Universes

"...the “universes” are the worlds interpreted at different definitions, 2d, 3d and high definition..."

- Rockstar Games during a Grand Theft Auto III Q&A.

The Grand Theft Auto Universes are the different fictional universes that the Grand Theft Auto series is set in. The series is divided into three distinct, officially named by Rockstar Games as the "2D Universe", "3D Universe" and the "HD Universe". Each universe is designed to be completely separate to each other so that no physically appearing characters or storylines would overlap.

Description
A universe can be considered a completely separate 'canon' of places, people, and events that exist in the same universe. Locations that appear in multiple universes are completely rebuilt, rather than just updated. Each successive universe the franchise and may  the "canon" established in a previous universe. A previous universe would be like a mythical universe that never really existed. However, some things do exist appear in multiple universes, including company brands, vehicles, placenames, weapons, and in-series celebrities (e.g Lazlow and Fernando Martinez).

"Dan says that no one before GTA IV will be in it – the move to HD created a schism in this fictional universe, rendering CJ, Toni and co, as mythical characters from a bygone era. But will we see stories from the previous game looping into this one? "I think that might be too mannered," says Houser. "Niko had a particular kind of story and we're trying to make this different. We might allude to things from that world, but we didn't want it to feel like, well, here's the opposite of an immigration story – we wanted a fresh take on what it means to be a criminal in this world of hyper-real Americana"."

- Interview with Dan Houser in The Guardian

Games being in the same universe means that they exist on the same planet, and theoretically characters could occur in multiple games across that universe. However, that does not mean that many characters will do so, nor that the games are similar or closely related at all. However, there are elements (characters, places, vehicles, companies, etc.) which appear (or at least, seem to appear) in more than one universe, but these cases usually tend to have some differences between the Universes.

2D Universe
There are a total of four games (including two expansion packs for the original game) that take place in the 2D Universe: The games in this universe features a 2-dimensional world with a Top-Down Perspective.
 * Grand Theft Auto
 * Grand Theft Auto: London 1969
 * Grand Theft Auto: London 1961
 * Grand Theft Auto 2

3D Universe
The 3D Universe includes a total of six games: This universe introduced a third person view of a 3D world that people could explore, a feature included in every subsequent Grand Theft Auto game. Other non-GTA games, Manhunt and Bully are also set in this universe. The original Top-Down Perspective camera is also featured in Grand Theft Auto Advance and optionally in Grand Theft Auto III.
 * Grand Theft Auto III
 * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
 * Grand Theft Auto Advance
 * Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
 * Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
 * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

HD Universe
The HD (High Definition) Universe is the most recent universe in the series. So far it includes six games, two of them included in an expansion pack for Grand Theft Auto IV: This universe has the best visual quality of the three. Its timeline of events and setting varies greatly from the 3D Universe. Liberty City in this universe is more detailed and much larger than Liberty City in the previous universe. Los Santos is also larger and the environment around it is more vast.
 * Grand Theft Auto IV
 * Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
 * The Lost and Damned
 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
 * Grand Theft Auto V
 * Grand Theft Auto Online

Cross-universe references
Although the universes are designed as separate entities, there are occasional references to previous universes, with some place names, businesses, vehicle names etc. carried over. Some characters and/or their backstories have been mentioned across universes.

Radio Stations

 * Different renditions of Head Radio exist in the 2D and 3D Universes.
 * Radio Los Santos and WCTR both appear in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V.
 * Lazlow's 3D Universe roles as the DJ on V-Rock, presenter of Entertaining America on WCTR and host of "long defunct" Chatterbox FM, are mentioned on radio station Integrity 2.0 in Grand Theft Auto IV.
 * Liberty City Free Radio, a radio station in Liberty City Stories, is mentioned on WKTT Radio in Grand Theft Auto IV. It is claimed that WKTT shows The Martin Serious Show and Conspire used to broadcast on LCFR.

