Grand Theft Auto Cinematic Camera Origins Revealed

Rockstar Games had brought out a real heavy hitter when they released Grand Theft Auto 3. The video game saw a huge overhaul, delivering a new 3D perspective aspect for the game franchise. Likewise, this was the start of a real craze for this franchise, with each new installment looking to top the last. We’re waiting for the next game to be released this year. However, a new report unveils how the iconic cinematic camera perspective came to fruition.

As mentioned, bringing the game from a top-down perspective was a big change for the franchise. Still, there were moments in the game that developers were not fond of despite the new camera perspective. Thanks to Obbe Vermeij, a former Rockstar Games developer, we’re learning how he incorporated a new camera perspective simply because he found a train ride in Grand Theft Auto 3 too boring for players to sit through.

Obbe Vermeij has been with Rockstar Games for years and helped bring out several iconic installments for the franchise. On X, Obbe noted that he was working on a train ride in Grand Theft Auto 3, but the time it took for players to reach the destination was too long. Initially, the idea was to allow players to skip the ride altogether.

However, this proved to be impossible as it would create streaming issues. As a result, the next step was to make the train ride a little more interesting. A new camera was introduced to switch between different viewpoints around the track. From there, another developer suggested a similar feature for cars.

The developers found this perspective entertaining, whether viewing the car driving around the streets near the viewpoint of a wheel or from chasing cars. Since then, the perspective has continued to find its way into different Grand Theft Auto installments.

We’ll have to see how this camera behaves in Grand Theft Auto VI, but we’re still waiting to see when we’ll get our hands on this game. Earlier today, we reported that developers are still using marketing materials to highlight a 2025 release, so we should still receive the game before 2026 rolls around.