Prerelease:Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)/2012

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).

March

On March 22, 2012, Grand Theft Auto V was confirmed to have multiplayer, intergrating the "crews" feature from Max Payne 3.

July

First Screenshots

On July 12, 2012, The first two screenshots were released from Rockstar Games, relating to Grand Theft Auto V. It was after a fan asked for more information regarding the game (as there weren't much news being put out) and confirmed that more screenshots and a second trailer was coming later on.

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A view of Mirror Park in all it's glory.

• All of the cherry and palm were trees present in the Mirror Park District were cut, while some of the other trees were re-positioned or redone.
• The reflection color on the water was more green, implying that the water was polluted and had more of a ripple effect.
• There was an extra crane at the construction site of the Mile-High club.
• The placement of houses on the right side of the image seemed to have been changed.
• A molehill wasn't present at the house in front of the under-construction building.

Early	Final

A slightly-later view of the Los Santos skyline.

• The Hunter is present in this screenshot and would not be released until the next-generation Smuggler's Run update for Online.

August

Screenshots

From August 20, 2012 to August 24, ten screenshots of the game were released.

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An image of a cyclist riding across Vespucci Beach at sunset.

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A picture of the Cheetah, in the middle of suburban Los Santos.

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A screenshot of a jet flying.

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A screenshot showing the tennis court from Michael's house. A few noticeable differences are present.

• The chainlink fence in the tennis court was lighter in color.
• The hedges had a completely different shape.
• More trees were present, and some of them were replaced by palms.
• The chimney on Michael's house was in a slightly different position.
• The doors leading into the house were white and looked more regal.
• Strangely, the window was open, even though it's only like that in Complications.

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A picture showing the wildlife of Blaine County.

• The parachute from the picture is reused from The Ballad of Gay Tony. Though, the texture and model for it can be found in the files.

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An image showing an earlier version of the mission Pack Man.

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A picture of a red cropduster plane being flown over Blaine County.

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A screenshot of a police chase, likely in the mission Franklin & Lamar.

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An image of what seems to be an earlier version of The Merryweather Heist, judging from the time and setting.

November

November was an important month for Grand Theft Auto V, as a lot more information regarding the game's plot, characters and themes would be explained after almost a year without any big news. A second trailer was also released in the month, which outlined what the game would be like and confirmed a release for "Spring 2013".

Second Trailer

On November 14, 2012, a second trailer for Grand Theft Auto V was released, with a planned release date of "Spring 2013". It showed some excerpts from the cutscenes and story, revealing more information about the video game.

Strangely, this trailer was removed from Rockstar Games' official YouTube channel and website in April 2018. This was likely due to the song used in the trailer.

Main Differences

• A lot more foliage is present in the trailer, even though some was removed from the prior-released screenshots.
• Some of the missions likely received changes:
  • The house explosion cutscene at the end of Crystal Maze was slightly different.
  • An odd-looking Taco Bomb truck can be seen during the mission for Father/Son.
• Did Somebody Say Yoga? likely originally took place during nighttime or in the evening.
  • Ron Jakoski didn't wear a jacket during the scene where Johnny Klebitz was stomped on in Mr. Philips. Ashley Butler was also slightly obscured from view, likely to avoid spoilers.
  • The Merryweather Mesa that could be brought out of a cargo plane in Minor Turbulence was different and had no license plate.
  • Trevor jumps off from the left side of the train during the mission Derailed, rather than from the right.
  • In one of the missions, Hydras were present and would not be seen in the game until next-generation versions. It also had a different flame color.
• In the cutscene for Lamar Down, Tanisha her lines spoken on the other way around. It was likely that they were dubbed in to avoid spoilers.

Visual Differences

• Michael De Santa originally owned a 9F rather than a Tailgater at his house.
• The water running under the aqueduct was motionless, like the water seen in Grand Theft Auto IV.
• Some of the palm trees and foliage present from the distant view of Los Santos skyline were removed.
• The build notably had a lot less draw distance (such as hills not being shown), likely due to the amount of props displayed at once.
• There were a lot less windmills present in the windmill farm.
• The hills in the distance of the highway had a slightly different shape.
• The pond where Ortega's trailer is pushed in Mr. Phillips had less trees.
• Some of the details inside the PiBwasser bar aren't present, like the pool cue balls and beer mats on the bar counter.
• The seemingly-abandoned gas station at Route 68 didn't have bunting, a steel fence next to the back door in the final version. Also, the row of palm trees were removed.
• The railroad crossing in the Los Santos neighborhood received a slight redesign.
• Franklin's new house that he gets later in the story was different. The paintings and wallpaper colors were changed all around, even though the floor remains the same.
• The lights on the railroad bridge wasn't present in the final version.

