Hit video game Grand Theft Auto has attracted the anger of anti-Metrication campaigners, as it is revealed that the developers have edited the game to use kilometres instead of miles for its UK gamers.
Campaigners have branded the video game Grand Theft Auto’s shift to kilometres as “perverse” – as UK gamers are forced into line with European counterparts.
The game’s latest update entitled “Ill-Gotten Gains” launched earlier this week, and amongst the plethora of game changes was hefty new bills for destroyed vehicles, as well as a change in the in-game map, which reflects distances in miles for the United States, but changes the UK game to show the distance in kilometres.
The change was first spotted by YouTube reviewers “MrBossFTW” as he was reviewing the update.
A spokesman from the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA), which has campaigned against metrication for 20 years, told Breitbart London the change was “perverse”.
“All roads in the United Kingdom are in miles,” he said. “There are no government plans to change them, and Grand Theft Auto is now using units that people in the UK don’t know. It’s perverse.”
The BWMA’s patrons include famed cricketer Ian Botham, adventurer Ranulph Fiennes, author J.K. Rowling, journalist Peter Hitchens, and musician Jools Holland.
Rockstar North, the developer of the game, had not replied for comment at the time of publication.