The Dundee Gaming Tour
Just GTA
New for 2026: The Dundee Gaming Tour Just GTA. Unlike the original tour there is no ZX Spectrums, no Lemmings and no Minecraft. Just GTA.
This is an unofficial tour based on numerous interviews in print, on YouTube and in person with those involved over the years.
This guided walk is full of stories about how a little game became a huge series.
What Jose thought of The Dundee Gaming Tour
1 – The original GTA
The first game in the franchise took 3.5 years to make as they had to code a city from scratch.
The game may look very different to the later titles but a lot of the features were there as you explore a virtual city listening to different radio stations.
There are many fascinating stories to share from how they created the music and dialogue in house with their “duvet Studio” to its controversial marketing campaign.
The futuristic sequel
The sequel was set in the near dystopian future so the cars looked like “As if Havana got transported to the 21st Century” it still had the dated top down view as they still valued gameplay over graphics.
The first appearance of satirical adverts and DJs with personality to the radio stations. Find out how they fixed a last minute bug in dramatic fashion, in a time before wide spread internet access and day 1 patches to fix them.
GTA III – the first in 3D
For the third game they finally broke into 3D. Hear how a mostly fresh team made one of the most influential games ever made.
For this interactive gangster movie they started using celebrity voices and added cut scenes to introduce missions. But why is the lead character mute?
Don’t miss the fascinating story of the origins of the most successful gaming franchise: one of the pioneers of open world games and in-game music.
Vice City
No prizes for guessing what TV show inspired the fourth game set in Miami. It was intended to be an expansion pack to GTA3 but with 1980s cars and music and a brighter colour scheme it felt like a whole game so it was released as one.
Hear about the Easter eggs and references to Dundee in the game such as the radio station Wave 103.
San Andreas
In the fifth game set in California the theme was 1990s gang culture so they switched from celebrity voices to more authentic voices.
There are some great stories about the writing the dialogue of the game characters and the casting process for the voice actors. They used actual gang members.
IV – Return to NYC
The sixth game returned to New York. As they were no longer able to use the Renderware game engine. They had to develop their own, RAGE which gave a more realistic and detailed 3D environment.
Find out how the Zoology department of Oxford University got involved in adding realism to the game. Hear about the incredible amount of work that went into making their version of the Big Apple.
V – Return to LA
For their most recent game the team returned to the west coast but concentrated on Los Angeles.
A lot of players take the pedestrian dialogue and the ambient sound for granted but its an integral part of the immersive experience of GTA. We take a closer look at the process, for instance each pedestrian has a backstory.
Finally I will talk about the hugely successful online version and the much anticipated sequel.
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Is this tour suitable for children?
The franchise officially isn’t intended for children but I do know it is popular with younger gamers so I will edit the tour as appropriate depending on the age of the audience.
Is this a history tour?
Not really, unless you consider the 1990s as ancient history.
How long are the tours?
The walking tour is about 0.5 miles or 0.8 km
The duration of the tours will be about 60 minutes.
How do I book?
Through Eventbrite
What should we wear?
Dress like an onion. In layers, with warm waterproof clothing. Check the forecast and if it looks a bit nippy don’t forget your hats and gloves. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
The route is lovely when the sun is out, in horizontal rain, not so much.
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