Grand Theft Auto 5 references to other games

Culture Club reference

While playing as Franklin, there is a side mission where you meet up with Beverly (the photographer), and he tells you that some people want to make a reality show about what he does as a celebrity photographer. On the wall next to where Beverly is, there is text that reads "Karma: It's A Chameleon". This is a reference to the band Culture Club and their 1983 single Kharma Chameleon.

Dead Island reference

You can find billboards in GTA 5 advertising "Rehab Island", which feature a logo very similar to that from Dead Island.

Dead Rising reference

During a radio commercial, they say the people of Los Santos are taking drugs like crazy. They then begin to list some drugs, and one of them is called Zombix. This is a reference to the Zombrex drug in the Dead Rising series.

Gangnam Style reference

When you purchase the Downtown Cab Co., you will eventually get a mission to pick up and drop off a Korean pop singer called Kwack. He will complain that everyone calls him Quack. He will also say he made millions off a music video of him and a few strippers dancing around doing jockey like dance moves around a horse. This is a reference to the Gangnam Stylesong by PSY.

Grand Theft Auto 2 and 3 reference

In the sports car heist mission, Franklin must get an old car called the Z-Type. That was the car driven by the Zaibatsu Corporation in GTA 2, and a luxury car in GTA 3.

Grand Theft Auto 4 references

• Brucie Kibbutz from Grand Theft Auto 4 returns to Grand Theft Auto 5 on Bleeper (GTA's equivalent to Twitter).


• Niko Bellic's old friend Packie McReary also returns to GTA 5. Franklin can help him during a heist, and he will join your crew for the remainder of the game.


• One of Franklin's friends on his LifeInvader page is "Nicholas Bell". This is a reference to "Niko Bellic", GTA 4's protagonist.


• While at Michael's home, zoom into Jimmy when he is using his laptop at the dinner table to see him viewing the LifeInvader profile for Niko Bellic.


• One of the movies you can watch at the cinema shows the beating heart inside the Happiness Island statue that appeared in GTA IV.


• During the intermission sequence for the mission where you have to extract Mr. K from the IAA and rappel down, the woman holding the flashlight is Michelle (Niko's first girlfriend) from Grand Theft Auto 4.


• In the first mission for setting up the jewelry heist, when Lester is telling Michael that all the old crew is gone, he mentions a eastern European guy from Liberty City.


• At the end of the "Monkey Business" mission, the guy in the suit with glasses who works for the lab that you are stealing from tells the guards to detain the FIB agent, who shoots himself in the leg to cover for his friends, is the same person known as Edward T. Fortune that gives Niko the information he seeks in return for him doing missions for the United Liberty Paper in Grand Theft Auto 4. He also appears later in "The Wrap Up" mission. He shows up during the stand off between De Santa, Haines, Norton, and Agent Sanchez, alongside several IAA agents.


• In "The Paleto Score" mission, the four characters (Franklin, Michael, Trevor, and whomever you chose as a crew member) will talk about there first big score. If you chose Patrick "Packie" McReary, he will talk about his first big score being the Bank of Liberty City. He will list two names, and after each will say "God rest his soul", then he says something like "...and my friend Niko who is probably dead."


• Johnny Klebitz from The Lost And Damned DLC accuses Trevor of sleeping with his girlfriend, Ashley.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas references

The early setting of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas returns in GTA V. The familiar cul-de-sac of Grove Street (the gang affiliated with Carl Johnson, the main protagonist in GTA: San Andreas) can be found in the Grapeseed area of the game. The Grove Street Families gang also makes an appearance in the form of a mural on the side of a building.

Additionally, there are references to other locations from San Andreas such as the Vinewood sign and the Los Santos International Airport.

Other Grand Theft Auto references

• The iconic "Welcome to Los Santos" sign from the original Grand Theft Auto game can be found in the game.


• The "El Burro Heights" area of the game is a reference to the "El Burro" character from the original Grand Theft Auto game.


• The "It's not what you know, it's who you know" phrase from Grand Theft Auto 2 is used in the game.