Ten movies and one TV show that inspired Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is often described as one of the most cinematic video‑game franchises. Over three decades the developers have drawn heavily on gangster and action cinema, adapting their themes, visual style and set‑piece energy to open‑world gameplay. The following list details the films and one television series that have informed every instalment from the 1996 original up to the most recent release.

According to Paul Farley, a designer who worked on the original GTA, the high‑octane bus‑bomb film Speed was a major influence because of its rapid pacing, witty dialogue and rampant vehicle destruction. Farley and his fellow designers also cited 1980s Saturday‑afternoon TV staples such as Knight Rider and The A‑Team, essentially any programme featuring car chases and explosions.

Walter Hill’s 1979 cult classic about a Coney Island street gang travelling back to its territory after a midnight Bronx meeting has been called a stylish portrait of a city in crisis and a key reference for Rockstar. “This was one of our favourites during the making of GTA 2,” Sam Houser told Official PlayStation Magazine during the making of GTA 3. “It was a great inspiration when creating the various street gangs, and it’s also good for reference on how to construct really seedy, run‑down urban areas.” Rockstar admired the film enough to produce a criminally overlooked adaptation.

Brian De Palma’s neon‑splashed, explosive look at Miami’s drug underworld set a benchmark for the sleaze, style and chaos that each GTA title strives for. The film’s protagonist Tony Montana became an archetype of unstoppable action, while its rise‑from‑foot‑soldier narrative shaped the series’ gangster storytelling. Its synth‑laden soundtrack also left a mark, with five of its songs appearing in GTA 3.

The ultra‑stylish 1980s television crime series that launched Michael Mann’s career served as a major tonal guide for GTA Vice City and continues to echo in the upcoming GTA 6. “Michael Mann’s use of colour and light is wonderful,” Sam Houser told Edge in 2012. “Miami is such a beautiful place anyway, so the light is gorgeous, but his use of night lighting made it so glossy and sexy. He’s also an expert in the use of weapons, and we met all of the weapons experts who worked on Miami Vice. We got into the details in a hardcore way.”

Martin Scorsese’s body of work infuses the GTA series with more than just violence; it also brings themes of immigration, male identity, brotherhood and betrayal. Goodfellas is regarded as especially seminal, prompting Rockstar to enlist Ray Liotta to voice Tommy Vercetti in GTA Vice City. Scorsese’s focus on popular music as a structural element is mirrored in the games’ extensive licensed soundtracks. Taxi Driver and Mean Streets are also noted as clear influences on the Liberty City titles.

For GTA San Andreas, Rockstar transplanted the action to a 1990s version of Los Angeles called Los Santos, blending skyscrapers, lavish mansions and impoverished neighbourhoods. The protagonist Carl “CJ” Johnson draws heavily from Tre Styles, the central character of John Singleton’s 1991 drama Boyz n the Hood, a young man torn between escaping and being drawn into gang life. The game’s orange‑tinged visual palette, hip‑hop soundtrack and roster of rappers, gang leaders and corrupt officers were also inspired by Boyz n the Hood, Menace II Society, Colors and the cult classic To Live and Die in LA.

GTA 4 shifted to a darker, more somber criminal narrative centred on Eastern‑European immigrant Niko Bellic, who arrives in Liberty City seeking the American dream only to encounter a vortex of crime that has already claimed his cousin Roman. Dan Houser has said the game has no major movie inspirations, but there are certainly echoes of the Russian neo‑noir film Brother, which follows a demobilised soldier entangled in his brother’s violent gangland empire.

De Palma’s theme of the veteran returning to crime reappears in Carlito’s Way, where Al Pacino’s character is released from prison and pulled back into a world of drugs and violence. Aaron Garbut has cited this film’s nuanced underworld characters as an influence on Vice City.