The final stage of developing a GTA game can be completely different from what players imagine.
According to former Rockstar developer Obbe Vermeij, the team would eventually enter a “pencils down” period shortly before the game went gold. The focus shifted heavily toward finding and fixing the remaining bugs.
One of the most interesting parts? Some developers apparently didn't experience the entire story in order until this final testing phase, meaning they could encounter missions they hadn't even played before.
With GTA VI still on the horizon, this gives an interesting look at just how chaotic the final stretch of a Rockstar game can be.
Source: Notebookcheck / Obbe Vermeij