Beta Releases

Before the release of any Grand Theft Auto game, there were features that were removed from the final product. These changes range from deleted vehicles and player skins to the removal of entire characters and mission strands.

Grand Theft Auto 2

 * The vehicles in the beta version looked vastly different, and were more detailed. Several cars also never appeared in the final version.
 * A weapon called the "Microwave" was removed.
 * A weapon called the "Instant vehicle bomb" was removed.
 * A weapon called the "Electro baton" was removed.

Grand Theft Auto III


Characters
 * Claude's appearance went through many different designs. Some screenshots show a poorly detailed Claude, who looks completely different from the final version. Other pictures show a more final Claude with different hair and a more "chubbier" appearance.
 * Curtly was removed from the final version.
 * The character of Darkel, a revolutionary domestic terrorist, was cut.
 * Novy was cut as the game's protagonist.

Peds
 * Certain player skins, accessible with cheat codes, were removed.
 * Elderly pedestrians with walkers were removed.
 * Children were cut.
 * Police Officers originally had moustaches.

Vehicles
 * The LCPD Police and the Enforcer vehicle liveries were changed from then-current NYPD blue with white stripes to LAPD-style black and white.
 * Army Helicopter was cut.
 * Driveable School Buses were cut.
 * The Dodo's wings were cut down - They probably made this change to fit the vehicle into the Import/Export garage in Portland.
 * The Esperanto (and probably the Idaho too) had hydraulics.
 * There were many vehicles on the Capital Autos website that were changed or did not make it in the final game.
 * The Manana was called Ariant.
 * The Moonbeam was called Aster.
 * The Sentinel was called Beamer.
 * The Infernus was called Dyablo.
 * The Esperanto was called Esparanto.
 * The Idaho was called Hachura.
 * The Patriot was called Hum Vee.
 * A box van similar to the the Mule, called Luton was cut.
 * The Perennial was called Maurice.
 * The Panto was cut.
 * The Cheetah was called Rocket.
 * The Kuruma was called Sentinal.
 * The Stinger was called Shark.
 * The Blista was called Space.
 * An unknown vehicle that appears in green on a picture was cut from the game.

Missions
 * Some, but not all, of Darkel's missions were subsequently given to other characters.
 * A mission that involved flying the Dodo was cut.
 * Originally, when doing Vigilante, Paramedic, or Firefighter missions, the vehicles radio could go out of range - requiring the player to drive closer to the nearest police station/hospital/fire station.
 * A mission that you need to bomb a school bus and blow it near a buiding is cut due the violence and gore.

City
 * The Old School Hall changed appearance. It previously looked newer and lit up.
 * Punk Noodles was originally replaced with a small grass park with two statues. The statue model still exists in the game's files.
 * In the beta, the airport was once in Staunton Island and there are many roads in Shoreside Vale. Callahan Bridge is also absent.

Others
 * The airplane landing at Francis International Airport was destroyable with a Rocket Launcher.
 * The ability to blow limbs off of non-playable characters was cut, but only from the PS2 version of the game.[] It can still be activated in the PS2 version via cheat codes.
 * Online multiplayer was cut.
 * Originally, police officers and gang members would crouch. Probably, the protagonist could do the same.
 * The graphics were originally "cartoonish".[]
 * A very early HUD was very different.
 * The radar was light blue instead of yellow.
 * One of the missions was marked with a head on the radar.
 * The ability to name the character, much like in Grand Theft Auto, was cut. An unused line of text reads "[DEFNAM] Claude--" - interestingly, this confirms that the protagonist’s name is Claude.
 * Unused lines of text within the game's text files contain phrases, such as "You're perfectly healthy, get out of here!" and "I'll just fix you up". These lines of text seem to imply that the game's hospitals were, originally, accessible/useable.
 * The "Busted!" text and target arrows were originally red instead of blue.
 * Grand Theft Auto III was originally going to be released for GameCube.

Some of these changes are thought to have been as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, although others were made well before that time.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Characters
 * A character called Mr. MofFarewell, My Love...fat was originally going to be in the game but was cut.
 * Tommy Vercetti was older and bigger in build.

