Vehicle Features/Mounted Weapons

Ever since the Grand Theft Auto series introduced armed vehicles, these also introduced Vehicle Mounted Weapons. Vehicle mounted weapons act similarly to most regular Weapons, except that these are usually stronger, easier to use and mostly have infinite ammunition.

Overview
A vehicle mounted weapon is represented as any device incorporated into a vehicle where they can be activated to move and shoot any kind of harming element, usually a projectile. Many of these lacks a HUD icon, although in Grand Theft Auto 2 and Grand Theft Auto V vehicle weapons can be selected like any conventional weapons and even appears on-screen (often having a name).

Certain vehicle weapons that appears in most cases are: Tank Cannons, Machine Guns, Mounted Rockets and others. The Water Cannon is not normally considered as a mounted weapon, but its characteristics as an extra feature, the ability to harm a person (albeit very low) and the ability to attract police attention still defines it as a weapon in the GTA universe. There are also weapons that are equipped by civilian vehicles, but the later ones are scripted only in missions (except in Grand Theft Auto 2).

As more vehicles are added over the course of various games, more weapons are available for at least a land, sea or air vehicle, giving the player more offensive/defensive options.

General
As indicated by the name, these weapons are available for the player only in a specified vehicle and, due to the infinite ammunition feature, these can save a large amount of the player's arsenal during prolongued combat situations. In general, there are light firepower weapons suited for rapid engagements, accuracy, close combat and small groups of enemies; and heavy firepower weapons, best suited for numerous groups of enemies and vehicular destruction, where is usually important in the arsenal and, at the same time, the dangerous ones.

Vehicle weapons will disable player-owned weapons for Drive-By Shooting, yet these are not necesary for such cases. If the vehicle is destroyed, the mounted weapon/s becomes unusable afterwards.

On some Grand Theft Auto titles, vehicle weapons require extra commands for aiming (left or right), while in other games, one can aim it with the camera, as if the weapon is the camera. The Rhino is an example of this.

Armed vehicles are usually featured in later storyline missions, usually to give first impressions to the player (i.e. The Rhino on Sir, Yes Sir!), and later, the player can unlock these vehicles with certain methods and achievements. The usual ones are collecting Pickups, completing side missions, among others. The Rhino can be seen and obtained at the maximum Wanted Level in the 3D Universe games.

Gameplay
In the 2D Universe and 3D Universe, aiming the vehicle's weapon is a challenge, due to the lack of a reticle on them, especially in earlier games. All is left to the player' skills to aim and shoot at a target, except in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (the Hunter and the Hydra will have a reticle when selected to first-person view).

In Grand Theft Auto IV, there are no reticles at all, even despite there are two vehicles (only one intended as a combat vehicle), being left again to the player' skills. The same happens to Episodes From Liberty City, despite an exclusive vehicle is armed. For Grand Theft Auto V, however, reticles becomes a prominent feature for each armed vehicle, giving the player more opportunities to use the weapon without losing too much control on it (especially aircraft, as these are very sensitive at damage). The player can choose the usual aiming dot or advanced reticles (which is the same feature for every weapon).

Turrets
Since the Heists Update in Grand Theft Auto Online, vehicle-mounted turrets were added as part of the Technical, the Insurgent Pick-Up and the Valkyrie, which were the first vehicle weapons that can be controlled independently by other players, increasing the driver's focus on the road. This idea is then replicated in the Turreted Limo (added as part of Executive and Other Criminals update) and the Armored Boxville (as part of Import/Export update).

Turrets proved to be efficient, since they can be controlled separately and, like most driver-controlled weapons, have infinite ammunition. While they do not offer much protection against enemies, these weapons are an excellent choice for team-oriented tactics. The player will likely put less effort on aiming and using the vehicle at the same time, but they will likely have to aid their teammates if they want to use turrets at their full potential.

Vehicle Machine Gun
Vehicle Machine Guns are, as the name suggests, machine Guns mounted on a vehicle. The weapon is only available in Grand Theft Auto 2 and they are available at Smith and Heston's scattered around Anywhere City for $25,000. The weapon is effective in Multiplayer Mode, as the other player is unable to jump over the vehicle while they are being fired at.

Driver-Controlled Land Vehicles

 * Ardent
 * Armed Land Roamer
 * APC (The Ballad of Gay Tony)
 * Blazer Aqua
 * Fire Truck
 * Nightshark
 * Oppressor
 * Rhino
 * Royal Pain
 * Ruiner 2000
 * S.W.A.T.
 * Tank
 * Tiger Tank
 * Weaponized Tampa
 * Vigilante

Passenger-Controlled Land Vehicles

 * Anti-Aircraft Trailer
 * Armored Boxville
 * APC (Online)
 * Dune FAV
 * Half-track
 * Insurgent Pick-Up
 * Insurgent Pick-Up Custom
 * Technical
 * Technical Aqua
 * Technical Custom
 * Turreted Limo
 * Mobile Operations Center

Pilot-Controlled Air Vehicles

 * Annihilator
 * Cuban 800 (Optional)
 * Havok (Optional)
 * Hunter (3D Universe)
 * Hydra
 * LF-22 Starling
 * Little Willie
 * Pyro
 * P-45 Nokota
 * P-996 LAZER
 * Rogue (Optional)
 * Rustler
 * Seabreeze (Optional)
 * Sea Sparrow
 * V-65 Molotok

Passenger-Controlled Air Vehicles

 * RM-10 Bombushka
 * Valkyrie
 * Valkyrie MOD.0

Duo-Controlled Air Vehicles

 * Buzzard
 * FH-1 Hunter
 * Mogul
 * Savage
 * Tula

Sea Vehicles

 * Coast Guard Launch
 * Destroyer
 * Predator (3D Universe)
 * Launch

Mission Exclusives

 * JB 700 (Deep Inside / Pack Man, V)
 * RC Baron (Supply Lines, San Andreas)

Trivia

 * Along with these weapons, there are at least FIVE unusable weapons:
 * The ICBM's missile on the back (London 1969).
 * The Hunter's Anti-tank missiles next to the usable rocket pods (Vice City-Vice City Stories)
 * The Launch's Rear MG on the rear end (San Andreas).
 * The Rhino's roof mounted MG and Co-axial MG (GTA V).
 * AI-controlled Police Mavericks (3D Universe) use an invisible Machine Gun that can even destroy a Rhino. The player cannot use this machine gun, however.
 * In an early development for the Annihilator, instead of having four miniguns, there are only one minigun and the four stub wings are loaded with some sort of fuel tanks.
 * In GTA V, the Buzzard and the P-996 Lazer can select guided and un-guided rockets after the patch 1.16.
 * As of the Gunrunning update, certain vehicles can be customized to wield Miniguns, 20 mm Flak Cannons, 40 mm Grenade Launchers, Rockets, Mortars, Anti-Aircraft Missiles, and many other weapons.