord Ricardo Diaz, whom Tommy later kills before taking over his assets.

In GTA Online's Doomsday Heist, the player storms a secret missile base hidden inside which mountain?

Mount Chiliad hides the launch facility where players must stop a missile launch and take out Avon Hertz.

Which Scottish studio developed the original Grand Theft Auto in 1997?

DMA Design's game had help from publicist Max Clifford, hired by its publisher to stir up press outrage as free publicity.

Under what working title did the original Grand Theft Auto begin development?

Race 'n' Chase started life as a cops-and-robbers chase game, and the team then made the player the criminal rather than the cop.

From what perspective was the original 1997 Grand Theft Auto played?

Top-down views came first, but Rockstar had long pushed for a 3D, street-level world, which the team finally built for GTA III.

Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999) is set in a retrofuturistic metropolis with what name?

Anywhere City's gangs keep score: earning respect with one syndicate by doing its jobs turns its chief rivals hostile.

Which real-world event led Rockstar to delay the release of GTA III?

The September 11 attacks hit weeks before launch, so Rockstar pushed GTA III back three weeks to change references that no longer felt appropriate.

GTA III's protagonist never speaks a word and isn't even named until San Andreas. What is his name?

The developers wanted a strong, silent killer to contrast with the neurotic, verbose mobsters around him.

Which Goodfellas star voiced Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?

Ray Liotta's Tommy eventually turns on the mob bosses who sent him south and builds a criminal empire of his own.

Who voiced Carl 'CJ' Johnson in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?

Young Maylay won the part after Rockstar staff overheard him chatting on DJ Pooh's speakerphone during a meeting about the game.

Samuel L. Jackson voices which corrupt San Andreas character?

Frank Tenpenny corners CJ on his return and threatens to frame him for killing a fellow police officer unless he co-operates.

After the hidden "Hot Coffee" minigame was found in San Andreas, the ESRB changed the rating to what?

Adults Only kept the game off most major US shelves, so Rockstar stopped manufacturing that version, and an FTC investigation followed.

In GTA IV, Niko Bellic arrives in Liberty City aboard a cargo ship with what name?

The Platypus returns at the finale: if Niko chooses revenge, he confronts his betrayer Dimitri aboard the very same ship.

GTA IV's Liberty City neighbours the state of Alderney, which is modelled on which real place?

New Jersey's stand-in starts off-limits, because the bridges and tunnels from Liberty City stay shut over a terrorist threat until the story reopens them.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (2009) was originally released for which handheld?

Nintendo DS owners got a critically acclaimed GTA, yet it sold under 90,000 copies in its first US weeks.

Rockstar Games was set up in New York in December 1998 as a publishing label of which parent company?

Take-Two Interactive had bought BMG Interactive, publisher of the first Grand Theft Auto, earlier that year.

Which Rockstar co-founder and head writer left in 2020 and later set up Absurd Ventures?

He wrote or co-wrote a dozen GTA titles plus both Red Dead Redemptions; GTA VI is the first main entry since 1997 without him.

What was the 2015 BBC docudrama about Rockstar's legal feud with a GTA critic, starring Daniel Radcliffe, called?

The Gamechangers drew a trademark lawsuit from Rockstar, which said it had no involvement with the BBC's film.

Which former Rockstar North president sued Rockstar in 2016 over unpaid royalties?

Leslie Benzies said his sabbatical after GTA V was really a forced exit, while Rockstar said he had simply decided not to return.

Grand Theft Auto VI is set in which fictional US state, a stand-in for Florida?

Leonida's Vice City is based on Miami, where Rockstar embedded a research team that met ex-criminals, club promoters and police.

Which character is Lucia Caminos's partner in crime in Grand Theft Auto VI?

Jason Duval and Lucia are forced to rely on each other when an easy score goes wrong and drags them into a criminal conspiracy.

In GTA III, who betrays the silent hero by shooting him during a bank heist?

His girlfriend, Catalina, shoots him and leaves him to be arrested, so payback against her drives GTA III's story.

Whose song "Love Is a Long Road" soundtracked the first GTA VI trailer and jumped nearly 37,000% on Spotify?

The second trailer went even bigger, pulling the Pointer Sisters' 'Hot Together' up by about 182,000%.

As of 2026, GTA VI is due on PlayStation 5 and which other platform?

Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 players have waited through two delays, as Rockstar moved GTA VI from 2025 to May 2026 and then to November 2026.

The teenager behind the September 2022 GTA VI footage leak was a key member of which cybercrime gang?

A Lapsus$ member, he breached Rockstar while on bail in a hotel, using an Amazon Fire Stick, the room's TV and a mobile phone.

Which later-disbarred lawyer repeatedly sued over Grand Theft Auto, blaming the games for real-world violence?

Jack Thompson sued over a 2003 Alabama shooting in which 18-year-old Devin Moore killed two police officers and a dispatcher.

Which country's Justice Ministry banned the original 1997 Grand Theft Auto?

Brazil banned it outright, while in Britain a peer asked the government months before release whether it would take action against the game.

Which actor voices Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV?

Michael Hollick was reportedly paid about $100,000 for the role, with no residuals from a game that made $500 million in its first week.

In GTA IV, whose exaggerated tales of riches lure Niko Bellic to Liberty City?

His cousin Roman had boasted of luxury, but Niko finds him running an unprofitable taxi firm and dodging loan sharks.

GTA IV's procedural character animation came from which NaturalMotion software?

Euphoria synthesises characters' reactions in real time, so the same scene can play out differently every time.

Which Miami Vice star voices Lance Vance in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?

Philip Michael Thomas voices Lance Vance, who betrays Tommy in the finale by telling Sonny Forelli that Tommy's payment is counterfeit.

In GTA: San Andreas, what sets off the city-wide riot near the end of the story?

A crooked cop walks free when the charges against him are dropped, echoing the real 1992 riots, which broke out hours after officers were acquitted over the Rodney King beating.

Which real city inspired the casino city in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?

Las Vegas is the model for Las Venturas, and after finishing Vice City the team travelled to each real city the game copies for research.

Which sequel ruled 2004's game sales with San Andreas?

Halo 2 was promoted with I Love Bees, an alternate-reality game that sent players out to answer ringing pay phones.

Which real LAPD affair helped shape San Andreas's story of corrupt CRASH officers?

Rampart's anti-gang CRASH unit was exposed in the late 1990s: about 70 officers were implicated, over 100 convictions were overturned, and the LAPD disbanded CRASH.