GTA 4 "ditched" ferries because there were "too many issues," former Rockstar lead explains after a development build surfaces online from someone who accidentally bought it at a car boot sale

You never know what you might find at a car boot sale – like, say, an early development build of one of the biggest games ever. That's purportedly what's led to an older version of GTA 4 finding its way online, and a former developer revealing why certain changes were necessary for the crime sandbox.

For the princely sum of £5, an unwitting games enthusiast in Edinburgh reportedly took home an Xbox 360 that contains a pre-release iteration of Grand Theft Auto 4 on the hard drive. According to the buyer's comments and images posted on the GTA forums, there's a Rockstar North assets sticker on the console, suggesting this was a system used by employees at the company, which has a base in the Scottish capital.

This particular snapshot of Niko Bellic's criminal career in Liberty City gives us a look at numerous assets and ideas from before the game ever made it to shelves. Among the findings is a model for a public transport ferry, seen in trailers but absent from the finished product, prompting Obbe Vermeij, former technical director at Rockstar North, to clarify what happened.

"The ferries were cut late on," he says on Twitter. "They were supposed to be moving back and forth kinda like a train. We figured there would be too many issues with it."

He explains that the anticipated problems were "mostly the collision and AI" of pedestrians, as well as "vehicles sitting on top of another vehicle."

At some point, the team just "ditched them," he says, even though they were teased in a trailer. Explained like this, I can see why; layering independently moving models like that in a constantly shifting world seems like the kind of thing that'd be extremely frustrating. While it's a pity they weren't included, at least now we know why.

Members of the GTA community are still digging into what this build has to offer, and if you'd like to own a bit of Rockstar history, the owner is looking to sell the console on. The starting price is now between £400 and £800, though.

Next time you spot a car boot sale, make sure to stop by, in case there's any video game treasure to be found. That said, they might be a little more competitive in Edinburgh for the next while when it comes to 360s.

GTA 6 sleuths deduce that Rockstar North's likely spent over $2 billion making the long-awaited game after snooping through its financial documents.