A real-life ‘GTA V’ rampage would cost $8m an hour

By David Nield December 22, 2013

rockstar backs up its threat to ban players over multi player mods gta v — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Insurance experts in Germany have produced an official damage report for Grand Theft Auto V, estimating that gamers can cause $8m worth of damage every hour without trying too hard. Allianz bosses Robert Übler and Alexander Drumm kept track of their trail of destruction in a 1hr 39min session, chalking up some €9.5m (around $13m) of damage along the way.

Of course, one man’s rampage is another man’s quiet Sunday afternoon, and if you were aiming for all-out carnage then it’s likely that you could cause much more damage that the Allianz team managed. Still, it’s interesting to look at the kind of impact our video gaming exploits would have out in the real world.

Übler and Drumm managed to take down a helicopter, which would cost you over $2 million (not including the damage to residential properties as it hit the ground). They also managed to wreck around $2 million of railway track and smashed two gas turbine UP 18 locomotives together in a head-on collision (that’s around $4 million each).

The total bill came to just over $13 million, the equivalent of $8 million an hour, once car chases, Molotov cocktails and aircraft damage were taken into account. The game has been a phenomenal success, breaking six world records since its release, including the highest revenue ever generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours (a cool $815.7 million).

If you’re diving into GTA V for the first time this Christmas, check out our official review and comprehensive guide to the virtual world of Los Santos. Just be thankful that you don’t have to pay the bills once the gaming’s over.

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Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

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