In Grand Theft Auto III, one mission has the main character kill an undercover cop named Tanner, who was clearly named after the hero of the "Driver" series. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, one mission has Tommy Vercetti kill men named after characters from similar games, including Tanner. In this game, Tanner gets his revenge. In each city, he has to kill 10 men named Timmy Vermicelli who wear Hawaiian shirts (similar to Tommy Vercetti) and arm floats (in Vice City, Tommy dies whenever he goes into the water).
The scene in which Carlita calls Gator after the sour deal is taken almost verbatim from a scene in Fuego contra fuego (1995), where Robert De Niro's character calls a businessman who has just screwed him on a deal.
Michael Madsen provides the voice for Tanner, an undercover cop. Madsen also voiced a character in Grand Theft Auto 3, in which the main character has to kill an undercover cop named Tanner.
A lot of the cutscenes for the Miami segment are shot for shot remakes of the movie "Heat"
GameCube and N-Gage versions were also planned, but despite the game's decent commercial success on the other platforms, both planned ports were later cancelled, likely due to poor sales of the N-Gage and lack of sufficient time for the GameCube version nevermind its poor console sales.