The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, Great Britain, or Britain), is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of mainland Europe. The capital city is London. The UK consists of four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. With the exception of Northern Ireland's land border with the Republic of Ireland, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The UK is the setting for Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961. London is the centerpiece of those two video games, Manchester is available as a multiplayer map.
The Grand Theft Auto games are developed in the United Kingdom, more specifically in Scotland, where Rockstar North is based. The games are first shipped to the United States of America and Canada, before they are made available in the UK and the remainder of continental Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and finally the rest of the world.
The UK is currently home to five Rockstar studios:
The United Kingdom is also home to the BBFC rating system, which has given the most scrutiny towards the Grand Theft Auto series without the need for any of the games to be censored or re-rated. Dan Houser, Sam Houser, Terry Donovan and Gary Dale are all British.
Owing to the series' British (especially Scottish) origins, many references are made to the country through the games.
2D Universe[]
- London is the setting of Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961. In the latter, Manchester is also a setting for a multiplayer deathmatch.
- Hollow Kost is from Oxford.
- DJ Dai, the host of Lo-Fi FM in Grand Theft Auto 2, is Welsh.
- The Tank in Grand Theft Auto is based on the Centurion.
- The Machine Gun from Grand Theft Auto: London is based on a Sten Mk. II.
3D Universe[]
Grand Theft Auto III[]
- Freddy is first heard on Chatterbox FM where he speaks to Lazlow about nannies (and he wanted to be spanked). He is also voiced by Dan Houser.
- The Ammu-Nation owner is voiced and influenced by Sam Houser.
- A banker with an English accent can be found around the Staunton Island. When provoked, he claims to be from Cambridge.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]
- Kent Paul is from England, and he later moves to San Andreas in 1992.
- Love Fist are a Scottish metal band.
- Speaking on VCPR, Pastor Richards cites "liberals, degenerates (and) the Welsh" as "responsible for the nightmare Vice City is today".
- The Ammu-Nation owner is again voiced and influenced by Sam Houser.
- According to the official Grand Theft Auto: Vice City website, the Washington is imported from the United Kingdom.
- Edinburgh is listed as a holiday destination by Avec Moi Holidays.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[]
- San Andreas is the old Spanish name for Saint Andrew, the Patron Saint of Scotland.
- Maccer is from Salford, a city in northwest England, and has a strong local accent. He also frequently makes references to his hometown and the adjacent Manchester.
- The Carcer City and Hampshire Nannies adverts are hosted by British advertisers. In addition, a female endorser featured in the Redwood Cigarettes appears to talk in a Sloane accent.
The Edinburgh tourist guide.
- The Stafford (Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow) and Windsor (Jaguar XKE) are both British cars.
- Two pedestrians (marked WFYST and WMYST in the games files) are British, and can be heard using British slang terms such as "wanker" and "bollocks", as well as being disrespectful towards Americans. There is also a male pedestrian (marked OMYST) who claims to have slept with a Scotsman.
- During "Wear Flowers in Your Hair", The Truth ponders if John F. Kennedy lives in Scotland with Janis Joplin.
- In some safe houses, there are guidebooks for different places, including Edinburgh, Scotland.
- There are vehicle number plates bearing the names "Glasgow" and "Rangers", the biggest city in Scotland and a major football team from the same city. Several car number plates from the Exports and Imports also make reference to several former Rangers players. Another custom plate in the game references Celtic, another major team from Glasgow and arch rivals with Rangers.
- Dundee, a city in Scotland, features in the name of the Let's Go to Dundee!! album advertised in-game.
- James Pedeaston, the radio host for The Wild Traveler on WCTR, is British.
- Some radio news segments betrays the game's UK origins, such as the UK use of keeping "drugs" in the plural form in terms like "drugs dealer", as opposed to the American practice of making it singular, i.e., "drug dealer".
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
- The V8 Ghost is a British exotic car based on the Lotus Esprit.
- The voiceover in The Pilgrim's Pantry advert has what appears to be a British accent.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
- Phil Collins voices himself in the game. His assistant, Barry Mickelthwaite, is also English.
- There is a space programme on any radio station which features voices that sound British.
- The announcer of the Buy American Coalition (the national organization that keeps the United States of America independent from foreign goods) slightly slams the Brits by telling them to "shove their tea up their limey asses, and show them the American spirit - by drinking moonshine and killing natives instead."
- The Splitz-6 ATV is based on the Supacat, which is a British vehicle manufactured by that company.
- Trish Camden, co-host of Wave 103, is English. She thinks of her co-hosting an American radio station as: "a little bit of a "British invasion" and says that she wants to bring a little bit of Britain onto the American radio. She also mentions Margaret Thatcher, who was the UK Prime Minister at the time of the game's setting.
HD Universe[]
Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City[]
British flags seen in Grand Theft Auto IV
- Tony Prince mentions that he has clubs in London.
- Daisie Cash-Cooze is a Londoner who moved to Liberty City.
- Ricky Gervais and Frankie Boyle are both British comedians who appear at the Split Sides comedy club.
- A British Embassy with two Union Flags flying can be seen in Middle Park, Algonquin.
- The man who accidentally runs over Jeff Harlingford while driving speaks with a posh English accent.
