EDIT: I just realised I mixed up the release dates of Vice City and San Andreas- Vice City came out in 2002. Actually it’s crazy they made Vice City in just a year looking at how long GTA VI has taken

I’m currently playing through the game and I love how dated everything feels. Not in terms of gameplay, as it’s largely the same as GTA V, but in terms of the technology, politics and culture it depicts. Niko owns an old Nokia-style cellphone, he goes to an Internet cafe to read emails from his mom, there’s radio ads for ringtones, MySpace is specifically parodied, the game’s internet in general feels like it’s out of the mid 2000s, the city is in lockdown because of a terror threat, the war on terror is all over the news, a 24 parody is the biggest show on television, etc etc etc.

I’ve always felt like the world of GTA IV was already a museum piece by the time GTA V came out. There’s only 5 years between the two but by 2013 I feel like we had already shifted into a new era that we’re still living in. Obviously, many aspects of GTA V feel dated now but I feel like the world it depicts is still largely recognisable as our own

Some things stay evergreen though