Vehicles
 * The Blista Compact originally looked almost identical to the Honda CRX, it even featured the letters 'GPX' on the back.
 * The Infernus had thin rectangles for its headlights and taillights.
 * The Moonbeam was originally, implied, to have sliding rear doors.
 * The police cars were originally white with red and blue stripes, similiar to early Miami police cars.
 * The Sentinel originally had different rear styling.
 * The Virgo originally had a different look. Its beta model is still inside Vice City's files, named "Cougar", implying that the beta Virgo was named the Cougar.
 * The Washington originally had different frontal styling.
 * The Sabre Turbo had different front grille, as seen in the GTA Vice City Trailer Video.

Missions
 * It is believed by some fans that trash collecting missions based on the Paramedic missions were in the beta.

City
 * Fort Baxter Air Base originally included an air traffic control tower and a runway. The runway is totally absent, but the tower can still be seen in the distance from Vice Beach.
 * There was no stadium in the beta.
 * The northeast part of the beach didn't exist in the beta.
 * Vice Port has a waterway and ships are absent in the beta.
 * There are no shacks in the sea in the beta.
 * Some roads didn't exist in the beta version.
 * There were no rocks and even the lighthouse is absent in the beta.
 * There were bus shelters around the city. The bus shelter model, bustopm.dff, is still inside Vice City's file.
 * The long road from the police station going to the Ammunation is absent in the beta map.

Weapons
 * Grenade Launcher weapons were cut.
 * The beta MP5 looked shorter and very different.
 * The PSG-1 didn't have a silencer in the beta.
 * There was once an AK-47 in the beta (as seen in the GTA Vice City Trailer Video).
 * It is believed by some fans that there was a Tazer, a Nailgun and Landmines in the beta version.

Others
 * There were many phone conversations between Tommy and Mercedes Cortez.
 * There were many lines cut from characters such as Kent Paul, Umberto Robina, Mercedes Cortez, Mr. Moffat and BJ Smith in Sunshine Autos. []
 * Tires were able to be slashed and recorded into the stats.
 * There was going to be an additional outfit called the "MC Tommy" but was taken out. It was originally a brown biker jacket that could be found in Howlin' Petes Biker Emporium

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Characters Vehicles Missions City Weapons Others
 * Characters including Officer Carver, Larry and Poncho were removed.
 * Both Sweet and Big Smoke originally looked different. Sweet was originally dressed in black and wore a black beanie. Big Smoke wore a white jersey and did not wear a hat, exposing his shaved head.
 * Gang members looked different and wore different clothing.
 * The Bullet had a different look.
 * The Clover had different taillights.
 * The Savanna had a different grille
 * The Sadler was meant to be Ryder's car, instead of the Picador.
 * There are many deleted missions which include The Truth is Out There and Impounded or missions with different objectives which include Doberman, Photo Opportunity and Beat Down on B Dup.
 * During the mission Saint Mark's Bistro, CJ had communication with Francis International air traffic control.
 * In the hidden text ingame, there was a mission where while you were talking to Cesar, your car got towed, then you had to go retrieve it. The mission was supposed to be called Impounded.
 * Fish in a Barrel was supposedly an actual mission instead of a mere cutscene.
 * In Sweet's Girl, originally Sweet did not have a gun, so CJ escorted him out.
 * In Farewell, My Love..., unused lines of text imply that Catalina was having sex with Claude during the race.
 * In Photo Opportunity, Unused text implies that CJ hijacked and used a helicopter.
 * There was going to be a mission called Looking for Big Smoke.
 * Originally, if Carl Johnson killed a pedestrian, a news van would arrive and the crew would report on the event.
 * If Carl crashed into a lamp post a mechanic would arrive to fix it. If the player killed the mechanic the lamp post would remain broken for a time, even if the player left the immediate area.
 * The Mulholland Safehouse seemed to have a full interior that can be seen from the outside.
 * Donut shops such as Rusty Brown's Ring Donuts were places Carl Johnson could eat.
 * The Skateboard was cut from the final game.
 * Animals that would roam the rural areas were cut.
 * The ability to create and run your own casino was taken out of the alpha version.
 * Carwashes, similar to those in GTA IV, were cut.
 * The ability to ride the Trollies in San Fierro was cut.
 * The ability to smoke weed and drink beer was cut from the alpha version.
 * The mobster who Carl kills in Saint Mark's was originally going to be called Marco Forelli but due to deleted audio, his name was never mentioned in the final version.
 * The Grove Street Families were originally going to be called The Orange Grove Families.
 * Homies would walk into accessible places like safehouses, stores, etc.
 * Pool tables were originally going to be colored green instead of blue.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

