'My car could appear in Grand Theft Auto VI'

A British gamer said he would be "jumping with joy" if his American police car appeared in Grand Theft Auto VI after developers spent hours photographing and recording it.

Lukas Holmes, 28, had dreamed of owning a US squad car since he was five and in 2019 imported a 2009 Ford Crown Victoria from Pennsylvania, to Warrington, Cheshire.

In early 2021, he was invited to Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, where a "big client from Edinburgh" wanted to record the car.

Holmes said he had received an email later from a member of the audio team at Rockstar Games, the Edinburgh-based developer behind the Grand Theft Auto series, thanking him for his time.

Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) is expected to be the year's biggest game launch, with development costs estimated at $1bn (£866m).

Its predecessor, GTA 5, was released in September 2013 and became one of the best-selling games of all time.

The series is set in a fictional and satirical version of America, where players explore and complete missions for criminal characters.

An extended look at the gameplay was officially shown for the first time during a Netflix presentation on Thursday.

Development has been shrouded in secrecy and Rockstar described recent leaks of gameplay footage as "heartbreaking".

The developer did not respond when asked whether Millbrook had been used during the game's development.

Holmes said: "I had my suspicions it was Rockstar when I was told it was a big client from Edinburgh, because that's where Rockstar North is. Once I found out it was Rockstar Games, I was like, it's got to be Grand Theft Auto."

He bought the Crown Victoria from Warminster Township Police Department in Pennsylvania and launched Rent-A-Vic, hiring it out for media work to fund its upkeep.

"I have this car because I love it to bits," he said. "I mean, I've always wanted one.

"I've had silly offers from people wanting to buy it off me. I've just turned them all down."

In early 2021, almost a year before GTA 6 was officially announced, Holmes was invited to Millbrook where teams photographed the car and placed microphones around it to capture sounds such as doors opening and closing.

A stunt driver also drove it around the site to record its engine.

Although Holmes accepted the recordings might not appear in the finished game, he believed he had spotted a car resembling his in trailers.

The Grand Theft Auto series uses fictional vehicle brands, with the closest equivalent to the Ford Crown Victoria being called the Vapid Stanier.

He said a green-and-white sheriff's car shown in a trailer had a similar light bar, spotlight and prisoner partition to his own.

Holmes said: "They are about 95% similar to what's on my car right now."

He has booked the game's release date, 19 November, off work and plans to check whether its cars share his vehicle's distinctive engine sound.

The gamer said: "I'll be jumping with joy if that's my car in the game!"

The fan used his Millbrook fee to replace the car's tyres and make it fully road-legal. He now takes it to proms, weddings and birthdays across Europe.

After seeing Holmes's social media posts, a serving Warminster Township Police Department officer arranged to meet him during a UK holiday.

Holmes drove the car to York to meet the officer who immediately recognised the car as "unit 7425", the exact car he had driven on shift years earlier.

He said: "Even he knew about Grand Theft Auto because he remembers how controversial it was back in the 2000s.

"He was just in disbelief like how somewhere so small like Warminster could lead to something so significant."

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