Obbe Vermeij (X/@ObbeVermeij) — the Technical Director of 2001’s Grand Theft Auto 3 — talked about how the in-game traffic lights functioned and what other plans he had for the system.
Even if no cops were about, it still "forced you to scan all cars around you before running a light," with dire consequences for the game's pace. So no traffic laws in GTA. Ah well, maybe the mad ...
Map artists just placed the lights, ran the game, and it all worked—no extra setup needed. Simple, but it still worked this way in [GTA] 4." In gta3, traffic lights cycle through 3 states ...