The Grand Theft Auto series is renowned for its developers creating games set in locations where they don't reside. While Rockstar North, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, has historically led the franchise, the London-based mission pack for Grand Theft Auto was developed by their newly acquired Canadian studio, Rockstar Canada. Many on the development team had never visited London. This geographical distance, however, has often granted developers a unique perspective, focusing on a place's cultural representation rather than its literal reality, a phenomenon evident in Grand Theft Auto: London's distinctive dog waste.
In a recent feature discussing the making of Grand Theft Auto: London, it was revealed that the Canadian team's work was significantly influenced by the British parody magazine Viz. Artist Ray Larabie, who was part of the development, described himself as an "anglophile" with a perception of England shaped by Viz. "I knew all about Newcastle upon Tyne and the curry shops and the Kray twins from Viz magazine. I had this twisted view of England," Larabie stated. He recalled asking locals about Viz, only to be told it was for "juvenile young men."
Despite the perceived juvenile nature of the magazine, which featured characters like "the vibrating bum-faced goats" and was known for its crude humor, Larabie managed to incorporate a specific detail from its pages into the game. "London was famous for having dog shit everywhere in the 60s," he explained. "So I put little dogs’ eggs, as they call them in Viz, on the sidewalk. And set it so that if you see a poop on the sidewalk, you can do a handbrake on it and leave a big brown skid mark. That’s my only innovation I ever made in videogames."
This instance highlights a recurring theme in the Grand Theft Auto series: the developers' cultural lens shaping the game's world. From GTA 3's cinematic homages to Scarface in Vice City and Heat in GTA 4, Rockstar has consistently drawn from external cultural touchstones. While identifying definitive UK cultural touchpoints can be complex, with influences ranging from "Fawlty Towers" to "Mr Bates vs The Post Office," an outsider's perspective often narrows this field. The inclusion of Viz and its signature dog egg joke serves as a delightful example of this cross-cultural translation in game development.