46 Fun Facts About Gta V

Which Rockstar studio led the development of Grand Theft Auto V?

Rockstar North: the Edinburgh studio began in Dundee as DMA Design, where it made the cute puzzle hit Lemmings before turning to car theft with the first Grand Theft Auto.

Which fictional state is the main setting of GTA V?

San Andreas: the state returns from the 2004 game, where it also held San Fierro and Las Venturas, but GTA V rebuilds only its southern end around Los Santos.

GTA V's sprawling main city is modelled on which real American city?

Los Angeles: Rockstar's artists logged Street View coordinates for each city block, then sent location scouts to photograph the real spots before building Los Santos.

In GTA V, what breed of dog is Chop, Franklin's four-legged companion?

Rottweiler: Chop officially belongs to a friend, yet he lives with Franklin for most of the story, tagging along for walks, games of fetch and the odd chase.

Who voices Trevor Philips?

Steven Ogg: he gave Trevor far more than a voice, acting out the scenes in a motion-capture suit, so the character's movements and face are his as well.

In GTA V, what was Michael De Santa's surname before he went into hiding in Los Santos?

Townley: he swapped the name for De Santa in a secret deal with a federal agent, which left his old partner Trevor believing for nine years that he was dead.

In GTA V, what do Michael and Franklin rob in their first heist together?

A jewellery store: the pair hit Vangelico to pay off a drug lord whose house Michael wrecked, and the player chooses between gassing the staff through a vent or going in loud.

In which town does GTA V's 2004 prologue heist go wrong?

Ludendorff, North Yankton: Michael is presumed dead after the botched robbery, and his accomplice Brad ends up buried in the grave that carries Michael's name.

In GTA V, the IAA is a parody of which real US agency?

The CIA: the game's IAA feuds with the FIB, its version of the FBI, and the protagonists are forced to rob one agency's armoured car on the orders of the other.

In GTA V, which disabled hacker plans the crew's heists?

Lester Crest: a wasting disease keeps him in a wheelchair or on a cane, so he runs each job from his computers as planner and scout while the others do the legwork.

In GTA V, which skill is Trevor's built-in speciality?

Flying: Trevor trained as a military pilot, and once out of the service he turned those piloting skills to smuggling.

In GTA V, what does Michael's special ability do?

Slows time in combat: each lead's ability fits his speciality, so Michael the marksman gets bullet time for shoot-outs, a trick borrowed from Rockstar's own Max Payne games.

In GTA V, slipping unseen into which business instantly wipes a wanted level?

Los Santos Customs: the garages take over from the Pay 'n' Spray shops of earlier games, and their doors stay shut if a patrol sees you coming, so you have to shake the police first.

In GTA V, which billionaire corporate raider becomes Michael's enemy over a movie studio?

Devin Weston: he tries to shut the studio down for an insurance payout, and when Michael's attempt to stop him ends with the death of his lawyer, the billionaire swears revenge.

What is the target of GTA V's final heist?

The Union Depository: the raid on its gold reserve comes off, but success brings the story's cruellest choice, as Franklin is promptly told to kill one of his own partners.

In GTA V's finale, which option lets Franklin spare both Michael and Trevor?

Deathwish: rather than kill a friend to order, Franklin rallies the whole trio for a last stand, and together they then pick off every enemy who wanted them dead.

In GTA V, which private military company do the protagonists repeatedly clash with?

Merryweather: the crew steals a prototype superweapon from a ship the firm guards, only for their own planner to make them hand it straight back before the government comes for them.

In GTA V, which gangster fresh out of prison repeatedly sets Lamar up?

Stretch: he swaggers home as a gang veteran demanding respect, but he made friends among the rival Ballas while inside, and the deals he brings keep ending in gunfire.

GTA V's focus on heists grew out of 'Three Leaf Clover', a celebrated bank job in which earlier game?

GTA IV: players raved about its one big bank robbery, but writer Dan Houser felt it hadn't fully caught the thrill of the crime, so the sequel was built around planning and pulling off heists.

In GTA V, which rundown desert town in Blaine County does Trevor call home?

Sandy Shores: the town grew out of a research trip to Bombay Beach on California's Salton Sea, where the designers half expected a real-life Trevor to burst out on them.

The actor behind one of GTA V's lead characters is a cousin of the man who voiced which earlier GTA hero?

Carl Johnson: Franklin's actor is a cousin of rapper Young Maylay, who voiced CJ in the 2004 game, and it was DJ Pooh, who had worked on it, who told him about the new part.

What is the name of Rockstar's proprietary game engine used for GTA V?

RAGE: the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine made its debut in a 2006 table tennis game, and was overhauled for GTA V so players could see much farther across the map.

Which German electronic band, veterans of 1980s film soundtracks, helped write GTA V's original score?

Tangerine Dream: founder Edgar Froese used to refuse game offers as 'stupid', but after Rockstar flew him out to see this one he signed on and wrote 62 hours of music in eight months.