 * The Barrel was cut in the alpha version.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Characters
 * Joseph Daniel O'Toole's glasses were originally blue.
 * Toni Cipriani originally looked older.

Vehicles
 * The police cars were originally blue before being changed to the same black-and-white design seen in GTA III.
 * There was a golden PCJ-600 that was cut.
 * There was an orange Landstalker that was removed.
 * There was a blue Perennial in the BETA.

Others
 * The Liberty News cutscenes were cut.
 * Toni's casual clothes were a purple shirt with a green vest.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Characters
 * Bryan Forbes originally had a mustache

Vehicles
 * An unnamed motorcycle (possibly a different Streetfighter or PCJ-600) was cut.

Mission
 * According to screenshots, there was going to be a mission where Bryan and Vic were attacked by the Mendez Cartel.
 * In the mission, Last Stand, there was an additional man that Vic had to kill other than Martinez and Diego Mendez. It is widely believed that the third man is Armando Mendez.

Others
 * The Casual clothes were originally yellow.
 * The Control Tower in Fort Baxter Air Base was cut again. As in Vice City, it can be seen from Vice Beach.
 * Tattoo Parlors, similar of those in San Andreas, were cut.
 * The Army Fatigues originally had USMC on the shirt, suggesting that Vic would join the Marines instead of the army.
 * The Fort Baxter Air Base said "Sempter F1" on one of the building.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Vehicles
 * Buses were planned as a form of public transportation, much like taxis.
 * The Coach was cut from the final version, although it can be seen briefly in the commercial for Higgins Helitours.
 * Taxis have a black variant, as seen in Vlad's video.
 * The Enforcer was originally a Boxville.
 * The Merit had a different grill.
 * The Annihilator was missing its yellow stripe.
 * The Helitours Maverick was originally replaced by normal Mavericks.
 * There was a sedan similar to the Marbelle
 * The Dodo plane was planned.
 * The Andromada plane was planned.
 * A plane named "Fighter" was planned.
 * The SWAT Tank or another vehicle linked to SWAT was planned.

Peds
 * There were originaly women police officers.

Characters
 * A mobster, Raymond Alberga, was deleted from the final version.
 * Little Jacob originally did not wear glasses.

Clothing
 * Fingerless gloves were probably available during gameplay. Pre-release screenshots and videos of the PC version also show Niko with fingerless gloves but were still not available in the game. They still however can be found in the game files.
 * Binco was going to be the first clothing store. It is replaced by the Russian Shop.

Weapons
 * Beta weapons include a Silenced 9mm, MP5 and a Revolver.
 * In An Early preview, Little Jacob Would sell a rocket launcher to Niko. It was originally attached to the underside of his truck.

Others
 * Niko originally had a buzz cut.
 * Pedestrians would carry planks.
 * There was once a ferry at the Ferry Terminal.
 * According to previews, Niko could climb telephone poles.
 * Niko would have been able to get limo rides just like taxi rides. The player would also be able to watch TV in the limo.
 * Niko would originally bring prostitutes to his home.

The Lost and Damned

 * The Tampa was originally supposed to spawn around Liberty City. Now, it is limited to the beginning cutscene.
 * Content from the mission Politics was cut.
 * A Game Informer preview states Johnny could originally change outfits.
 * According to previews, Johnny had the access to date girlfriends.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

 * According to rumors, a tank that could drive through water called the "Sea Dragon" was going to be included in the game.

The Ballad of Gay Tony

 * The Brickade was cut from the final game.