Glitches in GTA V

A Glitch, also known as a Bug, is an error in the game that produces an effect that was unintended by programmers and appears in almost every game.

Description
The Glitches often arise from mistakes or errors in the game's coding which go unnoticed during development and testing of the game. Glitches can be unintentional and may cause problems to the player, but some glitches may be used to the player's advantage.

Some glitches are prominent than others and each one are specified and/or shared on a certain console (where these depends of the console's technical aspects). One of the most popular and common glitches is nicknamed "Blue Hell", which is featured in every game since GTA III. Once the player enters Blue Hell, they will fall for 5–10 seconds before returning to the surface.

Cloning glitch
When the mission Mrs. Phillips becomes available and before accepting it, when playing as Trevor, make sure that Ron is standing in Trevor's garden, take any vehicle and gently bump into Ron, just enough to knock him over, he will then proceed to walk into Trevor's trailer and then walk back out along with multiple clones of Ron without hats. Everytime the camera is moved to take Trevor's trailer out of view, a new clone will spawn, also if right is pushed on the D-pad, this is the only time Trevor will actually make nice comments as opposed to the negative comments he usually makes to NPCs (Encountered in the PS3  and xbox 360 version)

Money glitch
There is an uncommon glitch where the the number showing the amount of money the player spent will stay on the screen after the player buys an item (eg. food, cars or car parts). The player will continue to lose that exact amount of money until re-loading a save file.

Thrown weapons glitch
When you throw any kind of handheld explosives like Grenades, Sticky Bombs, in any time of the game, this is known to crash the game by doing a Drive By and by switching characters. The only workaround for some missions (e.g. Blitz Play) which require to throw handheld explosives is to is to quick throw it instead. You can quick throw by aiming any gun to the target and press G. (Encountered in PC version)

Gate glitch
In Richman, Los Santos, there are several gates at the entrances of driveways of some homes which open automatically when the player gets close to them. If the player drives a vehicle up to one of these gates and rubs against it while the door is opening or closing, the player's vehicle may be thrown violently to the opposite direction, often flying through the air a few miles before crashing back down to the ground. This glitch is very similar to the swingset glitch in GTA IV and was patched in the 1.14 update.

Duplicated protagonist
Occasionally, if the player switches characters many times over a short period of time in Single Player, a duplicate character may appear. The duplicate character will act like a normal pedestrian, and will move towards the nearest pedestrian pathway and walk as if he were a normal NPC. Switching characters again will revert this glitch.

Imminent crash glitch
Sometimes, if the player switches from any other player to Trevor, he may spawn inside his helicopter flying towards a skyscraper, causing him to crash and instantly kill himself. It is unknown if this was a spawn glitch or if it was intended. On rare occasions, Trevor can survive the crash and will exit the vehicle unharmed if the player switches back to him.

Interiors glitch
There is a way to glitch into many interiors in the game as any character that are either locked after a certain part of the story or only accessible to a single Protagonist. Enter-able locations include: Floyd's apartment, Franklin's house, Michael's mansion when he is not around, Lester's house, etc. To perform this glitch, stand on the roof of the house or building the player wishes to enter and switch to another character and quickly switch back, and the player may spawn inside the house. This may take a few attempts, but the player must beware, as some interiors like the Vangelico store after The Jewel Heist or the Lifeinvader Building after Friend Request are not solid meaning that if the player glitches inside they will fall into Blue Hell for a few seconds and spawn somewhere nearby or rarely when the player spawns they die instantly. The only interior not compatible with this glitch is Trevor's trailer and if the player tries to glitch in it will spawn the player somewhere outside the trailer. (Tested on Xbox 360).

Disappearing vehicle
Occasionally when loading quick-saves taken from when the character was driving, the vehicle will disappear, sending the player flying at the speed the vehicle was traveling.

Duplicated vehicle
Sometimes, if the player had finished a friend activity, the friend will ask the player to take him/her to their destination. Simply enter a car and drive to their destination. But, when almost reaching the destination marker, speed up so the vehicle will overshoot the destination. If this is done correctly, a duplicate car (the car the player is driving) will appear in the same position as the destination marker and the friend will enter it. If this is done correctly when hanging out with other protagonists, it is also one of the ways to obtain other protagonists' special vehicles.

