Grand Theft Auto 5 features real life gang members as voice actors

Rockstar’s upcoming massive open-world offering Grand Theft Auto 5 is easily one of the biggest games of the year, even before you consider the brand new multiplayer mode for the game. Now, there’s more to follow up on the game.

In a recent interview on the WGN Podcast, Rockstar Games’ Producer Lazlow Jones revealed how the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 5 used voice-overs from actual gangsters for a more authentic feel to the game.

Lazlow confirmed that the team “went to people's environments and recorded them in their homes, and we got a lot more material and a lot more authentic [material]."

"In the game, part of the element of the story is that there's these gangs, these rival gangs," Lazlow said, scripted by Kotaku. "And there's black gangs, there's Latino gangs, and we recruited a guy who gets gang members, like actual gang members… I mean, El Salvadorian gang dudes with amazing tattoos, one of which literally had gotten out of prison the day before.

"And we brought these guys in to record the game characters, because, you know, you don't want a goofy L.A. actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member, there's nothing worse than that. Just go find the real, terrifying people, and say [to them], 'Can you come in here please?' And they look at the lines and say, 'I wouldn't say that. If I was upset at another gang I wouldn't say that.' [And so you say] 'Then say what you would say!'"

"Authenticity, you know?" Lazlow added. "[There were a lot of times] where we would just throw the script on the floor and be like, 'This thing we have is irrelevant, let's actually work out something real.'"

Grand Theft Auto 5 will see the narrative of the game following three characters with interconnected stories. While Michael is a retired bank robber in his early forties who lives with his dysfunctional family in the upper-class suburb of Rockford Hills, Trevor, his former partner in crime, lives alone in a trailer in the Blaine County desert. Franklin, on the other hand, makes a living in Vespucci Beach as a repo man for a corrupt Armenian car dealership.

Grand Theft Auto 5 is set to arrive on Sept. 17 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

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