GTA 5's multiple characters influenced by GTA 4

The idea for multiple playable characters in Grand Theft Auto 5 was influenced by the Grand Theft Auto 4 expansions.

GTA 4 featured interweaving storylines in 'The Lost and Damned' and "The Ballad of Gay Tony' expansion packs.

RockStar Games boss, Dan Houser, said the team liked the idea of the crossover stories so much that they decided to implement them fully in GTA 5.

"It was partly just to do something new," he told The Guardian.

"Party, too, it was because at that point we were deep into the work on the two DLC episodes of GTA 4, and we thought, well, the bits where all the stories crossover is kind of cool, so why don't we just do that in one game? So okay, let's just do multiple characters."

Last week it was revealed that GTA 5 would feature a massive open-world, bigger than GTA 4, GTA: San Andreas and Red Dead Redemption combined.

Houser said the bigger environment was needed so that flying could be done properly.

"We wanted to make a big place, as much as anything, to allow you to fly," he added.

"A lot of the decisions, we're talking about them here on a philosophical level, but they're also practical decisions, too: we're making a game. You have to understand the medium.

"On an obvious level we wanted somewhere big so you can fly properly - we have a lot of missions that involve flying, in helicopters or whatever, it was logical. Also, jet skis work better around LA than they would in New York."

Click here to read up on much more about GTA 5, which is set for a spring 2013 launch.