Original Grand Theft Auto "almost canned"

By Fred Dutton Published 31 January, 2011

DMG dev: "car handling was appalling"

Sandbox behemoth Grand Theft Auto very nearly never came into being, with the original game in the series a hair's breadth away from being cancelled while still in production, according to a new interview with one of the original developers.

Speaking to Gamasutra, DMA Design's Gary Penn explained "[The original GTA] was a real mess for years, it never moved on, it never went anywhere," before adding, "the publisher, BMG Interactive, wanted to can it."

According to Penn, there were two main issues that dragged down development.

"One of them is stability, which is a really boring one but it crashed all the fucking time," he explained. "The designers couldn't test stuff out or try things out, it just kept crashing as simple as that.

"Now the other thing that was a problem was the handling - the car handling was appalling... the core of playing was fundamentally broken."

The turning point came when a glitch in the code sent the police AI haywire, making them try to drive you off the road.

"One day, I think it was a bug, the police suddenly became mental and aggressive. It was because they were trying to drive through you.

"Their route finding was screwed, I think," he continued, "and that was an awesome moment because suddenly the real drama where, 'Oh my God, the police are psycho - they're trying to ram me off the road.' That was awesome, so that stayed in."

Grand Theft Auto eventually launched on PC in October 1997 to huge sales and considerable controversy. The rest, of course, is history.

DMA Design became Rockstar North in 1999 after being acquired by Take-Two Interactive. Penn now works at independent Scottish social game studio Denki.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • agparrot #1 1 year ago

    lol @beemoh.

    Can you still download GTA for free? I put hours into the PS1 version, and eventually picked up the PC version so I could, rather sadly, try some of the car mods, like for a convertible Saab and stuff.

    Great game, and I really enjoyed GTA2, too, although that always crashed for me on the third island, and I could never get the fecker to load up after that.

  • djm99 #2 1 year ago

    And years later the handling is still awful.

  • Cylinder #3 1 year ago

    GTA 1 and 2 are both free from Rockstar's site! Still great games.

  • Syrette #4 1 year ago

    "DMA Design became Rockstar Games in 1999 after being acquired by Take-Two Interactive."

    Don't you mean Rockstar North?

  • altitude2k #5 1 year ago

    I honestly preferred, by quite a wide margin, the original 2D GTAs to any of the 3D ones.

    GOURANGA!

  • Skurmedel #6 1 year ago

    I have it on CD somewhere in my storage, and the original map :D I think that gives me some nerd cred, or it just makes me a terrible hoarder.
    Edited by Skurmedel at 31/01/11 @ 20:37

  • darkmorgado #7 1 year ago

    There's a load of bugs that have ended up staying in the final game as a feature. The "driving up the walls" in Crackdown was famously a bug to start with.

  • KungFuSpoon #8 1 year ago

    I'm surprised the old GTAs haven't made it to XBLA and PSN. Even though you can get the PC versions for free I would pay for GTA/London and GTA 2 on my 360, just for the convenience of having it on my console (and not having to fuck with my audio drivers to get sound as I do with my PC).

  • butler` #9 1 year ago

    i remember when it first came out on demo disc (remember them?)

    me and my mate were way too young to play it, and there was this quiet controversy around it, with it apparently being on the verge of being banned.

    we played it with the volume on mute so his dad couldn't hear and, suffice to say, our 10 year old minds were blown.

  • NimbusTLD #10 1 year ago

    Bugs creating fun gameplay? Someone has to mention Boiling Point :p

  • hiddenranbir #11 1 year ago

    "And now you'll know why they call me the donkey"


    See, I'm pretty much sure that character ass-raped YOUR character once you completed the first city. How else would you see why he's called the donkey?

  • LazyDan #12 1 year ago

    Makes you think doesn't it? How many games in history were cancelled that would've otherwise gone on to be legendary franchises had they seen the light of day?

  • gjgjg #13 1 year ago

    free gta1 & 2?!

    why was i not informed earlier?

    i remember playing gta so much that i had a mary whitehouse moment. after heavy sessions, when i finally emerged into daylight i saw a parked car - my instinctive subconscious reaction was to get in and drive. very strange sesation actually

  • Harmonica #14 1 year ago

    The first time you jump into that unassuming grey Bulldog at the start of the game is A JOY.

    Usually followed by accidentally scaring train passengers onto the tracks. BzzZZzzzz.

    Priceless gaming moment.

    @ butler
    >> i remember when it first came out on demo disc (remember them?)

    It had a 6 minute timer, and then it forced you to quit. That kind of thing is unthinkable these days, but I played it over and over and over.
    Edited by Harmonica at 01/02/11 @ 07:04

  • homerbert #15 1 year ago

    The best thing about the 6 minute timer was that it was easily patched, so you could play the demo for up to half an hour. Good times.