Minor Differences

• Michael's house received some minor changes:
  • The flowers present on the driveway sides at Michael's house were removed.
  • The food processor in the kitchen counter was moved, and the counter there wasn't glossy.
  • The bouquet on the dining room table wasn't present.
  • Some of the palm tree plants were positioned differently.
  • The umbrella in the garden looked significantly smaller.
  • The grate just outside the swimming pool wasn't present.
• The roadblocks outside of the building next to the train tracks aren't present.
• The dual-lights in the middle of the Del Perro Freeway were taken out, likely because it did not fit with the singular lights on the sides.
• The graffiti next to the building at the train tracks under the highway wasn't there.
• The PiBwasser building looked a lot less beaten up, and didn't have much bunting on the roof shingles.
• A streetlight was removed at one of the railroad crossings in the Los Santos neighborhood.
• The billboard near the Maze Bank Arena was slightly re-positioned.
• The address number on the yellow house at Vespucci Beach was removed.
• The security camera at the Bertolt Beach House (where it was used to repossess the car in Franklin & Lamar) was removed. Also, the recycling bins that were seen next door aren't present in the final version.
• The emergency line on the highway at Vespucci Beach was slightly changed.
• The "TO-LET" Building next to Wigwam Burgers at Del Perro Plaza was slightly different.
• The building next to Vinewood Beauty Salon Supply didn't have a black coat of paint at the bottom and had a lot less detail applied to it.
• An umbrella wasn't present on the second-lower deck of Franklin's new house.
• Jimmy De Santa's jersey didn't have his name on the back of it.
• The tower at one of the heist setup locations wasn't present.

Other Differences

• The old man next to Trevor during the cutscene of Mr. Phillips was a lot less muscular.
• The animation for sliding across the vehicle was slightly different.

IGN Question Interview

Two days after the second trailer was released, IGN met Dan Houser who answered some questions relating to the video game's themes and plot.

• An open-world multiplayer game, which would later become Grand Theft Auto Online was confirmed to be in development. At that time, Rockstar wanted to keep their information for a later reveal.
• It was revealed that the storyline choices from the last game didn't quite make it far into the game's span, due to the plot becoming more confusing as it was centered on three characters rather than one.
• The rumored Wii U and Windows port was still being considered. The Windows version would not come out until mid-2015 and the Wii U port was most likely scrapped due to poor sales of the said console.
• Next-generation releases were considered (along as a rumored PlayStation 4 launch title, which wouldn't come out until 2014.) but Dan Houser thought the PlayStation 3 port would be better, as there would be "much larger audience".
• It turned out that the facial-recognition technology from L.A. Noire was scrapped in the end, due to time constraints and technological limitations.
• The body-building feature from San Andreas was scrapped in mid-development, due to it not being used very often even though it would work well in a Californian setting.
• On the question of a comedy club, it turned out it was being planned even though it didn't appear in the game at all. However, an unused interior for the Split Sides Comedy Club can be found.
  • While real-life celebrities appeared in the last game, they were sort-of considered.
• Dan Houser was uncertain if any characters from Grand Theft Auto IV would appear in the game, as many of them were killed. Though, The Lost MC appeared along with a few familiar faces.

Photo Viewer Images

On November 26th, Rockstar Games offered fifty fans to win five different photo-viewers which all contained exclusive screenshots of the video game. Even though only a few were made at that time, more were created later on and were given out to promotional reviewers.

The images suggest that they were taken a little later after the second batch of screenshots were released and before the second trailer was made, hence the amount of palm trees present in some of them.

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An image of Grapeseed fields, in all it's glory.

• The windows on the Stanley tractor were more noticeable.
  • The exhaust in front wasn't present, and the one at the side was moved to other one.

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An image of Franklin skydiving at the Zancudo River.

• Franklin had a slightly different hairstyle.

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A view of the Vespucci Canals.

• A lot more palm trees were present in the image.

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A screenshot of Vinewood Hills, overlooking the skyline.

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A picture of Del Perro Pier.

(Source: GTA-Expert.it - Images)