Creating a Porsche Boxster in the style of "Grand Theft Auto V"

Pfister Apollo

The Concept

With this project, I wanted to bring my personal car (a 987 Porsche Boxster) to life inside of  Grand Theft Auto V.  To align with the constraints of the game engine, I applied the following limits:

  • A maximum polycount of 110,000 triangles (the average GTA V polycount for L0)
  • Fully working and drivable inside GTA V
  • Plenty of aftermarket tuning
  • Fit within GTA's pre-existing design language of the  Pfister  brand  Rockstar  have already created whilst still resembling the real car
Pfister Apollo
Year
2021
Category
Game Assets
Type
Experimentation and design studies

The Process

I started with a sketch that was kindly created by  Silentsoul.  This served as the base design of my model.  I also looked at Rockstar's  Yakuza Stinger  from Grand Theft Auto 3 to aid with any extra design elements.

The original sketch by Silentsoul
Yakuza Stinger from GTA 3

I then created a simple un-subdivided bodyshell of the car, to which I could then start adding details.  The wheel was a challenge because the spokes are asymmetrical.  I outsourced the interior for this project to my good friend  13Stewartc  who stitched in the interior from the  Sultan.

The car ended up with just over 88,000 triangles (with all 4 wheels) or just over 66,000 with just the one wheel.

Wireframes of the wheel, base bodyshell and final car

The Tuning

I love pushing GTA's limits of tuning and like to play around with the possibilities it offers.  Below you can see a collection of some tuning parts I made.

Front bumper options
Rear bumper, spoiler and exhaust options

Roof rigging vs tuning debate

In GTA V, you can animate roofs.  However, I wanted to recreate  Porsche's  "RTS" (Roof Transport System) which is a roof rack that works both with the roof up and down.  If I wanted to make this, it would mean that the roof could not animate, otherwise it would clash with the roof rack (you can't open/close the roof with the real thing either).  Since I went with the roof rack, I also made some variants for the roof, such as a hard top, painted leather and speedster style humps.

A combination of roof and roof rack tuning

The Wrap Up

I really enjoyed this as a personal project, not only because it's a car that means a lot to me, but because of the vast amount of tuning I was able to create.

If you'd like to have a go driving this car in GTA V, or simply just want to have a look, you can try it yourself in-game  here.

See your imagination come to life Let's work together.