In the contemporary history of video games, the term “car thief” has emerged as a unique cultural phenomenon among Arab gamers. This term has been closely linked to the GTA series since its first release in 1997, as its popularity has grown tremendously and it has become a cultural icon that cannot be ignored.

When someone mentions GTA, the first thing that comes to mind is car theft. This game series has been closely associated with this term, to the point of becoming a symbol of it. But why? What is the secret of GTA’s appeal? How did this contribute to the spread of the legendary term “car thief” among Arab gamers?

The idea of seizing any car you see on the street and then trying it out and driving it through the city streets was something that fascinated many people and made them tell their friends at the time, since there were no games similar to this idea, and hence the phrase “car thief” came about, which everyone started calling them. They even know the real name of the series or game.

To this day, there are many players, whether children or amateurs, who still call him by this name, and even if you search the Google engine for the name “car thief”, it will show results related to the Grand Theft Auto series, and even if you do this after selecting the option to find images, it will appear. You’re also seeing results related to the GTA series, which indicates that more and more players are still searching for him with this name.

Since its inception, games in the series have encouraged car theft to complete the gameplay.

From the beginning, the series focused on the idea of stealing cars to complete your tasks, and there weren't even legitimate ways to get a car when you needed it, with a few exceptions like calling a taxi to take you to your destination, but waiting would take too long, not to mention the slowness of the driver who drives it, so The car theft option has always been the fastest and most exciting for players, which means that the game, in one way or another, encourages you to be a "car thief" to continue and advance in it.

You are no longer just “car thieves” because in time you can steal anything that has wheels or a steering wheel.

Over time, the series has gone beyond the ordinary and players have been able to steal various types of vehicles and other mechanisms, no longer limited to cars. We first saw bicycles in GTA San Andreas, motorcycles in Vice City, boats, planes and helicopters, and the game has become about stealing anything. To complete your mission and job.

Could we see the heroes of the next GTA games being able to ride and steal horses?!

Who knows, maybe we'll be able to ride horses in GTA 6 in remote rural areas, and considering that Rockstar Games has graphics and engines that support this idea through the famous Red Dead Redemption series of the Wild West, there's no doubt that implementing an idea like this would be relatively easy for them.

The series' roots were focused on car theft.

Before the release of the first part of the Grand Theft Auto series, which used the classic "top-down" camera system, there were some similar boring games, most notably Race'n'Chase, which later spun off into the Grand Theft Auto series. Race'n'Chase was developed by DMA Design Company and was scheduled to be released on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Windows 95 and DOS systems.

The game featured a two-dimensional open world in which players could take on the role of a police officer or a criminal in various game modes, hence the title of the game. The game revolved around racing and police chases depending on the play style and choice of profession, but the main idea was the same, which was that the player could steal any car he saw, then came the first and second parts of Grand Theft Auto, which adopted almost the same idea, making the name of car thieves famous among many players.

Finally, we cannot ignore the many versions of the game that have spread over time. For example, the Car Thieves series has come in several parts, such as “Car Thieves 1, 2, 5, 6, etc…” as if they were official parts, as well as modified versions such as “Islamic GTA”. And “Gata Bab Al-Hara” and many other modified and pirated copies that at some point filled the store shelves.

What was your first experience with this old series, and could we see players calling the next installment, GTA 6, “Car Thieves 6”?