Second cloning glitch
In Michael's mansion, Michael's family members may be standing on furniture when he enter, and can actually clone themselves for unknown reasons. There will also sometimes be random NPCs walking around the grounds of Michael's mansion for no reason. This appears to only happen very early on in the game.

Ponsonbys glitch
If Michael does not buy a suit for the first heist and instead automatically obtains one by switching characters, the Ponsonbys store icon will permanently be on every character's HUD for the rest of the game.

Sawed-off Shotgun on a Bus
Strangely, the player can fire the Sawn-Off Shotgun while driving a Bus. This is widely believed to be a glitch, since this is the only large vehicle where this is possible. However this may have been intended due to the vehicle's large windows.

Object glitch
Crashing through destructible objects, like fences and signs, and parking the vehicle in the spot where the object was will sometimes cause it to respawn through the vehicle when out of the player's line of sight. Re-entering the vehicle will dislodge both the vehicle and the object.

Freeze plane
If the player bails out of an airplane in mid-air and deploys a parachute, the airplane will continue flying in a straight path until it begins losing power and it starts going into an uncontrolled vertical descent. If the airplane continues flying far enough away from the player, the plane may freeze in mid-air and stay there until the player approaches it. This glitch seems to have been patched in 1.08, and it is not present in subsequent versions.

Falling beneath the map
Rarely if the player switches characters while driving at high speeds and switches back quickly the player will fall beneath the map and spawn back.

Gauntlet mission glitch
There have been players reporting a glitch that happens during one of the Gauntlet modification mission for the the Union Depository Heist (Subtle Approach). One would be required to drive the Gauntlet requested for the mission into Los Santos Customs and purchase the "Gold Heist Preparation" mod (which costs $11,000), and fail the mission with the message of "The Required Mods Cannot Be Purchased Due To Insufficient Funds", regardless of the amount of cash that character is holding. See the video for the details. If the player chooses to "Retry" the mission after failing it, the glitch would repeat itself; however, if the player chooses to "Quit" the mission, the character would be spawn in the garage of Los Santos Customs, with the vehicle disappeared, and the $11,000 removed. Occasionally, restarting the game might fix the glitch, and it is still unknown why this glitch happens. There also have been reports stating that the player could have avoided such a glitch by having at least twice the amount of minimum cash required (which means $22,000) before pulling the car into the garage each time.

Unlimited pistol ammo
Pistols can randomly lose their ammo counter, giving the player permanent unlimited ammo.

Cargobob glitch
Lifting a dump truck with a Cargobob may cause it to spin uncontrollably in mid-air.

Game freeze in satellite view

 * There's a rare and difficult to execute glitch wherein the game will 'freeze' in the satellite view. This glitch occurs if the player has Franklin and Trevor meet up before Franklin is told about Trevor at the end of Dead Man Walking. If Franklin runs over Trevor without killing him, Trevor will stand up and attempt to kill Franklin. Attempting to switch to Trevor at this point causes the glitch and 'freezes' the game in satellite view. It is not known if Trevor running over Franklin would elicit similar circumstances, nor is it known if there is a fix for this glitch.

Rhino and Barracks glitch
PATCHED When driving the Rhino, if the player sticks the gun turret in the back of a Barracks, both vehicles may get flung with great force in opposite directions.

Free vehicle repair
If one of the players damages his vehicle, simply switching to another character and then switching back to the previous character will repair the vehicle. This glitch can be quite helpful if the player doesn't have enough money to visit a Los Santos Customs to repair it.

Uncalculated risk disabled
Many players have reported a glitch that disables the mission Uncalculated Risk from appearing on the map. It is unknown what factor of the game causes this, but it is quite problematic, since the mission is required for 100% completion. The mission is supposed to appear for Franklin after all the parachute missions are completed, but if the player completes the last parachute mission with any other player besides Franklin, the mission may not appear on the map. So far, there is no fix for this glitch.

No restriction on restricted zones
In the mission Fair Game, after Trevor kills the male elk from the "mating pair", Cletus will leave him to do the next kill alone. If Trevor leaves the area, it is possible to enter restricted areas such as Fort Zancudo, Bolingbroke Penitentiary and the Humane Labs and Research without receiving a wanted level. However, there will be no traffic in the roads, except for scripted traffic such as trucks or tractors. Be warned, however, if Trevor starts shooting then the wanted stars will appear. (UPDATE) When Trevor kills the last elk after Cletus leaves, when a marker appears on the body prompting the player to take a picture of it, if Trevor leaves, this time, there will be traffic. If Trevor dials 911 and waits for a police car to respond, he can steal the vehicle without getting any wanted level. If the player accelerates the vehicle immediately after stealing it, the police officer in the co-driver seat will stay inside, unless Trevor stops for longer than five seconds. He will then leave. Also, if an NPC commits a crime in the co-driver officer's view, he will use the police speaker and order them to pull over, or to stop the vehicle.

