Nothing in life is certain except death, taxes, and the fact that Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V will somehow be a top selling game despite having been released in 2013. GTA’s impact on the video game industry and community can’t be overstated and, years after the fact, this game still holds a place in our hearts and disc drives. While fans remember the franchise most for its console releases, a lot of my GTA experience came from handheld titles for the PSP: like Liberty City Stories. However, regardless of the platform, for many of us, GTA was one of our first entries into the world of truly more mature rated games: the kind that checked every box for what the ESRB considered 17+. Violence, illegal substances, crime, profanity, you name it, GTA had it. Sure there was a story and a set of missions but more often than not I’d pick up the controller and just cause mayhem. Before the world ♌of trophies and achievements we’d create our own challenges: who can last the l🦄ongest with five stars, who can create the most mayhem with a rocket launcher, who can drive the furthest without changing vehicles.
Any good open world game is going to create fun, individual player stories and GTA is no exception. But there are universal experiences in the GTA universe that all of us can relate to: whether you’ve enjoyed every installment or haven’t carjacked someone since San Andreas. We’ve left no stone unturned and no vehicle in tact to craft this list of comics and memes of all too real GTA commentary:
19 GTA rad☂io's fire
I loved every game that created this problem for me. I’m a sucker for a good radio stations and GTA had some of the best. It’s kind of basic of me, I know. As far as video game music goes, radio stations playing real life hits doesn’t exactly require much creativity and can’t compare to original video game scores. But as someone who often mutes games entirely to put on my own music I loved how GTA, a🎃nd other games like it, already had that music playing.
For a moment, you’d feel that same excitement you’d feel in real life when a great song comes on. You just want to drive and enjoy it, or at least wait for it to be done. These moments in GTA were fun and immersi꧋ve and those are two major goals for any video game.
Not to mention the talk radio shows they had on the dial. Sometimes I stuck around for those as well. Sadly enough they were pretty accurate to what actual talk radiওo seems to offer: a lot of enthusiasm and very questionable content.
18 🍷 Haircut Up 🐻
Every game approaches character customization differently. Some just make it a selection screen, others involve you looking in a mirror, and many take the GTA route of “getting your hair done.” Of course, this is merely a guise for customization, so it’s possible to leave with more hair than you came in with. It’s not at all logical but it’s a reality we’ve come to accept, embrace even. This isn’t solely a Grand Theft Auto issue and I get it, right? It’s a video game so suspension of disbelief is kind of a requirement. Still, the idea that you can go into a salon or barber shop bald and leave with a full head of hair 🉐is pretty ridiculous.
Extensions, plugs, or wigs, sure. But you’re telling me someone takes a pair of scissors to my scalp and the result is I come out with morehair. And to be honest, of all the reality breaking features that exist in video games this is might be the one I’m more envious of. Haircuts are usually pressure filled, irreversible experiences. But in the world of GTA, you’🌼re just toggling through aꦚnd can get a sense of exactly what you’d look like before being stuck that way forever.
Comic by
17 How GTA was born ꦬ
It’s not a flaw if you flaunt it! One of the things people appreciate the most about the GTA franchise is the chaos and the wonkiness that can flourish within the game’s parameters (intentional or otherwise). This is where bugs come in. Rockstar certainly isn’t the studio most known for bugs (looking at you Bethesda) but it’s definitely part of its reputation across the internet. Luckꩵily, it’s not in a neg🍬ative way.
In terms of game design, not all bugs are created equal.
Some bugs can ruin player experiences completely or worse, permanently make the game unplayable. I experienced this first hand while trying to play Batman: The Telltale Series on Nintendo Switch and I’m still bitter about it. But some bugs are just good fun. At their best, bugs ca💎n even inspire a development team to pursue ideas they otherwise may not have thought of. Bugs can take everyone by surprise, from odd AI responses to clipping, the results can be hilarious. Lastly, they can create opportunities for gamers. Without bugs and glitches, the landscape of speed runs would look drastically different. While bugs are technically errors these flaws quickly become features; it’s just about shifting your frame of mind.
Comic by .
16 ♍ Stealth or𝓰 stupid?
Another common trope in video games is stealth that 🌊isn’t very stealthy. It doesn’t take much to꧂ be evasive in game 🌠universes.
This comic explores the many franchises this holds true for. It sarcastically reads: “4 games that can’t handle your mad stealth skills.” While this is stated in jest, who among us hasn’t felt the satisfaction of very clumsily getting away with our mission in a game. When it comes to GTA specifically, the fact that walking down the streeﷺt with a rocket launcher in hand arouses no suspicion is insane but continues the trend of lack of realism resulting 💛in amusing moments.
It reminds me of all the other times in GTA where the game universe is completely clueless to what you’re doiﷺng, despite you being the focal point of the campaign’s action. For instance, holding a gun to a shop owner, who then raises their hands, but the second you put it away they act as if the incident never occurred. Or the fact that you can commit major crimes while food cart workers stand there completely unphased. Granted, food cart workers are some of the hardest working people around so maybe that part isn’t entirely unrealistic.
Comic by .
