Cheetah

Revision as of 21:27, 12 April 2011 by Tommy-Vercetti (talk | contribs) (An undercover Cheetah is still a Cheetah, right?)
Vehicle
Cheetah
A Cheetah in GTA III.
A Cheetah in GTA III.
(Rear quarter view)
A Cheetah in GTA III.
Appearance(s) [[Appearance::GTA III
GTA Vice City
GTA San Andreas
GTA Liberty City Stories
GTA Vice City Stories]]
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 that has appeared 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.

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.

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.

Anachronism in GTA Vice City Stories

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" didn't 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.

Variant

  • VCPD Cheetah : The police version of the normal Cheetah - meant to be a reference to the Ferrari Testarossa's appearance on the 1980s detective show Miami Vice

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 (Stories) 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.
  • When first entered in GTA San Andreas, it may play SF-UR as its default radio station.

Locations

GTA III

GTA Vice City

GTA San Andreas

GTA Liberty City Stories

GTA Vice City Stories

See also