Altruist Cult glitch
While out of a mission, or hanging out with any of the main characters, there is an area in Mount Chiliad where the player is exempt from police attention. This area is the Altruist Cult and its surroundings. The only way to get a wanted level is to force it by using cheats. If the player dials 911 and waits for a police car to respond, they can shoot the police officers directly, punch them, blow them up, even the car. But if they try to steal the police cruiser while an officer is inside, they will receive a two-star wanted level. This is likely not a glitch, but a way to avoid police to come to the cult so the player can freely massacre its hostile and constantly spawning inhabitants.

Voice swap
If the player runs Jimmy De Santa over with a car when playing as Trevor, Trevor may speak in Michael's voice.

Helmet swap
Sometimes when Michael takes off his bicycle helmet in his house, it will turn into a motorcycle helmet. (Tested on Xbox 360)

Heist crew member copy
When playing The Bureau Raid, if Packie and Gustavo Mota are chosen as the gun crew (choosing the fire truck scenario) and the player kills them by destroying the fire truck, they will gain a copy of one of the crew members (usually Packie).

Bus as Fire Truck
A rare bug during the setup phase of The Bureau Raid (after having chosen the Fire Truck approach ) will cause the game register a Bus as a Fire Truck, then place a waypoint marker to Lester's safehouse instructing the player to deliver the vehicle, despite it not being a fire truck. It is unknown if this bug occurs exclusively with the Bus, however, no matter what vehicle is delivered, the fire truck will still appear in the mission.

Taxi ride glitch
Trying to hail an occupied cab might cause the protagonist's back to stick upright when walking and jogging (sprinting animation stays normal). It may also slightly glitch the player's arm positions, to the point where if the player aims his weapon, the weapon will be very clearly pointing in a different direction. This is a harmless but rather humorous glitch that looks extremely goofy on Trevor, since his jogging animation has him more hunched than Franklin and Michael.

Bus driver respawn
Any bus suffers from an unusual spawn glitch. If the player hijacks a bus and then exits it, and the player walks a few meters away from the bus (making sure the bus is out of the player's line of sight), if the player looks back at the bus, a driver will suddenly spawn in the driver's seat, and will begin attempting to drive it away. This, as said first, works in the Bus, the Airport Bus and the Dashound. Rarely, the driver might not spawn, but the bus' wheels are turning indefinitely when placed in front of an object, and this ends when the player enters the vehicle.

Ghost Train
Rarely, the player will be able to find a group of between three and five train cars rolling down any train track in the state without any engine car powering them. The train cars will be moving at a steady rate and will gradually get slower and slower until they stop completely. This is most likely a spawn glitch, where the game fails to spawn a train engine along with the train cars. This glitch may also occur in GTA Online. If the train cars come to a complete stop, sometimes another moving train may come from behind on the same track. When this happens, the moving train can be observed going right through the train cars.

Hat change during clothing changes
As of 1.13, the interactions menu has been added to story mode. If the player chooses an outfit which includes a hat (such as the Highway Patrol outfit), they can enter the interaction menu and chose a different hat then choose no hat and the helmet will disappear. This applies to Michael's Scuba Suit where the player can remove the snorkel or the hood (or both), the Security Suit, and the Highway Patrol outfit. Strangely enough, if the player tries this with the Stealth Suit, his hair will glitch through the mask (Applies to all characters). Franklin's Bugstar Exterminator outfit can have his hat removed. Trevor's Highway Patrol helmet can be removed, Security Suit helmet can be removed, and Dock Worker hat can be removed (the hat can also be placed onto any outfit the player desires through that menu).

