Ever since Grand Theft Auto V was released back in September 2013, gamers have been eagerly awaiting the next installment in the popular series. Developed by Rockstar North, the game features an open world environment and allows players to indulge in all sorts of activities such as racing, partying, and shooting. While most people have been focused on the game’s multiplayer modes which allow them to battle it out with up to three other players, some have been curious about the fastest time that the game has been able to achieve. Today, we’ll tell you about the world record that Grand Theft Auto V has set, as well as why this achievement is more notable than you might think. Let’s take a look.
The World Record
As mentioned above, Grand Theft Auto V has been actively pursued by gamers for setting a new world record. The current record-holder is DontNod Entertainment’s action-adventure game L.A. Noire, which was released in 2011. At the time of its launch, L.A. Noire was also the fastest game to achieve 1 million downloads, which it accomplished in just a few days. However, Grand Theft Auto V was not only the first game to reach the 1 million mark, it was also the first to do so in under a month.
Grand Theft Auto V is currently the fastest game to reach 2 million downloads, having beaten DontNod Entertainment’s record by a little more than a week. As of April 24, 2014, Grand Theft Auto V has been installed on more than 2 million devices around the world and is the best-selling game of all time, having reportedly sold over 125 million copies worldwide. It is also the longest-running game in Steam’s history, having appeared on their store’s service for nearly three years as of April 2014.
The Importance Of Hardware Acceleration
One significant difference between the games that set the previous record and Grand Theft Auto V is the use of hardware acceleration. As the name would suggest, hardware acceleration provides the ability to use hardware rendering devices like a graphic card or an iPhone’s A6 chip to improve the performance of a game, usually by taking advantage of all available processing units (GPUs and CPUs).
The use of hardware acceleration allows for better performance by taking advantage of the fact that PCs and consoles are equipped with more powerful hardware than the average mobile phone. This, in turn, makes games run faster and smoother. The end result is a better user experience, especially when playing high-performance PC and Console versions.
Grand Theft Auto V’s adoption of hardware acceleration allows for higher performance than the average mobile phone, given the game’s settings and hardware. This, in turn, leads to better gameplay and, as a result, more frequent gameplay sessions. We should also point out that Grand Theft Auto V is one of the most demanding games that have ever been released, requiring a six-core CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 to run at a steady 60 frames per second. Needless to say, not all devices are capable of running the game at its intended resolution and framerate, especially when taking into consideration the game’s hardware requirements.
The Significance Of Being The First
Another significant difference between Grand Theft Auto V and L.A. Noire is that the latter was not the first game to include gambling mechanics. In fact, Sega’s 1998 classic, Vegas, which was also released for mobile devices, featured the same sort of betting system. However, the significance of being the first to incorporate gambling into a game cannot be overlooked. Today, the world record for the fastest time that Grand Theft Auto V has been playing is 6:44. That’s right, 6:44. Just under seven minutes.
What is so significant about this time is that it breaks the record set by L.A. Noire in 2011, when the latter was the first game to hit the scene. Since then, gamers have been eagerly awaiting the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, and with good reason. Not only does it offer something new and exciting, but it also breaks the record for the fastest time that any Grand Theft Auto game has been. This is especially significant because the previous record stood for more than six years.
Being the first game to incorporate gambling mechanics is also significant because it shows how far gaming has come since 1998. Back then, the only games that people played were simple games like Breakout and Donkey Kong, which offered nothing more than one or two betting options (usually on a snake-and-rabbit pattern). Today, with the increased graphical fidelity and additional gameplay options that have become available, the line between gameplay and gambling has blurred, if not completely disappeared. Gambling has become a normal part of everyday life for gamers, with many playing games for money or prizes, either directly or indirectly through the use of a microtransaction. The ability to gamble in games is what has made the recent explosion in popularity of esports (e-sports) possible. Instead of traditional sports like football or baseball, esports often pit teams of gamers against each other in fighting games like Dota 2 or CS:GO, with betting pools often being offered as incentives for viewers to tune in.
The fact that Grand Theft Auto V was the first game to incorporate gambling into a video game also means that it set the standard for gameplay, particularly given the fact that it has been updated several times since its initial release. Today, updates to the game are released on a regular basis, either as free DLC or through the use of Steam’s automated patching system, which downloads and applies patches without needing human interaction. The result is that a game that was first released six years ago is still played on a regular basis by gamers around the world, with many looking to it as a benchmark for comparison purposes whenever they play a new game in the series. This is not the case with every game that sets a new world record, however. For example, Call of Duty: Ghosts was the first game in the series to use a console’s built-in microphone to communicate with other players, but its inclusion of a timed matchmaking system resulted in many matchmaking games that took place between unregistered users, which led to the end of user-generated content and a significant decrease in active gameplay compared to previous Call of Duty games.
Why Is Being The Fastest Game Worthwhile?
Even if you’re not the sort of person who plays or buys games for monetary value, being the fastest game is still something to be proud of. After all, it’s always nice to be the best at something, whether it’s gaming or something else, right? It would be interesting to see which games set the record for the fastest time that Grand Theft Auto V was able to accomplish. The answer is rather surprising: the record-holder for this is Speed Demolition, an iPhone game that was released in March 2013 and set during the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials for the Summer Olympics. Players take the place of Olympians who have been selected to represent the United States, Canada, or Denmark in the upcoming games and have to complete track and field events as quickly as possible before the clock runs out. While this may not sound that interesting, it is, in fact, one of the more popular games on the App Store, gaining more than 400,000 downloads as of April 2014. Why? Perhaps it’s because of how challenging it is to time your taps correctly while still keeping track of your score. You have to rush to keep up with the demands of the task at hand, which makes for some decent gaming on the go. Not many games can boast of breaking all the world records that Grand Theft Auto V has, but this is certainly one of them. While it would be interesting to know which games set the record for the fastest time that Grand Theft Auto V was able to achieve, the above should more than suffice.