Towing



Towing refers to an ability in Grand Theft Auto games to tow or pull an object, specifically a trailer or vehicle, using another vehicle. The feature is first made possible in Grand Theft Auto 2, when semi-trailer trucks possess the ability to pull trailers. The feature is also present in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V. The trailer is also seen in other Grand Theft Auto games, but they cannot be towed and only act as props.

Description
Attachments with trailers simply require the player reverse their vehicle into the front of a trailer until the camera readjusts itself to center on both the hauler and the trailer, confirming the coupling is complete. When pulling a trailer, the vehicle will possess poorer performance due to the need to pull extra weight, especially with regards to steering as the vehicle is now longer. Players have the option of detaching trailers after attachment.

GTA 2
All in all, GTA 2 features three forms of trailers, one of which is somewhat useful in actual gameplay. The Truck Cab and the Truck Cab SX represent the game's only two semi-trailer trucks, and are also the only vehicles in GTA 2 capable of attaching to and pulling trailers. Players may detach a trailer using the attack key or button.

Trailers sustain damage like other vehicles, and also emit fire the same way when heavily damaged, even exploding when destroyed, posing a danger to the player if they are pulling a trailer that is in bad condition. This danger is very likely to happen in certain missions: Benson Burner!, Operation Z! and Grand Theft Auto!, all of which require the player to tow a car across town.

GTA San Andreas


GTA San Andreas is the first game after GTA 2 to reintroduce the ability to pull loads. The game mechanics of attaching to and pulling a trailer is roughly the same as in GTA 2, but trailers may decouple from a vehicle using a specific command or if physical force (i.e. jackknifing, dislodging due to rough terrains or jumps, excessive speed, etc.) is subjected to the trailer. However, there is no single button to detach the trailers. There is a glitch in the PS2 version where taking a picture of the attachment will detach the trailers but the glitch is fixed in subsequent versions.

Along with the game's three semi-trailer trucks (the Linerunner, Tanker and Roadtrain), the game also introduces a different range of vehicles with roughly the same capability, including:


 * The Tow Truck, which employs an adjustable boom at the back to pull any large vehicle.
 * The Tractor, which uses an adjustable tow hitch to pull smaller hauls or large vehicles.
 * The Utility Van and Baggage, which feature a stationary tow hitch to pull smaller hauls.

The trailers themselves consist of a more varied range of items, some of which are not available unless they are spawned using a third-party trainer. In total, GTA San Andreas features eight types of trailers: Four semi-trailers and four specialized trailers.

All trailers in general are capable of exploding entirely if severely damaged or flipped over, but specialized trailers have several other peculiarities, including functional headlights and taillights that light up at night or in a dark location, and the ability to emit smoke if sufficiently damaged (Including those that would never burn, much less explode). This is because all trailers are classified as vehicles, although they are defined with a different classification to other road vehicles.

Truck trailers are prominently used in the Trucking side missions.

GTA Chinatown Wars
In GTA Chinatown Wars, there is a Tanker. There are also a couple of missions that require either pulling up or detaching a Hellenbach or another object, either with a Recovery or a Reefer.

GTA V
The ability to tow trailers returns in GTA V, with mechanics almost identical to those in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Any semi with a hitch in the back can be reversed into most trailers, which will then automatically attach themselves. The player can unhook the trailer at any time, even while moving, which can offer a performance boost if needed or aid a getaway if executed properly. On highways, most often outside of Los Santos, semi trucks hauling various forms of cargo can be seen in traffic. Beyond commercial hauling, the Tow Truck returns, with the ability to move vehicles. Pick-up trucks have the ability to tow small to mid-size trailers. Sadler and Bison pick-ups are equipped with a tow hitch. Some trailers present in the game are boat trailers and a portable electricity generator. If a boat trailer with a boat is reversed into water, the boat starts to float off into the water, but cannot be re-attached to the trailer. Most commonly, Tropics and Squalos spawn on trailers.

2D Universe

 * Truck Cab
 * Truck Cab SX

Semitrailers

 * Linerunner
 * Roadtrain
 * Tanker

Small vehicles

 * Baggage
 * Tow Truck
 * Tractor
 * Utility Van (though its trailer cannot be found normally)

Pickup trucks

 * Bison
 * Bobcat XL
 * Sadler

Semitrailers

 * Barracks Semi
 * Docktug
 * Hauler
 * Packer
 * Phantom

Others

 * Cargobob
 * Fieldmaster
 * Tow Truck and Large Tow Truck

Train Carriages
Train Carriages works the same way as with trailers, but these does not have any functionality to attach/detach them. In all of its appearances, these are pulled by Trains and have their own properties (having their own values in the files like every vehicle). These will be either randomized carriages or various carriages of the same type.

