the guy who fixed GTA's driving physics just released a remaster of his old sim

Saw this on GamesRadar and had to share. The programmer behind the original GTA's vehicle system put out a remaster of the 2D physics simulation that started it all. He said he wrote a 2D physics sim that later became the basis for how cars handled in the first Grand Theft Auto. A Rockstar veteran apparently said it's remarkable how much it feels like GTA1.

I never really thought about the original top-down driving as something that could be isolated and played on its own. But now I'm kind of curious. That era of GTA had this weird weight to the cars, like they'd slide a little too far or bounce off curbs in a way that felt accidental but also kind of perfect for the chaos. It wasn't realistic, but it had personality.

With GTA 6 weeks away, it's easy to forget the series started with a physics sim someone wrote just to see if it could work. Now that same code is getting a standalone release. Wild.

Did any of you actually like the top-down driving in the original, or was it always just a means to get to the next rampage?

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Source: GamesRadar+ · Curated content.