The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Grand Theft Auto began as a buggy cops-and-criminals driving prototype, and its creators’ recollections reveal how ideas such as phone-box missions and pedestrian behavior helped shape the game. The stories below focus on the original Grand Theft Auto and GTA III—not every entry in the franchise—and distinguish firsthand developer memories from details preserved only in a secondary report.
How did GTA start?
1. The prototype was called “Race and Chase”
DMA Design programmer and artist Mike Dailly recalled that the 1994 project began as a driving game called “Race and Chase,” with players able to take either side of the law. “You could play as the cops or you could play as the criminals,” he told The Guardian. Dailly remembered the driving demo as exciting, but buggy and prone to crashing. The eventual game was not simply a polished version of that demo: its structure changed as the team developed it.
2. Phone boxes turned driving into mission-based exploration
Designer Paul Farley recalled seeing a crude 2D driving prototype and then proposing that players collect missions at phone boxes. “Then we had the idea of allowing the player to pick up missions by visiting phoneboxes, and it became much more free and open,” he said in the same Guardian interview. Farley said the idea opened the game beyond the expectation of keeping it running for short sessions. In practical design terms, the phone boxes gave players a reason to move around the city and let mission selection sit inside the world rather than outside it.
3. The first city ideas borrowed from three US cities
Farley said the designers drew on the “essence” of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Miami for Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City, respectively. He recalled that the team did not travel to the United States for research: they relied on library materials and one internet-connected PC. That is a description of inspiration, not a claim that each fictional city reproduces its real-world counterpart one-to-one. The recollection appears in The Guardian’s oral history.
#1 Best Overall
- Grand Theft Auto III: It all starts in Liberty City. With the revolutionary freedom to go anywhere and jack anyone, Grand Theft Auto III puts the center of the criminal underworld at your fingertips, if you have enough guts to take it.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Welcome to the 1980s. From the decade of big hair and pastel suits comes the story of one man's rise to the top of the criminal pile.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Five years ago, Carl 'CJ' Johnson escaped the haze of Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs, and corruption.
4. A pedestrian bug inspired the Hare Krishna procession
Farley also recalled that a bug made groups of pedestrians follow one person. The team recognized that the behavior could create a long procession and used it for the Hare Krishna characters. The story comes from Farley’s recollection in The Guardian; it is not a separate technical postmortem of the bug.
Why was GTA III made in 3D?
5. The team had tried 3D before—and failed
GTA III was not the first attempt to bring the series into 3D. Developer Gary Penn remembered “three or four attempts to do a 3D one before Grand Theft Auto III,” adding that the earlier efforts were beyond the team’s capabilities. In his account, the team behind Space Station Silicon Valley, which had recently made a 3D game, brought the skills and attitude needed to move GTA into that space. Penn’s estimate is an approximate recollection, not a formal count of production projects; he shared it in a Game Developer interview.
Rank #2
- Grand Theft Auto III: It all starts in Liberty City
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Welcome to the 1980s
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Five years ago, Carl 'CJ' Johnson escaped the haze of Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs, and corruption.
6. GTA III’s team was unsure the concept would work
Dan Houser recalled that around ten months to a year before release, the team had a city, cars, and weapons—but also a large number of unresolved problems. He described the game’s E3 2001 showing as underwhelming and said the team wondered whether it had misjudged the concept. That memory, from a GameSpot interview, complicates the idea that the move to 3D was an obvious success from the start: the team was still confronting uncertainty late in development.
How did GTA III combine story and player freedom?
7. Story and mechanics were treated as one design problem
Houser said the team did not separate story from design: “We don’t necessarily separate the story and the design—they’re kind of the same thing.” He described the challenge as giving the game a narrative structure without taking away the player’s choice. The aim was for the story to work with the systems and the player’s actions, rather than feel like a separate layer imposed on an open city. Houser discussed that approach in GameSpot’s interview.
Rank #3
- Grand Theft Auto III: It all starts in Liberty City
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Welcome to the 1980s
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Five years ago, Carl 'CJ' Johnson escaped the haze of Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs, and corruption.
8. Missions could teach players about the city
In an excerpt from a 2001 IGN interview reproduced by iGrandTheftAuto, associate producer Jeremy Pope described missions as a way to lead players to discoveries, such as finding a sniper rifle on a rooftop. That example frames a mission as more than a plot checkpoint: it can direct attention to a place, object, or possibility in the world. The available account is a fan-site reproduction of IGN excerpts, so the anecdote should be understood as reported there rather than as a separately verified production record.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What reportedly changed in GTA III after September 11?
9. A secondary account describes changes to the city and its details
The same iGrandTheftAuto reproduction of 2001 IGN reporting says Rockstar removed a jumbo jet from Liberty City’s skies, deleted a side character, and changed police-car colors after the September 11 attacks. These are reported changes, not details confirmed here by a Rockstar production record. The distinction matters: the account is a secondary excerpt, so it supports saying that the changes were reported, not presenting every detail as independently established fact.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- Grand Theft Auto III: It all starts in Liberty City. With the revolutionary freedom to go anywhere and jack anyone, Grand Theft Auto III puts the center of the criminal underworld at your fingertips, if you have enough guts to take it.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Welcome to the 1980s. From the decade of big hair and pastel suits comes the story of one man's rise to the top of the criminal pile. Grand Theft Auto returns with Tommy Vercetti’s tale of betrayal and revenge in a neon-soaked tropical town full of excess and brimming with possibilities.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Five years ago, Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson escaped the haze of Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs, and corruption. Now, it's the early 90s. CJ’s got to go home - his mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart, and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster.
Rank #4
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