As people pore over the incredible graphic fidelity of GTA VI, it's promoting others to observe just how much Grand Theft Auto has evolved over 29 years.
The original game was also considered groundbreaking back in 1997 with its varied NPCs and emergent gameplay. It was also a departure in that it was game where you didn't necessarily need to do anything: you could enjoy just driving around and looking at things.
Patrick Kerr, who was a programmer at DMA Design before it became Rockstar North, has now recreated his 2D physics simulation that became the basis for the game's vehicle system, and you can play with it online.
Kerr says the simulation began as a basic wireframe demo written in GFA BASIC on an Atari ST. It was later ported to C for the game. He's now recreated it in JavaScript with sleeker visual presentation.
Car (1) is the default mode, but you can also select Ship (2) or Brick (3) by pressing the respective number keys. Press B to toggle the side collision barriers and G to turn vertical gravity on or off for Ship and Brick modes. Z toggles the camera's dead zone, and X toggles the speed-based zoom just like in GTA.
For developers interested, Kerr's explained how the system works in a post on his website. You can play the demo at Motion Lab.
