Rage against the Machine: Engine Politics in Grand Theft Auto V

To understand what Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) makes possible beyond its visible gameplay, we must begin with RAGE, the engine that shapes the game’s perceptual and behavioural regimes, including its handling of time. My focus is not the engine as a technical curiosity, but as a structuring system that allocates affordances unevenly and sets the conditions under which modifications can intervene. The objective is to examine how its embedded logics shape what can be rendered and apprehended, and what kinds of alteration remain feasible within the simulation.