'Grand Theft Auto V' recruits gang member audio

Real gang members contributed to "Grand Theft Auto V," according to writer and producer Lazlow Jones.

Real gang members contributed to 'Grand Theft Auto V,' according to writer and producer Lazlow Jones.

'If you imagine hundreds and hundreds of ambient characters -- different ethnicities, different languages -- having to record all kinds of possible dialogue for them is a monumental writing task.'

'We recruited a guy who gets gang members, actual gang members. I mean, El Salvadoran gang dudes with amazing tattoos, one of which literally had gotten out of prison the day before,' he told Chicago's WGN radio station, right at the end of an interview.

'We brought these guys in to record the gang characters because you don't want a goofy L.A. actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member. There's nothing worse than that,' he explained. 'So just go find the real, terrifying people and say 'Can you come in here please?''

But series veteran Jones is willing to admit that his lines didn't always pass muster when it came to believable background chat.

'They look at the lines and say, 'I wouldn't say that,' so then say what you would say. Authenticity, you know?'

'There's a lot of sessions that we would have where we would throw the script on the floor [as in] this thing that we wrote is irrelevant, let's work on something real.''

Jones's stint on WGN was part of a significant publicity push for 'Grand Theft Auto V,' which comes out on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 17. PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions are expected but have not been confirmed by developer Rockstar Games.