Grand Theft Auto V was developed over several years by a team of about 1,000 people at Rockstar Games. Its open world is modelled on Los Angeles and Southern California, and developers took field trips across the region to collect research and footage. To design the city's road network, the team used projections of Los Angeles from Google Maps. The game's proprietary engine, the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, was upgraded to draw distant scenery. For the first time in the series, the player controls three protagonists in the single-player story. The team found this design changed the story and the gameplay more than they expected, so they rebuilt the shooting and driving mechanics around it. Motion capture recorded the actors' faces and bodies, and an original score was produced by five music producers working together. The game was released in 2013 and has since become one of the best-selling entertainment products ever made.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.