- The buskers are played by Walter Houser, who is the father of the British Rockstar Games executive producers Sam Houser and Dan Houser.
- DJ Paul, the DJ of Vladivostok FM, is from the United Kingdom.
- During Three Leaf Clover, Derrick McReary mentions The Troubles, a conflict affecting Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. During which Derrick saw conflict in Belfast and went between the UK and Ireland.
- The SMG has "Made in Scotland" writings, despite being made in USA in real life (as the MP-10), as an Easter Egg.
- Several private jets have Scotland flag on the tail.
- Several automotive manufacturers are British:
- The voice messages found on Ray Boccino and The Fixer's phone contacts are recorded by two English voices, a female and a male respectively.
- One of the Club Management tasks has Luis doing errands for a British Prince.
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Nigel and Mrs. Thornhill are two English tourists who are obsessed with Vinewood celebrities and request that protagonist Trevor Philips (whom they mistake for the actor-turned-politician, Jock Cranley) steal several celebrity items (and eventually kidnap Al Di Napoli) for them.
- The Union Jack flag can be found flying, amongst various other flags, at the Los Santos Golf Club and the Jetsam Terminal Headquarters.
- The Cheval Marshall has the customisation option of hanging the British, Welsh, English and Scottish flags at the back.
- The Musket was a weapon of the British Empire. It also has inscriptions on it that suggests it was manufactured in Edinburgh.
- The beta Bullpup Rifle was originally based on the British L85A2 assault rifle.
- The Sniper Rifle is modelled after the British AWM.
- Mrs. Philips, the mother of protagonist Trevor Philips, has an English accent, suggesting she was born in England. She is also voiced by Geraldine Moffat, the mother of Sam Houser and Dan Houser.
- Cara Delevingne, the host of Non Stop Pop FM, is British.
- The Lonelist Robot in Great Britain is set in London, and briefly discusses the perennial class issue in Britain.
- Princess Georgina is a British royal, who is a granddaughter of the Queen.
- Air Herler appears to be a British airline based on British Airways. The wings of Air Herler jets also have a Union Jack pattern on them.
- The aircraft manufacturer Buckingham is named after the town of the same name in the South of England.
- Several automotive manufacturers are British:
- Dewbauchee (Aston Martin)
- Enus (Bentley/Rolls Royce)
- Gallivanter (Land Rover)
- Ocelot (Jaguar)
- Progen (McLaren)
- Weeny (MINI)
- Maxwell (Vauxhall/Ariel)
- Wales is indirectly mentioned by Dr Ray on WCTR show Chakra Attack when he claims to have been in Tibet. His description actually depicts Wales - "a country with hills and a lot of sheep where people sing in choirs and play rugby and eat cheese on toast" (a.k.a. Welsh rarebit).
- The Shrewsbury firearms manufacturer is named after the English town of the same name.
- In the enhanced edition of GTA V, the Dukes has a customisable option where the player can add the Union Jack flag to the roof of the car for $2,500.
- Various tourist pedestrians are British. They are usually found in areas such as Del Perro Beach or Paleto Bay, but are overall very common around the city.
- Willy, a bassist for the band Love Fist, is Scottish.
- There is a British flag on the tour bus as decal.
- Fame or Shame Judge Hugh Harrison claims to be from the fictional British town of Suffordshireburg On The Sea.
- Brother Adrian is Welsh yet speaks with an Irish accent.
- The port of registry of the Daisy Lee is Pumpherston, which is also a village in West Lothian, Scotland.
- The Hawick area of Los Santos is named after the town of the same name in Roxburghshire, Scotland.
- Sometimes, a woman answering a phone call may mention the town of Harrogate.
- A woman fighting may say "This is how we do it in Surrey!".
- The Venetian building in Vespucci Beach has a Scottish flag on the front; this is a reference to Rockstar North.
- The texture file for the Scottish flag in GTA V is twice as big as all other flags in the game, bigger than more common flags such as the American flag or the San Andreas Republic Flag.
- One of the currencies listed on the www.iwillsurviveitall.com website is the British pound.
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- The San Andreas Flight School Update added the Union Jack, as well as English, Scottish and Welsh flag Chute Bags.
- A British character called English Dave is introduced in the After Hours update.
- Futhermore, English Dave’s ringtone is Rule Britannia.
- The Faggio Mod is named afted the mod subculture, and can have various customizations and a few liveries based on it.
- The Stafford can be customized with the "For Queen and Country" livery, having the British flag pattern on it.
- Two liveries of the P-45 Nokota, "God Save The King" and "Crab Air", have a British flag on the tail rudder. The former is the national anthem of the UK when their monarch is male.
- Certain liveries for the Pyro, RM-10 Bombushka and Volatol may have roundels and fin flashes utilized by the Royal Air Force.
- The Pyro is based on a De Havilland DH.100 Vampire.
- A piece of random pedestrian dialogue has the person saying, "A day like this calls for a little haggis." Haggis is a well-known Scottish food.
Gallery[]
The British Marshall in Grand Theft Auto Online.
The Swinger with the For Queen and Country livery.
The Stafford with the For Queen and Country livery.