15 ൩ ✱ I don’t need it
Behold: Nintendo Switch owners everywhere. Grand Theft Auto V is the most beloved game in the franchise, has earned enormous success, and has found a home on pretty much every platform. Currently available on PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows one brand is notably missing from the bunch, Nintendo. It’s no surprise that the game has yet to find its way to the family friendly platform but with the recent success of the Nintendo Switch and the desperate cries of fans for more ports of modern hits: Grand Theft Auto V is on most people’s minds. And for good reason.
It’s 2018 and people are still talking about GTA V.
People are still asking it to come to their preferred platform. And people are still picking up this game for the first time. GTA V truly is transcendent. So yes, if you’re a gamer you need it. The same way SpongeBob needed that water. The GTA V hype isn’t going away so it’ll catch you eventually. It’s b𓂃een building up since that initial release in 2013; here we are five years later and it’s still a topic of conversation.
14 Is this noticeable? 𝕴
Continuing along the lines of stealth, a large component of Grand Theft Auto involves evading the police. At the same time, another component of GTA involves making countless larger than life moves. These two things are in opposition to each other but therein lies the challenge of anyone who makes a living off criminal activity. Still, GTA takes it pretty far in terms of its grandiosity. From your vehicles to your array of weapons to your general behavior: it’s your world and everyone else is just living in it. Lowkey just isn’t on the table. Honestly, as 🅘much as people joke about the lack of real stealth in the game, would you really want the cops to stop you every single time you're about to start having fun? The game would totally lose its charm.
Grand theft𒁏 auto is the act of stealing cars; in GTA, this theft is executed in broad daylight by literally tossing civilians out of their vehicle and then driving awa꧂y. There is no subtlety here. Luckily, it’s just a video game and you can get away with being as extra as you want (or need) to be.
13 Run!
When they zig you gotta zag! Everyone thinks to keep driving away when bullets are firing at you but you can totally change the game by heading for the hills on your own two feet. No one will expect it (because it makes so little sense), but, like with many things, in the GTA world it’s completely sound. While a vehicle is sturdier, faster, and overall the logical choice when avoiding gunfire: these cars get wrecked with just a few hits. What was once a form of safety and sh🅷elter from the elements and your enemies quickly becomes a ticking time bomb. Ditching your car allows you to avoid t♈hat explosion and, somehow, just makes you a harder target to hit. Duck and weave friends, duck and weave.
They say the best things in life are simple and escaping danger in GTA is satisfying because it makes so little sense.
While “run!” is usually a last second directive given when times are most dire, in GTA it’s plan A. Open up your door and gun it on foot. It’s just you and the open road. Run into direct traffic, weave frantically left and right in an extremely predictable pattern, hide behind a lamp ꦏpost: somehow it all works out in the end.
12 🐠 Everyday Use
Everyday use. It’s the classic debate all of us have had at some point or another. From expensive outfits to valuable silverware to rare collectibles: we love our posses💎sions but sometimes we love them so much that we fail to actually enjoy them. We find ourselves asking is this prized possession something I should use or is it so wonderful that I should store it away/put it on display so it lasts forever?
The same happens in video games (art imitates life I guess). In GTA this takes the form of cars. Who among us doesn’t appreciate a nice whip? But it’s too nice to drive on our day to day basis so the result is dull, unexciting storage. It’s fun to get the car, it’s cool to have the car, but I’m never going to drive the car. And at the point I find myself ask𝕴ing what the point of all this wasꦛ.
Then I see another great car and the cycle continues. But there are people who still have complete sets of amiibo and they’re still in the original packaging so I’m in good company amongst gamers. At least the car in GTA was easy to hunt down.
11 🌳 You drive then
Criticism is easy; execution is hard. From backseat driving to backseat gaming, it’s frustrating when someone chastises you while refusing to take your place and (allegedly) show you how it’s done. In the case of GTA: these two eye-rolling moments combine to make one frustrating experience. Characters will complain how෴ you drive while still making 🅺you drive everywhere.
The extra salt on the wound is the fact that driving in GTA has always been a bit of a nightmare. Normally, it wouldn’t be much of an issue because it’s all in good fun but when the mission𒅌 is contingent upon driving… that’s an issue.
If you’re looking for a smooth commute in GTA, it’s just not going to happen.
Let’s just say the mechanics and most people’s playstyle are more in line with Crazy Taxi than Forza Horizon. Some of these driving missions b♚ecome a chore ꦺin themselves. On top of that, it’s hard not to let the lack of gratitude get to you. But at the end of the day, I’m here to do my job. So shut up and let me drive or feel free to take the wheel I never wanted to begin with.
10 GTA boredom ꩵ
As I mentioned earlier, when I first got my hands on Grand Theft Auto it was all about exploring the world and inciting m♔ayhem. One of my favorite things to do was to have fun with the cops and see how long I could survive with a high rating. It was always a thrill to be pursued by a fleet of police officers. Whenever I took on these self-made challenges I knew there was no way to really make it out alive but loving every second of survival I could grasp.
So I'm very sorry to all those virtual men and women in blue who got involved in my insanity for the sake of my own practice or got hit out of my own intentional recklessness. Everyday they put their life on the line to serve, protect, and inevitably respawn to make the community a little safer. This usually involves putting me behind bars only to release me the very next day. Sometimes my spree wasn’t even out of boredom. Sometimes walking into the street and starting stuff was just more🀅 appealing than the mission(s)🥃 I was given. But either way, I’m grateful for the experience.