Characters

 * Cris Formage, Lazlow Jones, Fernando Martinez, Marvin Trill, Willy, James Pedeaston, OG Loc, Madd Dogg, Rochell'le, Andee, Cliff Lane, and many other 3D Universe celebrities mentioned in the Vinewood Walk of Fame also exists in the HD Universe.
 * Cris Formage mentioning one of his "previous lifes" could be a reference to his previous 3D Universe renditions.
 * Madd Dogg is the only cross-universe character who interacted with a protagonist from each universe (CJ and Franklin), although offscreen in the HD Universe.
 * The band Love Fist, which appears in GTA Vice City, is mentioned in GTA IV. Furthermore in GTA V, one of the Love Fist members, Willy, can be optionally killed during a mission.
 * Willy will also mention other two members of the band, Percy and Jezz Torrent, during the same mission.
 * Reed Tucker's voice can be heard on radios in GTA III, GTA San Andreas, and GTA V. He is also mentioned in GTA IV.
 * 3D Universe actor Jack Howitzer is also mentioned in GTA IV and featured in GTA V as a TV show character.
 * Stuntman Jock Cranley appears in GTA Vice City Stories, GTA V, and GTA Online.
 * The original Grand Theft Auto features a boss of Mexican origin named El Burro, while Grand Theft Auto III features a homonymous Puerto Rican gang leader who appears as the first phone boss. Although El Burro from GTA III does not appear physically, the game features an artwork of him, in which he looks strikingly similar to El Burro from GTA; plus, both are Latin American.
 * There is also a character named El Burro in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, though he shares no character traits or bears any resemblance to the other two El Burro characters.
 * There is some speculation as to whether Claude Speed, the protagonist of the original versions of GTA 2, and Claude, the protagonist of GTA III, are the same person. With respect to Claude from GTA III, Rockstar have commented that his surname "may or may not be Speed" but have not elaborated further.
 * In Grand Theft Auto V, it is mentioned that a set of a gang called "The Families" known as the "Grove Street Families", which were named after a Davis street also named "Grove Street", existed in the 1990s and has been disbanded at some point before 2013. This is a reference to the Grove Street Families gang and the events of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, although Grove Street is a street of the neighborhood of Ganton in the 3D Universe.
 * Furthermore, a drunk Jimmy De Santa may say that his hood is "from Ganton to Rockford Hills" to Franklin during Friend Activities.
 * An easter egg in Grand Theft Auto IV shows a Liberty Tree headline reading: "Love's hate relationship with taxes", next to a picture of Donald Love, a 3D Universe character.
 * Misty, a minor character and promotional icon of GTA III, is possibly mentioned in GTA V's Self Radio by Cliff Lane, another character from the 3D Universe.

Location Names

 * Francis International Airport is the name of the airport of Shoreside Vale, Liberty City, in the 3D Universe and the airport of Dukes, Liberty City, in the HD Universe.
 * Mount Chiliad is the name of the tallest mountain in both the State of San Andreas in both the 3D and HD Universes. However, they are different types of mountains and located in a total different county (Whetstone in the 3D Universe and Blaine County in the HD Universe).

Brands

 * The restaurants Burger Shot and Cluckin' Bell, as well as the brand ECola and its lemon soda, the Sprunk, all appear in 3D and HD Universes.
 * The clothing store chains Binco, Didier Sachs, ProLaps, Sub Urban, Victim and Zip all appear or are mentioned in both the 3D Universe and the HD Universe.
 * The Liberty Tree is a newspaper in Liberty City in the 3D and HD Universes.

References to the real world

 * London and Manchester appears as the settings of Grand Theft Auto: London expansion packs.
 * and are mentioned many times in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
 * Vice City is located in the State of Florida, named after the.
 * The song Grand Theft Auto, which can be heard on the radios N-CT FM in GTA, and Lips 106 in GTA III, references the and, respectively the police departments of  and.
 * The cities of Miami, New York and the state of California are said to co-exist with their in-game counterparts in the 3D Universe.
 * A Francis International Airport outdoor near the Shoreside Lift Bridge in Staunton Island reads "See you in Miami" (seen on right), and Ray Machowski's last words sent to Claude on his beeper were also "See you in Miami".
 * The Francis International Airport website also makes clear a coexistence between Miami and Vice City, listing both cities as travel destinations.
 * Another billboard featuring Miami also appears in Little Haiti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
 * New York City is mentioned as the setting of Saturday Night Beaver, a musical advertised on the Liberty Tree. The city is also mentioned by Kent Paul on his VCBI Crime Tree Record.
 * The real-life is also mentioned by Kent Paul on his website.
 * Hollywood, California is mentioned in Grand Theft Auto Advance and Manhunt.
 * In the HD Universe, a radio advertisement for the Dragon Brain film in Grand Theft Auto IV mentions California, a rare instance of the state being directly mentioned in the HD Universe instead of its counterpart of San Andreas.