OAKVILLE, ON – Rockstar Games, famous for its critically acclaimed “Grand Theft Auto” video game series, has teamed up with the Toronto Transit Commission workers’ union to create a video game that simulates the real-life wait times and delays common to traveling across the Greater Toronto Area using public transit.
Entitled “Greater Toronto Area: Transit City Delays,” the game allows players to choose from episodic narratives within an interactive 3-D environment modeled after the city of Toronto.
“All of the missions require the use of the TTC,” said Gurvinder Singh, lead developer for the Transit City game. “The union wanted to work very closely with us to make sure the game reflected, as much as possible, the amount and length of delays a passenger experiences while taking the TTC.”
“Well, I have been to Toronto, and I didn’t really think it would be possible to take the game that far,” Singh added. “But we did our best.”
“GTA: Transit City Delays” offers players a diverse array of mission types. Some will be simple fetch-quests, like having to track down a stolen bike from Chinatown, while others will be complex, multi-part adventures like securing a new job after being fired from Tim Hortons.
In one featured level, players find themselves on an Eastbound streetcar trying to recover a stolen bike. The streetcar breaks down, forcing gamers to endure a 30-minute delay. When the new streetcar arrives, players are stopped by the driver and are asked to produce a transfer. If they do not have a transfer, they must repeat the level.
“Sometimes it’s impossible to win,” complained gamer Jason Barr. “When I get to the driver of the next streetcar, he asks me why I didn’t get a transfer the last time around. This game doesn’t make any sense.”
Also criticized is a level that requires sitting on the subway during a 40-minute delay while commuting to a job interview. During the delay, players must wait out the time without speaking to other depressed passengers on the train, although many quietly mumble complaints under their breath.
“We really wanted to capture what it feels like to sit and wait,” Singh said. “So you must actually hold onto the controllers during this time, otherwise the delay will continue. Our most asked-for feature is the ability to stare at your feet.”
The level most hated by test audiences requires waiting on a streetcar after the driver exits to pour sand on the tracks, then walks away to purchase a coffee. If the player exits the streetcar to make a quick pit-stop or purchase cigarettes, the driver quickly returns and the streetcar takes off, leaving the player stranded, waiting for the next one to come along which invariably short-turns in the wrong direction.
Other complaints were made due to a special algorithm in the game that ensures a streetcar or bus arrives when players are too far away to run to either the next or previous stop.
“Players increase their running speed by clicking the A button as fast as possible,” Singh explained. “No matter how much effort they make they will never get to the stop on time and must then wait 30 minutes for the next vehicle.
Perhaps the most controversial feature of the game is that the TTC employees can go on strike at any time, which then renders the game inoperable for at least two weeks.
“When I first got the game,” Barr told reporters, “I managed to beat a level where I had to be on-time despite a street festival that closed down the downtown core. I managed to beat it by leaving two hours early and taking five connecting buses. As soon as I got to the next level though, the game cut to a scene of TTC employees holding up protest signs! I had to leave the game on for weeks to wait out the strike.”
“GTA: Transit City Delays” is currently being developed for Nintendo’s Wii and will focus on recreating physical experiences such as waving your transit pass at a booth operator and smashing your pelvis into a metal turnstile because the operator is sleeping.
