The GTA series is famed for the amount of hidden content which players can find in its games. One of the most famous examples are the "Hot Coffee" scenes in San Andreas, which Rockstar never actually intended to be found, which depict CJ getting down with a variety of in-game women, and caused major controversy. There are plenty of other well-known Easter eggs too. From shooting the moon with a sniper rifle to change its size, to the shovel and shallow graves outside Catalina's cabin, and the infamous supposed sightings of Bigfoot and the ghost of CJ's mother, the games drive fans wild. In games as great as these, players want to see everything on offer. Once you've finished the main quest, the world is still rich with untouched promise, still full of secrets which only the determined player (or, at least, these days, a player with an internet connection) can find. But I bet there are some things you missed, and it's time you learned about them.

In this list, I'm going to take you on a secret tour of the GTA universe. Whether your favorite entry is GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, IV or V, you'll find something you didn't know about on here. Do you want to know where Rockstar hid references to their devs, or even their logo? How about some surprising information about the Marston family, or the return of characters from twenty years past? Read on, and be prepared to see things you never knew existed.

15 The Ghost Who Knows The Truth

Jock Cranley is a major figure in the world of GTA. Politician, TV star, stunt double, he lives the American dream (while also being a major pervert). There is, however, a darker side, which he’d prefer stayed hidden, but which other forces want to be exposed. If you go to Mount Gordo between 11 p.m. and midnight, you’ll find a strange sight: his wife’s ghost, floating next to a rock with the word “Jock” scrawled across it in blood. In the 70s, Jock threw his wife off the top of the mountain after she refused to move to Los Santos. He was arrested, but was let off after the case was ruled an accident. The ghost wants to ensure that his guilt is known to the world.

14 Written In The (Rock) Stars

GTA: San Andreas is a game full of stuff to discover: from the suicidal photographer to the supposed appearance of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface at the Panopticon in Red County. One, however, is way less obvious. Hidden in plain sight, this one requires you to look to the skies. With a keen eye gained from years of watching Carl Sagan, it smacks you square in the face with its obviousness: a constellation shaped like the Rockstar logo! This isn’t the only place Rockstar have inserted their branding into the game either. If you go take a look at the south side of the San Fierro Tower, you’ll see the Rockstar logo in the lights.

13 Dissing The Competition

As our last entry showed, if there’s one thing Rockstar loves, it’s taking digs at real-world figures in their video games. This also extends to their rivals, particularly the (painfully mediocre) True Crime and Driver series. If you go for a casual drive in San Andreas, you might spot some billboards advertising “True Grime: Street Cleaners,” with the cutting slogan “get rid of old rubbish fast.” Driver has been the victim of such attacks in several games in the series. In GTA 3, you are tasked with killing an NPC called Tanner, who bears a striking resemblance to the Driver protagonist of the same name. It’s also said “he’s more or less useless out of his car,” making reference to Tanner’s lack of weaponry in Driver 2, and being unable to get out of the car at all in the original. Too cold, Rockstar.

12 Red Dead Readership

It’s well-known that John Marston, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption, makes an appearance in GTA V, as a possible parent for the player’s GTA Online character. What’s less well-known, and nowhere as easy to spot, is the new revelation in Rockstar canon that suggests that after his Father’s death, Jack Marston chose a very different career path. Once you’ve unlocked the Vinewood Hills crib for Franklin, take a look at the bookshelf. With the right kind of eyes, you’ll notice a book called Red Dead by a J. Marston. Some have suggested this represents a real redemption for John, with Jack hanging up his guns and refusing to live the life of an outlaw. Maybe this happened, maybe John faked his own death in an elaborate insurance scheme, peacing out of the West and writing romance novels. Who knows? Only Rockstar.

11 The Clue And The Neck Tattoo

Staying on Franklin for a minute, there’s another easter egg hidden around him, for long-time fans of Rockstar. Or rather, on him. If you look at his neck tattoo, it may stir memories of an investigation in L.A. Noire called “The Silk Stocking Murder.” As part of this case, you can find a “distinctive necklace” in the grocery store Just Picked Fruit Market. The necklace bears the design of hands closed in prayer, accompanied by a cross, just like Franklin’s neck tattoo. It’s not the only reference to the unjustly unremembered L.A. Noire, either. If you take a trip to Mount Josiah, you’ll find an abandoned mine shaft. If you fancy a bit of spelunking, you’ll find a dead body in an old-fashioned suit. It’s thought that this could be a reference to Cole Phelps, who met his end in a mine shaft at the end of L.A. Noire.

10 Claude: Movie Star?

GTA: Vice City is the earliest entry in the GTA Universe (barring the London: 1961 expansion for the original). However, take a look at the posters in Tommy Vercetti’s hotel room, and you’ll see that GTA 3’s Claude had an interesting career before becoming a career criminal. Among the posters for adult star Candy Suxxx’s films Bite and Closer Encounters, you’ll see a pixelated poster bearing the caption of “Bratatatatat,” with a character bearing a striking resemblance to Claude. Dressed in green trousers and a black jacket, with blood apparently all over his face. Judging from most players’ activities in GTA III, this seems to be a pretty accurate representation for our boy Claude. What made him give up the career and start street racing?

9 A Prescient Poster

From one poster to another. If you look at the posters around Francis International Airport, you’ll see a poster with the slogan “see you in Miami.” This is just one of the references to Vice City in GTA III, with crooked cop Ray Wachowski sending you a message via pager simply saying “take care of my bulletproof Patriot…see you around in Miami.” Back when GTA: Vice City was released in 2002, many people suddenly started to put the pieces together. Vice City’s development started pretty much immediately after the release of GTA 3, but it’s a safe assumption that they already knew where they wanted to go. Vice City, like Liberty City, and San Andreas, were all cities in the original GTA. We can guess, going from this poster, that they knew their games were going to be a hit.

