GTA dev reveals original plans for Vice City Wanted system feature

A developer who worked on GTA: Vice City has revealed that the game’s Wanted system was meant to be way more complex than what players got back in 2002.

GTA: Vice City has a very rudimentary Wanted system just like the rest of the early games in the Rockstar series. Police in the 80’s 3D game generally spawn a set distance away from players after they earn a Wanted level and give chase.

Rockstar’s former technical director, Obbe Vermeij, responded to a question about the Vice City Wanted system on social media, specifically about police appearing on a specific part of the map when players are wanted. The former Rockstar employee revealed that the police were originally going to be set on players more dynamically, and that this spawn point was a relic of that idea.

“In Vice City, I experimented with pre-set locations where police cars would spawn just at the right time and with the correct initial speed to appear right in front of the player,” Vermeij said.

Vermeij, who left Rockstar in 2009, said there are only a few of those police spawn points still left in the game, as they were “too much hassle” to set up more.

GTA has leveled up its Wanted system since Vice City, making police spawns about as dynamic as what Vermeij wanted in the fourth installment. Rockstar has also made the police more advanced, like letting them use civilian cars to pursue players during long chases and adding in more vehicles like helicopters.

Fans of the franchise will have to wait and see what the developer adds for GTA 6, which is set in Vice City, in terms of the police and Wanted mechanic.