July 19, 2026
Grand Theft Auto: Inception Edition
Modder Runs GTA III Inside GTA: San Andreas on an In-Game TV
Fans are losing it over this absurd GTA-in-GTA stunt and the jokes are writing themselves
TLDR: A modder made GTA III fully playable on a TV inside GTA: San Andreas, then went even further by nesting Vice City inside that setup too. Commenters were equal parts amazed and sarcastic, joking that modders are now doing the impossible while Rockstar still gets dragged over basic features.
The real show here is not just that modder Dryxio got Grand Theft Auto III playable on a TV inside Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas — it’s that the community instantly treated it like a mix of wizardry, comedy, and a challenge to the entire games industry. In the demo, CJ can stand in front of a television while another full GTA game runs live on the screen, and players can even swap control between the two characters. For people who don’t follow game modding, that basically means one game is somehow living inside another game without the main world freezing. Naturally, commenters reacted like they’d just witnessed a glitch in reality.
The loudest mood was pure disbelief mixed with admiration. One fan summed it up with a laughing “that is wild”, while another delivered the internet’s favorite mad scientist motto: “Because I can.” That line practically became the unofficial slogan of the whole stunt. And then came the jokes. Someone cracked “GTA 3 + GTA 3 = GTA 6!”, which is exactly the kind of chaotic math the comments wanted to live in. Another person turned the whole thing into a subtle roast of Rockstar, saying if modders can do this, then surely the company itself could figure out how to make GTA V run better on Steam Deck. Ouch. That’s the tiny bit of drama here: the usual comment-section side-eye that unpaid modders keep doing the weird, brilliant things big studios won’t. In other words, this wasn’t just a cool demo — it was community bait, and the internet bit hard.
Key Points
- •Dryxio demonstrated GTA III running as a fully playable game on an in-game television inside GTA: San Andreas.
- •The article says the setup is not a video playback or captured window; GTA III runs inside the San Andreas process.
- •Both games reportedly share the same Direct3D device, and GTA III renders directly to the TV's live GPU texture.
- •Players can switch control between CJ in San Andreas and Claude in GTA III while the San Andreas world continues running.
- •The demo builds on a February 2026 mod release that ports GTA III and Vice City into San Andreas with separate saves, settings, and story progress, and a later demo also shows Vice City nested inside GTA III inside San Andreas.