 Development began soon after Grand Theft Auto IV 's release and was shared between many of Rockstar 's studios worldwide . The development team drew influence from many of their previous projects such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 , and designed the game around three lead protagonists to innovate on the core structure of its predecessors . Much of the development work constituted the open world 's creation , and several team members conducted field research around California to capture footage for the design team . The game 's soundtrack features an original score composed by a team of producers who collaborated over several years . 
