Ex-Rockstar dev reveals more GTA 3 secrets

Rockstar Games released GTA 3 over two decades ago in 2001. Although the title isn't as advanced as some of its successors, it was quite revolutionary for its time and is fondly remembered by many fans. Notably, former Rockstar Games developer, Obbe Vermeij, recently talked about one of its features on X, revealing some interesting details.

This feature is the cinematic camera that is triggered upon boarding a subway train in Grand Theft Auto 3. Vermeij stated that he found riding the train "boring", and considered letting players skip to the next station. However, that caused some streaming issues, which resulted in a cinematic camera being put in place instead.

"When working on the train in gta3 I found riding it boring. I considered letting the player jump ahead to the next station but this would cause streaming issues. Instead, I made the camera switch between random viewpoints near the track. This made the ride more interesting."

A similar cinematic camera option was then also made available for cars in GTA 3 upon someone's suggestion, according to Obbe Vermeij.

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Ex-Rockstar dev talks about cinematic cameras in GTA 3 vehicles

There are two subway trains that players can board in Grand Theft Auto 3 — one overhead, and the other underground. The cinematic camera triggers as soon as they start moving, which Obbe Vermeij (former Technical Director at Rockstar) explained was created after he didn't find riding the train interesting and had run into an issue with another alternative.

He added a cinematic camera for cars as well during the title's development, and players can switch in and out of it at will when driving. He further revealed that while the cinematic camera wasn't changed for Grand Theft Auto Vice City (released a year after GTA 3), it was revamped by another developer for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (2004).

Obbe Vermeij left Rockstar Games in 2009. He often talks about the development and features of some of the older Grand Theft Auto titles on X, such as dynamic weather effects in Grand Theft Auto 3.

While most in the Grand Theft Auto fanbase are now looking forward to GTA 6's release window, which is set for later this year (2025), such revelations from an ex-developer seem like intriguing tidbits, especially for long-term fans of the series.

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Also check: New leak suggests Grand Theft Auto Online to be a 2001 project