Other types of vehicles can be seen pulling another one of the same properties, such as Trams and Subway Cars.

Railroad vehicles

 * Brown Streak
 * Freight
 * Freight Train
 * Subway Car
 * Train
 * Tram

GTA San Andreas
While 12 interactive trailers are normally seen in the game, there are five Special trailers, which only appears in missions and cannot be found anywhere.

There are two unused trailers that are listed in the handling files and can be spawned. Both have agricultural purposes, therefore implied to be used by the Fieldmaster.

General

 * Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V both have many additional unusable trailers that are programmed the same as buildings. Some of these in GTA V can actually be moved when rammed by a heavy vehicle.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

 * All trailers are made with 4 wheels.
 * In the beta version of GTA San Andreas, there used to be a shorter, green colored 'artict3' trailer. The name of this trailer in gta3.img is 'rdtraint', suggesting that this trailer is used to be pulled by a Roadtrain.
 * For some reason, trucks and trailers (including the Yosemite) have double rear wheels in PS2 version, but these become single in PC. A mod can readd those for the PC version.
 * The player can store up to two semi-trucks with an attached trailer in the Hangar in the Verdant Meadows Safehouse. If the player attempts to store a third truck with or without an attached trailer or any random vehicle, a message that does not allow the player to store additional vehicles will appear much like when attempting to store a fifth vehicle in a garage that can only store four. This implies that the semi and the attached trailer counts as two vehicles, since both still uses a GXT name and are registered in the game.
 * Considering trailer design and names, R* must have wanted to have multi-trailer Roadtrains, but this was cancelled from the final game.
 * Trucks never spawn on the road with a trailer. Trailers are parked separately and can be attached. The only time that a truck with a trailer appears on the road is on a cutscene of the mission reuniting the families when Big Smoke crashes Sweet's Greenwood through a Sprunk Billboard and onto that same truck with the trailer attached to it.
 * If a player manages to drive a Trailer (by mods), the trailers will have an extremely wide turning radius and a very low acceleration and top speed (even making jogging faster). Small trailers are an exception.

Grand Thef Auto V and Online

 * In Online, other players can ride on top of certain trailer types. This can be used to transport more than two people while driving a semi, but low structures, and crashing can sometimes knock players off while on the trailers.
 * Players will still board and enter a towed boat from pickups. However, this doesn't count as a trip in naval vehicles.
 * In GTA V, the Car Carrier can be seen hauling cars. The cars can be taken off, but cannot be driven back onto the trailer.
 * In the Beta, there was a Tanker Trailer with plain red scheme instead of RON scheme. However, they can still be found in-game and can be destroyed, but they cannot be towed.
 * In the beta, there was a side mission where the player had to tow broken down vehicles off the highway to keep the traffic flowing as long as possible.
 * If carried by a Cargobob at the night, lights will turn on.
 * Trailers that posses a prop of vehicles on it, when towed by a truck, will still turn on these lights, but without their illumination.
 * If the player is driving a Semi with an attached trailer and then, switched to another character and back to the same character that was used to steal a semi (for example, stealing a semi with an attached trailer while playing as Trevor, then switching to Franklin or Michael and back to Trevor), the trailer will instantly disappear. This possibly implies that the trailer may have already been detached off-screen by that protagonist. This is much more possible if the character that has switched to is not wasted or busted, and if the character that was used to steal a semi with a trailer is on the driver's seat at the time that the player switches characters. The semi, minus the trailer will be parked nearby during or after the switching cutscene on various locations replacing the character's default vehicle, or it will be parked on the driveways of the character's respective safehouses. This happens since trailers are considered as second vehicles (likely as second cars towed by Tow trucks), meaning that the game "deletes" vehicles that aren't driven by the protagonist in order to save hardrive memory.
 * Oddly, the Big Goods trailer's rear door can be popped open by shooting at it. This because it was "differently modeled" for the mission The Big Score (Subtle Approach), in order to load the modified Gauntlets.
 * It's not really possible to transport a locomotive on such a small and weak truck and trailer combination, because a locomotive is tens of times heavier than a trailer like this could carry.
 * Sometimes, while playing the Humane Raid - EMP heist setup in GTA Online, Dinghies may spawn on the back of trailers being towed by Bobcats and Sadlers. This seems to be a glitch, as the Dinghies aren't correctly fitted on the trailers, as they cannot fit entirely.
 * There are also some farm trailers manufactured by HVY which cannot be interacted using any vehicle.
 * Unlike in GTA San Andreas, some trucks with trailers attached spawns on the road while being driven by NPCs.