Big MYSTERY about Tommy Vercetti, from ‘GTA: Vice City’, is revealed

When talking about ‘GTA Vice City’a classic that revives Miami in the 80s, a curious detail always comes to light: the inability of Tommy Vercetti, the main character, to swim.

This feature, which remains even in the remastered version of the game, has its roots in both technical aspects and design decisions on the part of the game. Rockstar Games.

Boat in ‘GTA: Vice City’ – Image: DeviantArt/Reproduction

A dive into history

The first question that arises in players’ minds is: why, in a game with a strong presence of water, can’t the protagonist enjoy a swim?

A note in the game’s manual jokingly suggests that fear of shark attacks could be a motive. However, these animals are nothing more than mere decorative elements in the game and do not interact with Tommy.

Technical and design reasons

The real explanation for Tommy’s limitation in Vice City is a combination of technical challenges and conscious choices by the development team.

At the time when Vice City was created, programming the ability to swim would require significant additional effort.

This would include creating new animations and potentially underwater content to enrich this functionality. Therefore, we opted for the simplest approach: having the characters drown when entering the water.

This decision was preserved even in the remastered version of the game. In ‘GTA: Vice City Definitive Edition’, Tommy is still unable to swim, maintaining fidelity to the original game.

This choice highlights the intention of Rockstar Games to preserve certain classic aspects of the game, even if they seem outdated compared to more recent releases.

Community innovations and modifications

It is interesting to note that, in ‘GTA Vice City Stories’, which takes place in the same scenario but two years earlier, the ability to swim was incorporated.

This was only possible because the game was developed after ‘GTA San Andreas’, where swimming was already an established feature.

For enthusiasts who still dream of seeing Tommy Vercetti exploring the waters of Vice City, the modding community comes into play.

There are mods that add the ability to swim to the game, demonstrating the creativity and commitment of fans to expanding the borders of the universe GTA.