GTA 3 Developer Found Riding Train Boring, That's How Cinematic Camera Appeared

Looking at the road from your car's wheel in GTA might not be necessary, but you have to admit it's a cool view. Surprisingly, the feature's roots come from a different kind of vehicle. 

Obbe Vermeij, former technical director at Rockstar who worked on GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas, revealed that it all started with a train in GTA 3. Vermeij simply found riding it boring, as he revealed on X/Twitter. He thought about letting the player "jump ahead to the next station but this would cause streaming issues," meaning the textures would need to load too fast for the system to follow – an issue that was the reason Rockstar had to make the player slower in GTA 3 and why you can't fly there.

So Vermeij made the camera "switch between random viewpoints near the track." The solution was met well, and one developer even suggested doing the same in a car.

"I added the wheel cam, as well as the view from chasing cars. The team found it surprisingly entertaining so the cinematic camera stayed in," Vermeij shared.

It was also kept in Vice City and revamped in San Andreas by another programmer.

There are a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes facts you can learn from Vermeij's X/Twitter, like the reason behind the random plane crashes in GTA: San Andreas, why there was no litter on the streets there, and how the game's mirrors were made.

Moreover, you can find glimpses of his project in development, Plentiful, a "relaxing game about creating conditions for nature to thrive."

Also, join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.