Grand Theft Auto: 5 references and Easter eggs about Scotland in GTA

While the game and series is known and loved around the globe, the beauty of GTA is that it never ever forgot its Scottish roots, as can be seen through Easter eggs and references through the series.

Created by David Jones and Mike Dailly, the founders of DMA Design - now known as Rockstar North - the game has left behind a lasting cultural legacy, which will soon be extended with an upcoming announcement for Grand Theft Auto 6.

Despite being set in the US, we take a look at some of the Scottish references – and some of the images that show Scotland throughout the series R with scores of witty references and tongue-in-cheek nods to Scotland.

GTA cheat code Scottish references

In the original GTA released in 1997, even cheat codes had a Scottish reference, with NINEINAROW (all levels) and ITSGALLUS (all stages), with one code making reference to Rangers winning 9 titles in a row in 1997, the year the game was released, and another code making reference to Motherwell with the code SUPER WELL, giving the player access to all levels. In GTA 2 the code BUCKFAST made civilians more aggressive.

Scottish destinations in GTA

In GTA 3, a traffic cone is atop a road traffic sign, and Leith is included alongside Toronto and Tokyo as one of the available destinations from the airport, while GTA Vice City has a poster of the ship Discovery at Vice City airport, urging air passengers to “Come to Dundee”.

GTA San Andreas has horse racing on horses such as ‘Henrik’s Jaw’, recalling the time when Celtic’s star striker Henrik Larsson broke his draw against Livingston in 2003, and ‘Scotland Nil’, perhaps a savage ode to the Scottish national team. Other horse names include: Falkirk Boy, Neigh Bother, Salt ‘n’ Sauce, Dundee Ned and Ochayethenoo.

Rival families, the Ballas and Grove Street gangs are said to be based on Hearts, and Hibs and wear maroon and green respectively while an album entitled ‘Let’s Go to Dundee’ is advertised at the Vinyl Countdown store in Rodeo, Los Santos.

In GTA V a ship called Dignity is moored in one of the game’s harbours – while an ice cream parlour located on Vespucci Beach is named The Sundae Post, a reference to Dundee’s famous weekly newspaper. A Greek restaurant called Gyro Day is located nearby.