Yes, Grand Theft Auto is a videogame series where you drive fast cars and occasionally mow down the odd pedestrian here and there. I like that. It’s nice. I am looking forward to also doing that in Grand Theft Auto 6. But the thing I’m really excited to do? Hop on a bus, baby.
Out of all 16(!!) pages from Edge magazine’s newest megafeature on Rockstar’s upcoming meteor, a teeny-tiny paragraph about Leonida’s public transportation system is the one that’s got me feeling all giddy. Similarly to Red Dead Redemption 2, the game will feature a fully functioning train system, as well as a bunch of bus routes to help you get around Leonida the old-fashioned way.
And, according to head of development Phil Hooker, they’re systems that he has extensively tested to ensure their reliability. “I’m obsessed with making sure they always turn up,” he told Edge. “So, anywhere in the middle of playing, I’ll just go: right, we’re going to get the bus to where we’re going. I’ve memorised all of the routes.”
I kind of love it, I can’t lie. It really feels like Rockstar is paring down the criminal power fantasy a tiny bit and offering more grounded, realistic ways to exist in its world. Which might make some hardcore pedestrian-mowers a little furrow-browed, but it seems as though the developer is trying to create various levels at which people can engage with the chaos and zaniness the series has typically offered.
As much as I’m also a member of the crime spree brigade, something like a public transportation system is one of those details that’s going to make Leonida feel alive in a way we’ve not really seen from the series before. It feels fitting for a story like Jason and Lucia’s, too—it seems like they don’t quite want the all-out criminal fame of previous protagonists, and allowing them to engage with more practical methods of getting around feels like the perfect way to play into that.
It’s not just a cutesy way to roleplay an everyday commuter, either. Hooker also highlights making use of the buses and trains as a way to evade the watchful gaze of the police. “If they don’t see you get on, and then you get out of the ‘wanted’ area, why would they search the bus unless they see you get onto it?”
More than anything, Edge’s feature now has me desperate to go buy a beer, a pack of smokes, and jump onto a bus to watch the world go by. Though the only place I think Hooker is wrong is that he’s been rigorously ensuring everything turns up on time—I dunno how things work in Florida, but the true realistic experience would be to have no buses turn up for ages until two or three arrive bumper-to-bumper. That’s the true public transportation experience, after all.