Flatbed

The Flatbed is a commonly recurring heavy truck first introduced in Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969. The second incarnation of the vehicle, debuting in Grand Theft Auto III, would go on to repeatedly appear in following titles.

The following is a list of games that the Flatbed has appeared in:


 * Grand Theft Auto: London 1969
 * Grand Theft Auto III
 * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
 * Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
 * Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
 * Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
 * Grand Theft Auto IV
 * Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

GTA London


In its debut appearance in Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969, the Flatbed is depicted as a vehicle more alike those seen in 1960s Britain: A two-door, four-wheel cab-over lorry with a flat cab (consistently appearing green), similar in design to a Ford D-series. Despite its appearance, the Flatbed weighs about the same as normal cars, suggesting that it is a light lorry similar to the Sweets Van. Despite this, it has twice the value of the Sweets Van, earning the player a base payment of £800 when it is exported in mint condition.

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories
Between GTA III and GTA Vice City Stories, the Flatbed's appearance, a large, six wheel standard cab truck, was similar to the Barracks OL military vehicle; in GTA III, the Flatbed was simply a Barracks OL without the latter's bed accessories. Although it appears to have six wheels, it can be speculated that it is a 10 wheeler truck as it would likely have duals.

Throughout the series, the Flatbed's appearance changes very little, with the addition of loads of various cargo in GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas, as well as changes to the detailing - mainly the cab (in its first appearance, the cab had no roof - a roof was added in GTA Vice City). The Liberty City Stories version is only seen loaded with three planks of wood resting against some covered crates.

The Flatbed in these games appears to be loosely based on the M939 "5-ton" truck, the only exception being the GTA Liberty City Stories version, which frontal fascia has been modified to appear more similar to the Linerunner.

GTA IV — GTA Chinatown Wars
The Flatbed in GTA IV was completely redesigned, and is essentially modeled on the Peterbilt 379; its appearance is thus very similar to the Phantom, a truck also based on a Peterbilt design. The Flatbed is built by MTL. Like other trucks, it can be found in the industrial areas of Bohan, either unloaded, or carrying, variously, a shipping container, or a crane attachment. The current logo resembles the old style logo used on Prevost Buses

The Flatbed in GTA Chinatown Wars now resembles a 2009-present Dodge Ram 5500 and therefore is much smaller. It's consistently depicted as a flatbed truck.

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GTA London
Due to its design, the Flatbed in GTA London 1969 is one of the better handling lorries in the game, albeit slightly inferior to the Sweets Van, with average speed, and slightly below average acceleration and handling.

GTA III — GTA Chinatown Wars
From GTA III onwards, the Flatbed is slow to accelerate and hard to maneuver in tight spaces; once it gets going, however, its top speed is decent. The Flatbed is resilient, allowing it to easily ram other vehicles aside (even being capable of surviving up to four collisions with APCs before becoming undrivable). However, it is outclassed in this by the Fire Truck and the Barracks OL. However, in GTA Vice City, it outperforms the Fire Truck as far as ramming ability is concerned, as it stays in control more than the Fire Truck, which grip is lost in almost all head-on collisions. Also, in GTA Vice City, it is clearly the heaviest non specialty vehicle as it is not only a heavy duty ten-wheeler, but it is always loaded with something. The fire truck accelerates faster but does not demonstrate the amount of momentum and density of the Flatbed.

GTA IV
The Flatbed, with its low performance, brakes, and bad steering, has trouble getting to a high speed. But it is faster than other trucks, at 138 mph.

Prominent appearances
Although it is frequently seen on the roads, the Flatbed has not been prominently featured in missions. The only notable use of the Flatbed is during the GTA IV mission "Rigged to Blow", where a Flatbed rigged with explosives is used to blow up a garage. Also in Search and Delete there is a unique Flatbed with logs as its cargo.

In GTA Vice City Stories, it appeared during the mission "The Exchange", where you drive Diaz's guys to the deal in Downtown, with the DEA, to exchange the drugs for the weapons. This Flatbed is navy blue.

Trivia

 * It looks very similar to the Barracks OL.
 * The Flatbed plays the following radio stations by default when entered:
 * K-DST in GTA San Andreas.
 * Massive B Soundsystem 96.9 or Tuff Gong Radio in GTA IV.
 * In the mission Rigged to Blow (GTA IV), you drive a Flatbed with a bomb.

Locations

 * GTA Vice City
 * Parked southwest of Pay n' Spray in Viceport.


 * GTA Vice City Stories
 * Parked southward Pay n' Spray in Viceport.
 * Parked near east entrance of Escobar International Airport.


 * GTA San Andreas
 * Commonly found driving around Ocean Docks.
 * Always found driving or parked at the cargo area of the Fallen Tree.
 * Common in the industrial area just outside of Prickle Pine.
 * Usually found driving on the Sherman Dam.


 * GTA IV
 * Parked in a construction site adjacent to the multi-storey carpark in Purgatory, Algonquin.
 * Parked in Fulcrum Avenue, Tudor, Alderney.
 * Two Flatbeds parked in construction site with helicopter placement in Westminster(one of them have flat platform, one have shipping container).
 * Parked in site in Union Drive West, Purgatory, near skatepark.


 * The Ballad of Gay Tony
 * The target of a vehicle base jump will always be a Flatbed.