Before Grand Theft Auto, There Was Race’n’Chase
The series began as a cops-and-robbers driving game called Race’n’Chase. Its basic setup was more symmetrical than the later formula: players could take the role of criminals trying to get away or police trying to catch them. The early idea was not simply “drive around committing crimes”; it was to build a pursuit game around both sides of the chase.
The Pursuit Became the Point
As developers at DMA Design tested the game, the police cars’ behavior helped reshape what felt entertaining. They could pursue and ram the player, turning a straightforward escape into a messy, unpredictable scramble through the city. That kind of chaos was more compelling than a tidy contest in which one side merely chased the other.
The shift was a design discovery: the city was fun not just as a route between objectives, but as a place where a player could provoke trouble and react to the consequences. The police response made those consequences immediate. A collision or sudden getaway could transform an ordinary drive into a pursuit.
From Two Sides to a Criminal’s View
The finished Grand Theft Auto put the criminal role at the center. The change did not erase the original cops-and-robbers idea; it made the chase’s most unruly side the main attraction. Instead of asking players mainly to win a controlled pursuit, the game invited them to start one—and then see how long they could keep moving while the city pushed back.