8 Twenty Years Later, The Gang's Back Together

With GTA: San Andreas remembered as being one of the greatest instalments of the GTA series, it was no surprise that fans wanted to see some familiar faces when the series returned to the state. GTA V did not disappoint, bringing not one, but three characters back. In the mission Hood Safari, a drug deal sends you back to Grove Street, where everything in the earlier game begun, for an intense firefight against a horde of Ballas, bringing back fond (and not so fond) memories of San Andreas’ turf wars. As you approach Grove Street, with a bit of luck, you can spot three figures riding BMXs, looking like none other than CJ, Big Smoke, and Sweet. Considering the events of GTA: San Andreas, and how bad it went for the group of friends, it’s something of a touching reunion.

7 The Truth Never Dies

Love him or loathe him, The Truth is an extremely well-remembered character from GTA: San Andreas. An aging hippie, with a head full of conspiracies and fields full of weed, he gives some of the best missions in the game to CJ, including stealing a jetpack and a jar of alien goo. It can be presumed that he continued to escape the wrath of The Powers That Be, judging from an email Niko receives in GTA IV, from a user called Chiliad8888. The email is typically conspiratorial in tone, ending with the sign-off, “feel the truth, love the freedom.” It also contains a link to the site whattheydonotwantyoutoknow.com, where a poster called Trooth encourages readers to “jump to a new level of spirituality.” Far out, man.

6 Nailing Their Colors To The Mast

As the Statue of Happiness’ appearance proves, GTA are not shy about making sly political statements in their games. Another can be found hidden in GTA: Vice City. If you want to take a look, go to the Ammu-Nation downtown, stand on the counter, and use the RPG’s scope to stare through the wall which faces the street, and you’ll see a hidden image of a gun-toting Gipper smiling next to a bullet-riddled Gorbachev. Reagan is one of two Presidents, along with George W. Bush, who are actually featured in the game, so it’s not only a nod and a wink to the real world, instead, it shows a...strange, but probably pretty realistic devotional love for Ronnie among the gun store owners of Vice City.

5 Wait, What's The Magic Number?

Despite all the political and pop culture jabs, GTA is definitely not above childish humor at times. Case in point: Rockstar’s obsession with the number 69. While some of them are more obvious, like Area 69 in San Andreas’ desert, Runway 69 at every airport, or the adverts in GTA 3 for a play called “69th Street.” Some of them take far more keen eyes to spot, however. Dollars apparently come in $69 bills in the GTA universe, with them being found strapped to strippers and in the Yellow Jack Inn. It can also be seen on cop’s collars in GTA IV, graffiti on the back of the Vinewood sign in GTA V, and even as the model number on the pump-action shotgun in IV. Route 68 in V was originally Route 69 too, before, apparently, even Rockstar decided that was too unsubtle for them.

4 I'm With The Statue!

The Statue of Happiness looms large over GTA IV’s Liberty City, holding a cup of, um, hot coffee in her right hand, and clutching a massive stone tablet in her left. If you take a close look at the statue’s face, you’ll notice that there’s some stronger satire at play. The statue bears a striking resemblance to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and, suddenly the hot coffee makes sense. Clinton presided over the investigation into GTA: San Andreas’ Hot Coffee mod, which brought a whole heap of negative PR to Rockstar and GTA, and ended up with Rockstar having to swear legal action against anyone who revealed the key to seeing hot, nasty, partially clothed and clumsy sex scenes. As an aside, do you think the statue is feeling the Bern of that hot, hot coffee?

3 Getting A Name Check

As well as referencing the company as literally written in the stars, or in letters hundreds of feet tall, the developers have also name-checked themselves on several occasions. Steven Mulholland, in particular, has been referenced on many occasions. As well as the district in Los Santos, you can find headstones inscribed with “Steven Mulholland R.I.P.” in the Funeraria Romero in Vice City, which can also be found in the Palomino Creek Graveyard in San Andreas. Upstate Liberty, in GTA 3 is composed entirely of unmapped towns/villages named for the devs. Only accessible by flying due north of Liberty City with a Dodo, in this patchy region, you’ll find, among others, towns called Aaronsville for art director Aaron Garbut, Obbeburgh for technical director Obbe Vermeij, and um, Woodcunty, for Alisdair Wood.

2 Niko's Lifeinvader Profile

Niko might not have been the most charismatic GTA protagonist, but that doesn’t mean he got forgotten about. As well as the more well-known reference to an “Eastern European guy” in Liberty City who “went quiet,” there’s a more subtle reference in GTA V which apparently shows Niko’s still alive and kicking, and active on social media at that. If, playing as Michael, you decide to spy on what Jimmy’s looking at on his laptop with the camera, you can see he’s taking a look at Niko’s Lifeinvader page. It also seems to prove that one particular ending of GTA IV is canonical, as Roman is listed on his friend list. What do you think are the odds that Roman has bowling listed as one of his interests on there?

1 The All Seeing R*

Almost certainly the biggest mystery in GTA V revolves around the huge amount of Illuminati symbolism which players have discovered hidden in the game. If you go to the cable car station on Mount Chiliad, you’ll find a weird map daubed on the wall, which appears to show locations of objects on the mountain, complete with an all-seeing eye emerging from the mountain’s peak. That’s not all though. When the map is superimposed on the in-game map, with Mount Chiliad at the center, it matches the location of a UFO, the underwater hatch, and a site which some fans believe hides the game’s elusive jetpack. There is also a message which reads “come back when your story is complete.” If players return to the mountain after 100%ing the game, a UFO will appear. The mystery of the jetpack, remains unsolved.