Real gang members in GTA 5 voice cast

Rockstar has used real life gang members for the voices of criminals and thugs in upcoming Grand Theft Auto 5.

Writer and producer for the game Lucien "Lazlow" Jones revealed that Rockstar wanted their gang members to sound authentic, so they went searching for real ones.

"We don't want a goofy LA actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member," Lazlow told WGN.

"There's nothing worse than that, so just go find the terrifying people and say 'can you come in here please?'

"Where we record all these ambient characters we go towards authenticity.

"We recruited a guy who gets gang members, actual real gang members, like El Salvadoran gang dudes with amazing tattoos, one of which had literally gotten out of prison the day before."

Lazlow said that the gang members would also give feedback to the writers after looking at the scripts.

"Gang members would sometimes look at scripts and say, 'I wouldn't say that.' So we say, 'Okay, say what you would say.' Authenticity."

Grand Theft Auto 5 launches 17 September on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.