Grand Theft Auto is widely seen as the most cinematic video game series ever made. Over three decades, its games have drawn on the themes, conventions and visual style of gangster and action films, placing them in open worlds full of low-life characters and large set-piece moments. Here are the films and TV show that have shaped the GTA experience, from the 1996 original to the upcoming GTA 6.
Speed and the Action Classics
Jan de Bont’s bus bomb thriller Speed was a major influence, according to Paul Farley, a game designer who worked on the original GTA. He pointed to its fast pace, quick-witted dialogue and extensive vehicle destruction. Farley and his co-designers also drew on the 1980s Saturday afternoon TV series Knight Rider and The A-Team. In short, the team took inspiration from anything with plenty of car chases and explosions.
Walter Hill’s 1979 cult film, about a Coney Island street gang trying to get back to its territory after a midnight meeting in the Bronx, is also a key reference. Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser told Official PlayStation Magazine during the development of GTA 3 that the film was a strong inspiration for the street gangs in GTA 2 and for depicting seedy, run-down urban areas.
Scarface and Miami Vice
Brian De Palma’s Scarface set a benchmark for style and violence in the Miami drug trade, a standard that every GTA release has aimed to meet. Its story of a rise from foot soldier to crime boss is central to the series. The film’s synth-heavy soundtrack also shaped the sound of the games, and five of its songs appear in GTA 3.
The 1980s TV crime series Miami Vice, produced by Michael Mann, was a major tonal reference for GTA: Vice City. Houser told Edge in 2012 that Mann’s use of colour and night lighting made the city look “so glossy and sexy.” Rockstar also consulted weapons experts who had worked on the show.
Scorsese and the Crime Epic
The energy of Martin Scorsese’s films runs through the GTA series, from its violence and chaos to its focus on immigrant life in America and themes of male identity, loyalty and betrayal. Goodfellas is especially important: Rockstar cast Ray Liotta to voice Tommy Vercetti, the main character of GTA: Vice City. Taxi Driver and Mean Streets also influenced the Liberty City games. Like Scorsese, Rockstar uses popular music as a key part of its worlds, filling its games with hundreds of licensed tracks.
Boyz n the Hood and Los Santos
For GTA: San Andreas, Rockstar set the story in 1990s Los Santos, a version of Los Angeles with skyscrapers, luxury homes and poor neighbourhoods. The main character, Carl “CJ” Johnson, was clearly modelled on Tre Styles from John Singleton’s 1991 drama Boyz n the Hood, a young man trying to escape gang life while being drawn to it. The game’s warm orange look, hip-hop soundtrack and cast of rappers, gang leaders and corrupt police also drew heavily on the film, as well as Menace II Society, Colors and the 1980s cult film To Live and Die in LA.
GTA 4 and Russian Noir
GTA 4 took a darker and more sombre approach. Its protagonist, former soldier Niko Bellic, is an Eastern European immigrant who arrives in Liberty City hoping for the American dream and finds crime and violence instead. Dan Houser has said the game had no major film inspirations, but the Russian neo-noir film Brother, about a demobilised soldier pulled into his brother’s violent criminal empire, shares clear echoes with the story.
Carlito’s Way and the Return of the Veteran
De Palma’s Carlito’s Way offers another familiar gangster theme: the veteran who tries to leave crime behind. Al Pacino plays Carlito Brigante, who is released from prison, wants to retire and is pulled back into drugs and violence. Rockstar art director Aaron Garbut has cited the film’s complex underworld characters as an influence on Vice City, and its bleak ending is also reflected in the fate of Niko Bellic in GTA 4.
Heat, Drive and GTA 5
Robert De Niro’s professional bank robber in Heat appears to be the model for Michael De Santa, the lead of GTA 5, a game built around large-scale heists. Waingro, the volatile antagonist of Heat, has a counterpart in Trevor, a violent and cruel co-lead. Michael Mann’s visual style in Los Angeles also influenced the Los Santos of GTA 5, a glossy, empty city under a harsh sun. Some have also noted the stylised, violent Los Angeles of Drive. The film’s director, Nicolas Winding Refn, has said he was inspired by the GTA series, a circular link between the two.
Bonnie and Clyde and GTA 6
Arthur Penn’s 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, which helped launch the New Hollywood era of the 1970s, is considered a blueprint for the romantic couple on the run. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway star, and Penn’s graphic, stylised violence is a style GTA 6 is expected to embrace. It will be worth watching how central the relationship in the new game is, and whether it leans toward the grittier, more adrenaline-fuelled tone of Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway.