Radar

For the arrows used in early top-down perspective GTA games, see location compass.
For the directions system in Grand Theft Auto IV, see GPS.

The radar in GTA San Andreas, showing blips for various landmarks.

The Radar (technically a GPS), is a map on the heads-up display showing the player's current location in the game, and the relative location or direction of various points of interest.

Description

Introduced in Grand Theft Auto III, the radar essentially replaces the player centered location compass used in preceding GTA games, and remains an element of all GTA games after.

Each rendition of the radar features a portion of a location's map within the immediate vicinity of the player, and shows various blips, representing various points of interest, such as:

• A compass point pointing north (represented by a black "N" blip).
• Mission contact points.
• Mission targets. Initially indicated only by colored squares in GTA III, radars from GTA Vice City onwards specifically use squares for targets on the same physical level (altitude) as the player, and a triangle pointed upwards if the target is above or a downwards triangle if it is below. In GTA IV, the radar uses colored circles; if the target is higher or lower, there will be a small arrow inside the circle.
• Spray shops, gun shops, clothing stores and places where the player can purchase food.
• Savepoints and safehouses.
• Gang colors or territory (GTA San Andreas).
• Custom way points (GTA San Andreas onwards).

Floating pickups, such as police bribes, health, armor, and weapon pickups, rampages, and hidden collectibles are not displayed on the radar even though the player can see them in the game's environment.

The radar in GTA San Andreas is also adapted to support flight. When the player operates a helicopter or freefalls with a parachute, an altitude indicator will appear to the left of the radar showing the player's height from sea level. Additionally, if the player controls a fixed-wing aircraft, an artificial horizon (represented by a semi-transparent green horizon and a horizontal miniature wings) is integrated into the radar, and pitches and banks in accordance to the plane that the player controls. Rows of three yellow blips will also be added into the radar to indicate the position and alignment of the nearest aircraft runway.

From GTA IV onwards, the Health and Body Armor indicators, which were initially located on the upper right side of the heads-up display, are integrated into the radar, warping around the radar's circular border; the health bar and armor bar each take up half of the radar's circumference, and the health bar will become red and blink if the player's health is low. In addition, the radar from GTA IV onwards also indicates the extent in which law enforcement scouts for the player whenever they have a wanted level.

In GTA V, the radar has been overhauled. It is now rectangular in shape, and the map within the radar is shown in a pseudo-3D perspective rather than a top-down 2D perspective. As with San Andreas and The Ballad of Gay Tony, the radar displays an altimeter whenever the player is flying any aircraft or parachuting. The health and armor meters are still integrated into the radar, however, they are now located at the very bottom of the radar, with the left side indicating health and the right side indicating armor. In addition to the aformentioned meters, a "special ability" meter is present in single-player.

Gallery

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories

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  GTA III (PC version. In the PS2 version, the safe house marker's is originally green).

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  GTA Vice City.

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  GTA San Andreas.

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  GTA Advance.

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  GTA Liberty City Stories.

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  GTA Vice City Stories.

GTA IV — GTA V

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  GTA IV; the green bar denotes the player's health and the blue bar denotes the player's armor (Wanted level radar).

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  The Lost and Damned; the white bar denotes the player's health and the red bar denotes the player's armor.

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  The Ballad of Gay Tony; the white bar denotes the player's health and the purple bar denotes the player's armor.

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  GTA Chinatown Wars (DS version), having been integrated into its HUD.

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  GTA Chinatown Wars (PSP version), being closer in design to the GTA IV version (Wanted level radar).

• GTA V; the green bar denotes the player's health, the blue bar denotes the player's armor, and the gold bar denotes either Michael, Franklin, or Trevor's special ability.

  GTA V; the green bar denotes the player's health, the blue bar denotes the player's armor, and the gold bar denotes either Michael, Franklin, or Trevor's special ability.