Cheetah
- For the stripper in Grand Theft Auto V, see Cheetah (GTA V).
Cheetah | |
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(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 GTA Online |
Vehicle type | Civilian car |
Body style |
2-door sports car (3D Universe) 2-door supercar (HD Universe) |
Capacity | 2 (driver and passenger) |
Manufacturer | Grotti (HD Universe) |
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Forget the last 50 years of technological advancement and hark back to the golden age of driving before seatbelts, DUI laws, anti-lock brakes, and emasculating GPS systems with nagging female voices. A prototype sports car manufactured by Grotti in the early 1970s, this marvel of Italian engineering will over-compensate for just about anything. Just like the Italians.
Official legendarymotorsport.net description, GTA V.
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. It takes the form of a supercar in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Description
Design
- 3D Universe
In all its iterations the vehicle closely resembles a Ferrari Testarossa, with each game's version following the design of the corresponding era:
- In Grand Theft Auto III (2001) and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (1998), the Cheetah looks like a slightly generic-ized and modernized F512 M with oval taillights and headlights strangely bearing some similarity to those of a fourth-generation Ford Mustang, except curved and without turn signals. Being front-engined, it could be vaguely based on a Ferrari 550 Maranello as well. Upon close inspection of the engine, 12 cylinders can be seen, implying the Cheetah has a V12 engine, much like the 550 Maranello.
- In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (1986) and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (1984), it resembles a mid-80s Testarossa with the triple taillights of pre-1990s Ferrari models.
- In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (1992), 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, it is 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; this creates a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The engine of the Cheetah in GTA San Andreas sounds and looks like a V10, contrary to the flat-12 engine used by the Testarossa.
During one point of game development of GTA III, the Cheetah was known as the Rocket.
- HD Universe
The Cheetah, having been noticeably absent in the Grand Theft Auto IV era and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, was reintroduced in Grand Theft Auto V with a new appearance. It is based on the Enzo Ferrari with the front of the Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari FXX Evoluzione, Pagani Zonda R, and SSC Tuatara. The rear end of the car appears to be a combination of both the GTA Spano and Cizeta V16T. The rear engine hood is inspired by the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR as both of them have big engines and rear hoods. The carbon fiber stripe on the bonnet resembles that of the Pagani Zonda Tricolore. Though it looks very new in design, legendarymotorsport.net claims it is a prototype sports car manufactured by Grotti in the 1970s, possibly a reference to the Ferrari P series race cars in the 1960s and 1970s.
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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 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 in a prerelease screenshot. (Rear quarter view).
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GTA V (Rear quarter view).
Performance
- 3D Universe
The Cheetah's acceleration and speed are good compared to other sports cars in the game, owing to its powerful V12 engine, 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. Like with the real-life Testarossa, the Cheetah is a rear-wheel-drive car. However, GTA III's Cheetah has stiffer suspensions than those of the Banshee, Stinger, and Infernus, making it incapable of handling bumps and curbs without compromising stability. The Cheetah has a top speed of 132 mph (213 km/h) in GTA San Andreas.
- GTA V
In Grand Theft Auto V, the Cheetah, having been redesigned visually, has also been changed performance-wise. It is one of the best-performing cars in the game, capable of competing with the Adder, Entity XF, Turismo R, Zentorno, Osiris, and T20. Its powerful 6.0 L V8 (contrary to the Enzo's V12) grants the Cheetah an amazing top speed of 220 mph (354 km/h), a considerable improvement from its 3D Universe rendition, as well as a decent 0-60 mph (0-100 km/h) time of 4 seconds. The Cheetah retains its responsive handling and braking traits from the 3D Universe rendition, but has somewhat low braking power. Despite this, the Cheetah is very useful for most situations, like robberies, police chases, and urban races in GTA Online where, in the hands of a considerably skilled driver, the Cheetah can easily turn through a corner without the need to lose a lot of speed.
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.
They appear from a 3-star wanted level onwards, driven by casually but tastefully dressed Vice Squad agents armed with Micro-SMGs. Given the identical performance of this vehicle to its civilian counterpart, it is nearly impossible to evade this car in this case.
Customization
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.
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GTA V
The Cheetah can be modified at a Los Santos Customs outlet, with the following options listed below. Stock options and performance upgrades are not listed.
