Grand Theft Auto: 10 Coolest Easter Eggs, Secrets & References Explained
5. The Game's Manual Explains The Top-Down Perspective
Surely the most distinctive aspect of the first two mainline GTA games is their top-down perspective, counter to the third-person perspective employed from the 3D era onward.
And while most players probably haven't put much more thought into it than that, anyone who decided to peruse the game's manual - remember when they were a thing? - would find out the actual artistic intent behind the camera viewpoint.
Basically, the manuals for the first two GTA games refer to the camera as the "OJ Cam," a nod to the infamous helicopter chase footage of O.J. Simpson fleeing the police following the 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson.
So, GTA's camera is an actual narrative element of-sorts that exists within the game world, then: a bird's eye video report created by an omnipotent news chopper.
Curiously, data miners also discovered unused graphics for helicopters within the game's code, suggesting there were plans to include flyable helicopters during development.