Factoring in that a large portion of the Grand Theft Auto franchise deals with gangs in an attempted surreally realistic manner, it makes sense that Rockstar wants the dialogue to come across natural and authentic. Game producer Lazlow Jones revealed some aspects to WGN Chicago today though that showcased just how serious the insanely ambitious development studio was in achieving an astonishing level of authenticity with its gangster related dialogue. Real life gangsters walking the streets today were brought on board to lend their voice and imput on the latest installment in the world renowned crime saga.
There's black gangs, there's Latino gangs, and we recruited a guy who gets gang members, like actual gang members, real gang members. I mean, El Salvadorian gang dudes with amazing tattoos and one of which literally had gotten out of prison the day before. And we brought these guys in to record the gang characters because, you know, you don't want a goofy LA actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member. There's nothing worse than that. They look at the lines and they say, 'I wouldn't say that. If I was upset at another gang, I wouldn't say that'. So...say what you would say. Authenticity, you know? There's a lot of sessions that we would have where we would just throw the script on the floor and be like, this thing we wrote is irrelevant, let's just work out something real
Outside of finding that decision incredibly gutsy and admirable, I agree that a move like this will only improve on the game's authenticity and immersion. Out of place dialogue in a game actively trying to depict a thuggish lifestyle but stumbling every step of the way in its script or line delivery can really break immersion and come across unintentionally hilarious. It's all very unorthodox but something I massively applaud Rockstar for. GTA V releases on September 17th for the PS3 and Xbox 360.