Which hip-hop producer curates and hosts his own radio station in GTA V?

Flying Lotus: on his station, FlyLo FM, he mixes new music he wrote for the game with other artists' tracks, and slips in a song by his own rapping alter ego, Captain Murphy.

Which British model voices the DJ of Non-Stop-Pop FM in GTA V?

Cara Delevingne: the model recorded the station's links in 2013, a piece of casting that put a crime game on the fashion pages of Vogue and the Telegraph.

GTA V launched in September 2013 on which two consoles?

PS3 and Xbox 360: the game was first slated for spring 2013, then slipped to September so the team could keep polishing it.

Which fictional cult was used in GTA V's viral marketing?

The Epsilon Program: fans who filled in the cult's online membership form found in the small print that it was really a casting call, and a handful of them were chosen to appear in the game.

Players on which platform had to wait until April 2015 for GTA V?

Windows PC: the port was due alongside the PS4 and Xbox One versions in November 2014 but slipped into the following spring, arriving with 4K support and a built-in video editor.

What major new viewpoint did GTA V's 2014 re-release add?

First-person view: seeing the world through a character's eyes forced the team to rework the animations and rebuild every car interior, right down to working speedometers.

What is the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S version of GTA V commonly called?

Expanded & Enhanced: the label comes from Rockstar's own announcement, and fans tired of the ageing game made its 2021 trailer one of the most-disliked videos on PlayStation's YouTube channel.

Which hacking group, tied to a 2022 leak of unreleased Rockstar footage, was linked to GTA V's 2023 source code leak?

Lapsus$: the group's key hacker was a British teenager who had broken into Rockstar in 2022 from a hotel room, using a TV streaming stick and a phone while out on bail.

Which GTA Online setting stops other players from killing you as you roam the map?

Passive Mode: it makes you immune to other players' attacks, but the bargain cuts both ways, because while it is switched on you can't hurt them either.

How did Rockstar make up for GTA Online's glitch-ridden 2013 launch?

In-game cash: the 'Stimulus Package' paid GTA$500,000 to everyone who had braved that first month, after freezes and wiped characters spoiled the launch.

Which service carried players' crews from Max Payne 3 into GTA Online?

Social Club: Rockstar ran crews through its own service so they would outlast any one game, and groups formed for Max Payne 3 in 2012 carried straight on into GTA Online.

Which rap mogul plays himself in GTA Online, sending players after his stolen phone?

Dr. Dre: in the 2021 story The Contract his phone, loaded with unreleased music, goes missing, and once players bring it back he lets them be the first to hear a new track.

As of 2026, which of these games has sold more copies than GTA V's 230 million?

Minecraft: only it, and Tetris if every version is pooled, ranks above GTA V, which Rockstar has released on three generations of consoles since 2013.

Which game was the only western title to get a perfect Famitsu score before GTA V?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: its 2011 clean sweep of Famitsu's four reviewers beat Rockstar to the honour, the previous Grand Theft Auto having fallen just short of a perfect score.

Which 1995 film did GameSpot cite as a stylistic influence on GTA V's heist missions?

Heat: Michael Mann's thriller opens with a masked crew ambushing an armoured truck, a robbery the game restages almost beat for beat in its mission Blitz Play.

At the start of GTA V, Franklin repossesses cars for which crooked dealer?

Simeon Yetarian: he sells cars to buyers who can't afford them, then sends Franklin to take them back, a racket that ends when one target turns out to be Michael's son.

Which two Australian retailers pulled GTA V from shelves in December 2014?

Target and Kmart: the chains acted on a petition, started by survivors of sexual violence, that drew more than 40,000 signatures, while the game's publisher said it stood behind its product.

Which actress sued Rockstar claiming GTA V's Lacey Jonas character was based on her?

Lindsay Lohan: her suit called Lacey Jonas, a starlet the player helps flee the paparazzi, an 'unequivocal' copy of her, and Rockstar shot back that she had filed it for the publicity.

Which GTA V character meets new GTA Online players at the airport?

Lamar Davis: Franklin's friend, who has already befriended each newcomer online, hands over a pistol and then challenges them to a street race.

Which award did GTA V win at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, before release?

Most Anticipated Game: voters handed it the prize nine months before anyone could play it, and a year later it went back to the same show and left with Game of the Year.

Which kind of vehicle, missing from the previous Grand Theft Auto, returned in GTA V thanks to its far bigger map?

Planes: Liberty City was judged too cramped for them, so the next world was built on a scale that, in writer Dan Houser's words, would let players 'fly properly'.

In GTA V, what happens to a hired heist accomplice who survives the job?

Their skills improve: a cheap, shaky recruit who lives through one job comes back sharper for the next at the same small cut, so training rookies can pay better than hiring experts.

Rockstar's first GTA VI trailer, released in December 2023, confirmed a return to which city?

Vice City: the series' version of Miami comes back in a present-day setting, and Rockstar had to publish the trailer ahead of schedule after a rough copy leaked online.