- Exhaust
- Triple Exit Exhaust ($375 in Story Mode, $750 in Online)
- Dual Exit Exhaust ($899 in Story Mode, $1,800 in Online)
- Race Exhaust ($1,499 in Story Mode, $3,000 in Online)
- Spoiler
- High Level Spoiler ($3,750 in Story Mode, $7,050 in Online)
- Carbon Wing ($5,000 in Story Mode, $10,000 in Online)
- GT Wing ($6,500 in Story Mode, $13,000 in Online)
Notable owners
Locations
- GTA III
- Mansion west of Cartel Mansion in Cedar Grove, Shoreside Vale, Liberty City.
- Can be seen during the missions Chaperone, Turismo, Last Requests (albeit armed with a Car Bomb that can kill the player), and Grand Theft Auto. In the latter mission, the Cheetah is colored a unique candy red.
- Used as the opponents' cars in Turismo and Bling-Bling Scramble.
- GTA Vice City
- Parking area near Juan Cortez' yacht in Ocean Beach/Viceport.
- North of the Vercetti Estate, Starfish Island.
- One of the competitors for Sunshine Autos' races.
- 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 (Thursday).
- May spawn during other days/conditions on the Strip, Las Venturas.
- Found parked in front of a house in Prickle Pine, Las Venturas when wanted for export. May be locked or equipped with an alarm.
- 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.
- In front of Ricardo Diaz' mansion on Starfish Island.
- In front of Lance Vance's hotel in Downtown.
- In the parking lot behind the hospital in Downtown.
- Obtainable by failing the mission Fear the Repo.
- GTA V
- Purchasable from legendarymotorsport.net for $650,000.
- Can be obtained from the mission I Fought the Law by killing Henry Smith IV.
- GTA Online
- Purchasable from legendarymotorsport.net for $650,000.
Trivia
- General
- The Cheetah is named after an animal of the same name, a type of feline capable of running at high speeds. This is a possible reference to the Cheetah's superior performance in its class.
- Furthermore, in GTA Vice City's intro, the silhouette of a cheetah can be seen.
- There is an actual real-life car made by Lamborghini named the Cheetah, but it is a variant of the HMMWV Military Vehicle.
- 3D Universe
- 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 VCPD Cheetah may be seen; this variety of side mirrors is also seen on the VCPD 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.
- Unlike
- When first entered in GTA San Andreas, it may play SF-UR as its default radio station.
- Sometimes, when exported from Easter Basin, the Cheetah may gain a unique license plate that reads "IMY AK", the same plate featured on the Feltzer in End of the Line and BF-400 in Just Business.
- Among all other supercars and sports cars, the Cheetah boasts the widest range of modifications in GTA San Andreas.
- 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 the game by only spawning them in parking lots, in order to address this anachronism.
- In GTA Vice City Stories, when respraying a Cheetah, the colors will cycle through either one of two sequences:
- Sequence A: dark blue→dark gray→dark red→cherry red
- Sequence B: green→silver→gold→white
- For example, if you want a cherry-red Cheetah, avoid respraying a white one. No matter how many times it is resprayed, it will never become red.
- HD Universe
- The Cheetah's default radio station is Non Stop Pop FM.
- The Cheetah is the fourth-fastest vehicle in GTA V, at 220 mph (354 km/h).
- The Cheetah's price of $650,000 is an evidence of its similarity with its primary inspiration, the Enzo Ferrari (which is priced at $687,520 or €655,000.
- In GTA V, the Cheetah makes the same horn sound as the JB 700 and Entity XF.
- The Cheetah and Turismo R are two of the few cars where prostitutes can't be picked up in due to the compact interior.
- The Cheetah and Entity XF are the first cars to feature only a single windscreen wiper.
- The Cheetah featured in the mission Pack Man has a glass roof, suggesting that it was originally going to have a glass roof instead of a carbon fiber roof.
- In the enhanced version, the speedometer only reads up to 200 mph (322 km/h), despite the claim that it can reach 220 mph (354 km/h). The same error is also present on the Adder and Entity XF.
- In the enhanced version, the Grotti emblem will light up when the high-beam lights are turned on, much like the Osiris, Turismo R, and Casco.
See also
- Turismo and F-19, more Ferrari-based sports cars.
- Turismo R, a modernized version of the Grand Theft Auto V rendition of the Cheetah based on the LaFerrari (the Enzo Ferrari's successor).