Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto is a massively popular video game. Though each game seems to hit a new mark for controversy, the series does very well in sales. Here are some great facts and easter eggs that you might not have known about the Grand Theft Auto series.

GTA Started Through A Glitch of Another Game

Rockstar was developing a video game known as Race ‘N Chase. The game had players taking the role of cops as they try to stop robbers. The glitch that had made Rockstar change the format of the game was during a mission where you played as a robber. Apparently, the AI for the cops tried to run the robbers off the road instead of busting them.

This was so popular with testers that Rockstar worked around that idea of being a robber running from the law. During development, they scrapped the idea of being a cop all together as it was more fun to play a criminal.

9/11 Caused GTA 3 Changes

GTA 3 was set to release in 2001 but because of the terrorist attacks within America on September 11 2001, Rockstar had to make changes in the game. While the game was still based in New York City, cops were drastically changed to look less like the NYPD and cut out several missions you played with a terrorist. Rockstar has stated that only about 1% of the game was actually cut.

Lawsuits Breached $1 Billion

Rockstar has been hit with several lawsuits since the start of GTA. What may surprise you is that a total amount of lawsuits against Rockstar for GTA equals over $1 billion. These lawsuits range from citizens all over the world to big name celebrities. The latest is Lindsay Lohan suing over her likeness in GTA 5.

Driver 3 Cameo in GTA 3

Driver 3 made a cameo appearance in GTA 3 during a mission where haunt down a character in a black-suit named Tanner.

GTA 5 Map Size Twice The Size of Manhattan

The latest GTA video game in the series, GTA 5 has the biggest map in terms of Rockstar’s video games. This map tops the size of Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, GTA San Andreas combined. Rockstar has even revealed that the game map is even bigger than New York’s Manhattan in real-life.

Rockstar Paid For Bad Press

While Rockstar didn’t fully admit to it, the myth that Rockstar paid for bad press is pretty well known. The story goes that Rockstar hired PR Max Clifford where he sent out stories purposely knowing that the press would have a field day because of how controversial the story would be. Thus Rockstar and their upcoming GTA video game would always be in the press.

GTA 4 Has 80,000 Dialog Lines

GTA 4 has 80,000 dialog lines. The script was made to expand through several missions, story dialog and NPCs that randomly talk while roaming around the town. To take that in perspective, GTA 3′s script is shown on the left while GTA 4 is on the right. So far, it’s unknown as to how big the script GTA 5 currently is.

GTA 4 Niko Bellic Based Off of Vladimir Mashkov

The main character in GTA 4 is Niko Bellic and it was revealed that the character was based off of Vladimir Mashkov, a character from the film Behind Enemy Lines. Vladimir was on a Russian talk show where he admit that Rockstar approached him to do the voice of Niko Bellic but he turned it down.

GTA 5 Cost More Than Watchmen and Prometheus

GTA 5 made an outstanding $1 billion within the first three days since the game launched. However, the game itself cost $137 million to develop. That means developing GTA 5 cost more than the production of both Watchmen and Prometheus, two highly regarded blockbuster films.

Three Leaf Cover GTA 4 Result of The Film Heat

During the mission of GTA 4 Three Leaf Cover, you might recognize the development team made the mission in a result of the movie Heat. Everything from the suits worn to the massive gunfight in the streets are from the film.

GTA 5 UK Launch Resulted in Massive Work Call Off’s

An outstanding 14 percent of men within the UK admitted that they will call off sick during the launch of GTA 5. That would result in over 2 million men calling sick just to sit back and play through GTA 5.

GTA 3 World Record Speed Run is 1 hour

One YouTuber managed to complete the GTA 3 video game in record time. The speed run lasted a little over 1 hour and 12 minutes. That’s a pretty impressive time considering how much there is to do in GTA 3 and the amount of traffic and any given moment.