Debate of the Day: Where Will Grand Theft Auto 5 Be Set?

By now you’ve probably heard the news that Grand Theft Auto 5 is on its way, and with it comes a whole host of speculation about what exactly it will entail. A trailer is premiering next week on the 2nd, so that leaves us a whole week to guess what it might contain. Two notable questions come to mind.

Where will the game be set?

What race will the main character be?

The first question affects gameplay far more, while the second will effect news coverage. I remember protests from Italians over the early games, and then black people San Andreas. In GTA IV they banked that no one would get offended over a violent hero from the Balkans, and no one did. So, will it just be some white guy to avoid controversy? Or will they take another stab at a different race or creed?

CJ was my favorite GTA hero to date.

Do you think the game will stay in Liberty City? The money-inspired “Five” symbol on the logo indicates it might have a Wall Street  theme with the current crisis, but Liberty City IS fictional New York. Part of me thinks they don’t want the elaborately crafted map of GTA IV to go to waste, and they might just tweak it for the new game. That would break tradition howver, as in each new title, there has been a new map. So if not Liberty, then where?

I didn’t ask this initially, but I’m also wondering about the tone. Before IV, the games were somewhat goofy, and had plenty of mayhem, but it was all in good fun. IV had a super serious plotline with a tragic ending that was unavoidable no matter what you did. With some praising Saints Row as a “more fun” version of GTA, will they dial back the solemness of the last game a bit?

Your thoughts?

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19 Comments

  1. Easy. Tokyo.

    You’ve got a big, bright, crowded city and crazy sub-machine gun toting, drift-racing gangs.

    It would give them a chance to shake up the whole dynamic of the game and draw inspiritation from a completely different culture.

    Who doesn’t want to drive down the streets of Tokyo in a crotch-rocket wielding a samurai sword while being chased by Yakuza?

    Also, Hong Kong would be sweet.

  2. I’d like for them to move on from the original cities in GTA 1 along with its current day setting and move on to GTA 2 – the future with all the hover cars and laser guns you could want.

  3. Rockstar keep handing out clues to put people off!

    The most popular theory is that it is going to be in L.A again but a more realistic interpretation than San Andreas.

    If you buy episodes from liberty city in the back of the manual there is a poster tear saying “Next stop” and people found the full image is there is from which is also seen in game in both vice city and san andreas.

    On the Rockstar social club website their is a plane ticket for Niko Belic that is from Liberty city to San andreas

    There were also several real websites found created by rockstar for the new gta game that hint at several thing but mostly a san andreas or hollywood based game.

    Lastly Packie McReary is seen boarding a plane at the end of gta 4 suggesting he will be in the new game and character transcripts for two other minor gta4 character hint at them featuring in the new game as well.

    My money is on the game being set in San Andreas focusing on the Hollywood area set in the modern times of the GTA 4 universe and will feature some GTA 4 characters.

    Either that or Bangcock.

  4. An in depth Vegas would be AMESOME! They already did this with San Andreas a little bit so i doubt that it will return. London would be good also but I don’t envision them leaving the states. My dream game would be multi-city travel but you can wish in one hand…….

    Also, i could care less what race/ethnicity the main character is because no matter what rockstar is going to make him extremely likable.

  5. I’d like to see either Baltimore or Detroit, but I’m not sure how likely that is. I’m wondering if R* is going to go all in and abandon fictional cities for real ones, and trim all the campy humor from the game. That could either go really well, or really badly.

  6. It should be Atlanta. The character should be black. You could be able to go to east Atlanta zone 6 and get missions from Waka Flocka Flame and Gucci Mane. The should also make it where you can buy real estate, that way you can have a traphouse.

  7. Rio, Tokyo Bangkok mexico city las vegas something like that šŸ™‚
    It’s going to be in the states so las vegas.
    And CJ is my least favourite He wasn’t as a badass like the rest

  8. I actually think it would be awesome if it was based around the McReary family, taking place before GTA IV, in a Boston type place (I agree with 2nd comment)

  9. I think based upon your thoughts on the logo, and them maybe not wanting to reuse a previous city like liberty city, they should go with a completely new area rather than reuse an old one like vice city or san andreas. I think they have two great options, one of which I like better than the other, and both whose cities fit the classic GTA bill of having a metro area, a slums, and a rich suburbs. They could go with Boston, but that doesn’t have the financial vibe you may be looking for. I think Chicago however, would be an incredible location for a GTA game. The south side slums/projects, The metro area with lakeside parks and property along lake michigan, and the northern suburbs. Plus Chicago is home to the oldest/longest running stock exchange in the U.S., easily satisfying your notion of finance involved in the story/logo. Even if its not Chicago, I think it would be an ideal GTA city.

  10. Don’t really care where it’s set, as long as it’s a huge map like San andreas.

    Don’t care what race I play. It has never mattered to me if I played as a white guy or black guy.

    You never asked what Gender the main character would be. So far we’ve played only men. They could just as easily throw a woman in there and have us play as her. A tough as nails latina chica taking on the cartels in Mexico city would be fairly enjoyable.

    I hope they take out the “social” aspect of the game. Nothing annoyed me more than having to have drinks or go eat with friends in the game. I’m playing Grand theft auto, not the Sims. I don’t want to simulate the life of a criminal/boyfriend. I want to pick up prostitutes in my car then kill them to get my money back. I want to drive recklessly down a sidewalk and flip a car into a crowd, I don’t want to play pool with Jacob so he likes me.

    Also a steam roller or other construction vehicles would be nice.

  11. A border city with Mexico!! It would be cool to have a “GTA border cities”, right now the north of Mexico is the closes thing to GTA, mass murders, shootings etc. It would be cool to have missions in a USA city and then in a Mexican city.
    More than 60,000 murders in 3 years?? ThatĀ“s crazier than GTA.

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