14 Reasons Why GTA Is One Of The Greatest Game Series Of All Time. Which One Is Your Favourite?

It's been over 20 years since Grand Theft Auto first hit the scene, changing the games industry and how future open-world games would be forever.

Despite its popularity though, here are some things you probably didn't know about the massive game series.

1997's Grand Theft Auto

1. Grand Theft Auto is just one big glitch

If it weren't a bug during coding, there might never have been a GTA game to begin with. Before Rockstar North existed, it was a game studio named DMA Design. In the late 90s, they were working on a game called Race n Chase, where a player took on either the role of a cop or criminal in a face off. However a glitch in the code caused the police cars to be extremely aggressive when chasing down criminals, even trying to ram them off the road.

This turned out to be an incredibly popular feature with testers, so the studio kept it in and ended up removing the ability to play as a police officer entirely. They then changed the name to Grand Theft Auto and a genre-defining series was born

2. Rockstar used scare tactics to sell more game copies

One of the more startling pieces of news to emerge years later is that, during GTA's first release, Rockstar hired controversial PR expert Max Clifford to plant stories in UK tabloids about how "violent" the game was. This eventually led to politicians getting involved, which kickstarted the GTA's controversial background, and (as the studio expected) garnered it attention and drove up sales. And that trend has continued over the decades for pretty much every release of the game.

3. GTA games are almost always late to market

Despite the number of releases in the GTA series, Rockstar actually has a terrible track record when it comes to timely launches. Ever since GTA III, every single one of the five core games has been delayed well past its original date. GTA III was was late by three weeks because content changes had to be made after the September 11 attacks. GTA IV was delayed by six months because Rockstar still needed to polish the game. GTA V meanwhile was also held back several months for final touches. Maybe they'll learn their lesson if there's a GTA VI?

4. It's a kid-free zone

One thing you may have realized while playing, is that there are no children in any of the GTA games. They were apparently present in the beta version of GTA III, but were removed thanks to the developer's foresight. After all, for a game already regarded as violent, what would the outcry have been like if you could kill children in your rampages on the street? In fact, the only children appearing in the entire series are two characters you encounter, a baby in Vice City Stories, and a 13-year-old heiress in GTA IV.

5. The Moon in GTA is magic

The Moon was featured in GTA III for the first time, when the series first became 3D instead of 2D, and it's had a special easter egg ever since (an easter egg is a secret in a game that's just for kicks). Whenever you shoot the moon with a sniper rifle, it instantly increases in size. This happens multiple times more each time you shoot it, until finally reverting back to its original size.

6. Rockstar loves easter egg jokes

In GTA Vice City, Rockstar decided to get cute with its easter eggs. One of them was a literal chocolate easter egg, housed on the roof of an unassuming building that looks impossible to climb. We're sure they had a good laugh when people found that one.

7. GTA San Andreas mocked you if you were fat

In GTA San Andreas, your fitness level plays a fairly big role. If you're fat from pigging out at local restaurants, your stamina is lower and you can't run as fast. Additionally though there was another hat tip from the developer. Any jetpack mission protagonist CJ tries while fat will not initiate, because the jetpack would need more power to lift him.

8. You could have horrible pixelated sex in San Andreas

When GTA San Andreas came out it had a sex appeal feature, that let you get a date if high enough. However, there seemed to be no real benefit to maxing it out, at least until modders got into the game's code. There, they found residual code for a "Hot Coffee" feature, and realised it was a sex minigame that allowed you to take a date to your house and get naughty. Needless to say, they wasted no time in restoring the code and distributing the mods, causing a worldwide scandal for Rockstar. The developer had to eventually patch out the code with a "Cold Coffee" update, though we're not sure any players voluntarily downloaded that.

9. Some of the many voice actors are tied by more than the game

It seems GTA literally runs in some people's blood. Shawn Fonteno, who plays Franklin in GTA V, is the real life cousin of Young Maylay, the voice of CJ Johnson, the main character in GTA: San Andreas. Coincidentally, both games are set in Los Santos.

10. There's a living horror in the middle of Liberty City

In GTA IV there's a replica of the Statue of Liberty, called the Statue of Happiness. However, it's got a bit of a creepy footnote thanks to Rockstar. If you climb inside the statue, you'll realise it actually has a giant, grotesque, beating heart.

11. GTA V is the biggest chartbuster of all time

When it launched, GTA V earned a record-breaking $800 million worldwide in 24 hours, or about equating to approximately 11.21. Since then, it's made a whopping $6 billion in revenue for Rockstar Games, making it the most successful entertainment product of all time.

12. In Los Santos, you are not alone

In the prologue scene of GTA V, with Michael, Brad, and Trevor, you're told to cross the railway tracks. Instead of that, if you turn right and go under the nearby bridge, you'll see another cool easter egg. It's an alien, frozen in place underneath the river.

13. What do a cowboy and modern-day thief have in common?

In Franklin's house in GTA V, a bookshelf in his living room has a book on the very right called "red Dead". It's a clear reference to another Rockstar product, 2010's Red Dead Redemption. The author is marked as J Marston, likely protagonist John Marston's son, who's talked about his fondness for books and how he hopes to write one someday.

14. Stripping down to the bare essentials

Eccentric character Trevor Phillips is often seen in just his underwear in GTA V. Apparently, to get in character, his voice actor Steven Ogg would often record his lines in just his underwear as well, which he said helped him stay in character.