Grand Theft Auto is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive.

It is the first title of the Grand Theft Auto series and was released in November 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows, in December 1997 for the PlayStation and in October 1999 for the Game Boy Color.

The gameplay is presented from a top-down perspective and takes place within an open-world environment in which the player is required to gather a certain number of points ranging in the millions to progress through the game's chapters.

Grand Theft Auto began development as a game titled Race 'n' Chase, in which the player controlled a police officer pursuing criminals.

Grand Theft Auto created a great deal of controversy even before its launch due to its violent content, with discussions taking place about banning its sale.

[2] The game's marketing campaign, organised by publicist Max Clifford, exploited this stirring of controversy as free promotion.

While the graphics and controls were criticised, the entertainment value, sound design and freedom of the gameplay were praised, and has since been recognised as one of the greatest video games of all time.

Players begin a game choosing a character from among eight—four in the PlayStation version—and naming them, though the choice is purely aesthetic, and does not affect the overall gameplay.

Points can be gained from anything, such as causing death and destruction amid the traffic in the city, completing special challenges, or stealing and selling cars for profit.

Failing a job by not completing objectives, being arrested or dying, secures no points and can seal off other tasks in the chain.

The player character interacts with prominent criminals throughout the story: Robert "Bubby" Seragliano is the supposed head of the notorious Vercotti crime family and is driven to avenge his father's death; Uncle Fu is the ancient leader of a Chinese gang in conflict with a Latino gang led by El Burro; Samuel Deever is a corrupt Vice City police officer suspected of several crimes; and Brother Marcus is the leader of the Brotherhood of Jah Army of Love and the biggest drug dealer in Vice City.

After completing a number of jobs, they are warned by a rival gang that their actions are causing great harm to their boss, Sonetti.

After more work, Bubby praises the protagonist's efforts, but warns that the police are surrounding the gang and it would be a good idea for them to leave town.

After doing some work for the gang, they meet in person with Fu, who expresses his gratitude for his services and states that their actions have brought honor to the family.

The protagonist's actions catch the attention of corrupt police officer Samuel Deever, who claims to have evidence that could condemn them to life imprisonment and blackmails them into working for him.

They then start working for the Rastafarians until they meet their leader Brother Marcus, who believes that the protagonist did an excellent job, but that they will not see each other again.

The original concept of Grand Theft Auto was "to produce a fun, addictive and fast multi-player car racing and crashing game which uses a novel graphics method".

[citation needed] After the PlayStation's successful release, development began on Grand Theft Auto 64, a port of the game for the Nintendo 64, rumoured to have graphical enhancements and new missions.

[35] The UK cover art for Grand Theft Auto is a photograph of a New York Police Department 1980s Plymouth Gran Fury rushing through the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, with Trump Tower in the background of the picture.

Three DMA members – Colin Anderson, Craig Conner, and Grant Middleton – composed the radio tracks and recorded them at night in the company's offices.

[46] By November 1998, global shipments to retailers of Grand Theft Auto's computer and PlayStation versions had surpassed 1 million units combined.

[53] Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "It is quite easy to accuse Grand Theft Auto of being all style and no substance, but the charge doesn't stick.