Cheetah

Vehicle

Cheetah
A Cheetah in GTA III. (Rear quarter view) A Cheetah in GTA III.
Appearance(s)	GTA III GTA Vice City GTA San Andreas GTA Liberty City Stories GTA Vice City Stories GTA V
Vehicle type	Civilian car
Body style	2-door sports car
Capacity	2 (driver and passenger)
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The Cheetah is a two-door sports car in Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. The car is also slated to be featured in Grand Theft Auto V.

Description

Design

In all its iterations the vehicle closely resembles a Ferrari Testarossa, with each game's version following the design of the corresponding era. For example, in GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories, it looks like a slightly generic-ized and modernized F512 M, while in GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories, it resembles a mid-80s Testarossa, and in GTA San Andreas, a 512 TR Testarossa (but without the hidden headlamps) with the rear lights of a F512 M. A hood scoop is also present on these renditions.

Looking at the shape of the car, its clear to see that it is mid-engined, however when the hood is removed, in GTA III and GTA Vice City, the engine appears to be at the front, possibly due to programming limitations. This is in stark contrast to the design of the Testarossa in general, which has the engine placed behind the passenger compartment, just in front of the rear axle (mid-engine). However, in GTA San Andreas, the design is more faithful to the real-life counterpart, with the engine being evidently placed at the rear of the chassis, while the front is empty. The engine of the Cheetah sounds and looks like a V10.

During one point of game development of GTA III, the Cheetah was known as the Rocket.

After a noticeable absence in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the Cheetah is slated to be reintroduced in GTA V with a completely redesigned and modernized appearance, but no longer derives from any existing Ferrari cars (with a Koenigsegg CCX/Agera-like rear end).

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  The "Rocket", an early iteration of the Cheetah in GTA III.

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  GTA III (Rear quarter view).

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  GTA Vice City (Rear quarter view; no rear mirrors).

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  GTA San Andreas (Rear quarter view).

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  GTA Liberty City Stories (Rear quarter view).

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  GTA Vice City Stories artwork of a purported Cheetah. The car's design is more adherent to that of the Ferrari Testarossa.

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  GTA Vice City Stories (Rear quarter view).

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  GTA V rendition with a "Cheeta" nameplate (the "H" in the end is presumably obscured by reflected sunlight).

Performance

The Cheetah's acceleration and speed are good compared to other sports cars in the game, and handling and braking are far superior to all others. Due to its low suspension, it hugs the road and is not prone to rolling over or spinning out of control when cornering at high speeds. However, GTA III's Cheetah has stiffer suspensions than those of the Banshee, Stinger and Infernus, making its incapable of handling bumps, and curbs without compromising stability. The Cheetah has a top speed of 213 km/h in GTA San Andreas.

Variant

The police variant of the Cheetah appears in both GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories, being a deliberate reference to the Ferrari Testarossa's appearance as Sonny Crockett's car of choice in the later half Miami Vice, a 1980s police series set in Miami.

Customization in GTA San Andreas

The Cheetah in GTA San Andreas can be modified at a TransFender, which offers a modest range of customizations for the car:

Italicized pricing denotes prices at the Las Venturas TransFender, which charges 20% more except Colors.

Colors Car Color 1 (primary body color): $150 Exhausts Twin Exhaust: $300 ($360) Upswept Exhaust: $350 ($420) Nitro 2x Nitrous: $200 ($240) 5x Nitrous: $500 ($600) 10x Nitrous: $1,000 ($1,200) Spoilers: Win: $550 ($660) Fury: $350 ($420) Alpha $250 ($300)

Side Skirt: $500 ($600) Wheels Import: $820 ($984) Atomic: $770 ($924) Ahab: $1,000 ($1,200) Virtual: $620 ($744) Access: $1,140 ($1,368) Off Road Wheel: $1,000 ($1,200) Mega: $1,030 ($1,236) Grove: $1,230 ($1,476) Twist: $1,200 ($1,440) Wires: $1,560 ($1,872) Hydraulics: $1,500 ($1,800)

Trivia

The Cheetah's four wing mirror configurations in GTA Vice City, including a "black strobe light" variant of the wing mirror-less Cheetah, which does not exist in other games.

• The GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas renditions feature variations of wing mirrors, either featuring two on both sides, one on the driver's side or none. Unusually, for some Cheetahs without rear mirrors in GTA Vice City, a blacked-out dashboard strobe light used by the "police" Cheetah may be seen; this variety of side mirrors is also seen on the police variant of the Cheetah. Despite sharing the same vehicle design as in GTA Vice City, the GTA Vice City Stories rendition is only available with two side mirrors.
• When first entered in GTA San Andreas, it may play SF-UR as its default radio station.
• In GTA Vice City Stories, which is set in 1984, the Cheetah was based from the first generation Ferrari Testarossa, which started selling in 1984. The first "red head" did not sell enough until late 1985. For the sake of having no irregularities about the comparison of the two cars, the developers of the game made the Cheetah scarce in Vice City Stories, spawning only in parking lots, in order to address this anachronism.

Locations

GTA III

• Mansion west of Cartel Mansion in Cedar Grove, Shoreside Vale, Liberty City.
• In the parking lot of the Francis International Airport near the entrance and across the fire station.
• Can be seen during the mission Chaperone.

GTA Vice City

• Parking area near Colonel Cortez' yacht in Ocean Beach.
• North of Ricardo Diaz' Mansion, Starfish Island.
• One of the competitors for Sunshine Autos's race

GTA San Andreas

• Spawns in Market, Los Santos.
• Spawns while driving a PCJ-600 in Rodeo, Los Santos (Wednesday).
• Spawns sometimes in Doherty, San Fierro, and its surrounding areas.
• Spawns in Old Venturas Strip, Las Venturas.
• Spawns while driving a Euros on The Strip, Las Venturas, or in Queens, San Fierro on (Thursday).
• May spawn other days/conditions on the Strip, Las Venturas.
• Found parked in front of a house in Prickle Pine, Las Venturas when wanted for export on the second list.
• Importable from Easter Basin, San Fierro for $84,000 after exporting the car.

GTA Liberty City Stories

• Donald Love's mansion, Cedar Grove, Shoreside Vale.
• In the Francis International Airport parking lot across the fire station.

GTA Vice City Stories

• Northernmost road on Starfish Island.
• Diaz' Mansion on Starfish Island.
• In front of Lance's hotel in Downtown.
• In the parking lot behind the hospital in Downtown.

See also

• Turismo