"ALAN 0" License plate glitch
PATCHED
 * After patch 1.07, there was a massive glitch involving the custom license plates of player's personal vehicles in story mode. The license plates on the personal vehicles of players would change so that they would read "ALAN 0", with no explanation at all. This glitch would get applied to the protagonists' personal vehicles (such as Michael's ObeyTailgater), and it would also rarely get applied to any vehicle inside one of the player's safehouse garages. This glitch seemed to be more prevalent among players who have a GTA Online account, and have used the Rockstar Social Club application to change their online vehicle's license plate. It is unknown what factor of the game caused this glitch, but it appears to have been patched at the 1.09 update, as it is not present in subsequent versions.

Switch glitch
Before 1.06, if the player switches too many times, the player is unable to access the internet and the HUD becomes missing. This glitch will affect GTA Online. The player is also unable to save the game, switch into another character, etc. This glitch has not been patched, and the only way to fix this is restart the game storyline. This glitch will still affect the next patches ahead if the player already does this.

Floating scissors in Barber shops

 * When killing somebody and quickly going in to Herr Kutz Barber, sitting on the chair to get a haircut, and getting a Wanted Level after sitting on the chair, a glitch will occur. The player won't be able to move, and the player will notice that a pair of scissors is hanging in the air near the player's head. This will continue forever unless the player switches to another character. (Tested on PS3, playing as Michael, as of September 2014).

Ammo glitch in DLCs
Since most DLC updates feature new weapons, one or two protagonist(s) will lose their ammo, leaving only one remaining ammo round, although it has been fixed to stop losing ammo. Including:


 * Beach Bum Pack/1.06: The first effect takes place here. When the patch 1.06 was released, along with the free Beach Bum Pack, there was a glitch in single player when the player is given the SNS Pistol, the amount of stored ammunition in the pistols will revert to zero and the clip will leave six rounds. The cause of this glitch is unknown, but it probably had something to do with the amount of the pistol rounds' coding. The protagonist will lose their pistols' ammo leaving the pistol's rounds remaining.
 * Valentine's Day Massacre Special/1.10: The protagonist will lose their Light Machine Guns' ammo.
 * The Business Update/1.11: The protagonist will lose their pistols' ammo again, as well as rifles.
 * Independence Day Special/1.15: The protagonist will lose their sniper rifles' ammo.
 * The Last Team Standing Update/1.17: The protagonist will lose both shotgun and sniper rifles' ammo.

Radio stations glitch
Occasionally, Los Santos Rock Radio, Radio Los Santos and Channel X may glitch and play songs from other stations after loading into story mode. This can be fixed by saving the game. (Confirmed on PS4 when spawning as Franklin, 3rd February 2015)

Michael on Trevor's trailer
A glitch occurs where Michael may be seen sitting in the armchair outside Trevor's trailer following the mission Meltdown.

Clipboard/Object Duplication Glitch
Sometimes if the player switches to Michael he will spawn at the movie studio and he starts talking to an individual with a clipboard. When the player regain control of Michael and pulls out a sniper and aims at the man with the clipboard, he will start screaming and dropping/spawning clipboards endlessly. This is similar to the glitch in Michael's house where random NPC's will spawn.

Walking underwater
It is possible to fall under the ocean in Grand Theft Auto Online, and gain the ability to walk under water on the seafloor. Some of these methods have been patched. This glitch has been noted to occur rarely when the server is extremely crowded, and this glitch was reported frequently in the early weeks of GTA Online's release, when there were many software bugs that needed to be worked out by game developers.

Freight Train glitch
The Freight Train's main cabin can be entered by standing on the hood and then eating or drinking any snack (this can be activated from the inventory menu). When the player is about to throw it away, pause the game, and they should spawn inside the cab. This may take a few attempts. The walls are not solid, but the player can place Sticky Bombs in the cab, and blow the train up, stopping it. Similarly, if the player stands on the nose of the train (the level just lower than the top of the main cabin and in front of its forward windows), face the cabin and tap towards the cabin as the train moves it will consistently glitch the player into the cabin.

"1st place" glitch
When racing in a point to point race in Grand Theft Auto Online, the game may occasionally register the player as being in first place each time they pass a checkpoint, even if they are in last place.

Invitations glitch
The player can invite players into their job's lobby, even if they are already present.

NPC car glitch
NPC-driven cars can appear and disappear out of thin air randomly due to networking and/or streaming issues.

NPC car glitch 2
NPC-driven cars can randomly start to drive recklessly and become glitched. This is due to network issues within the servers. If the player gets run over by the glitched vehicle, they will use the older physics engine instead of ragdoll animations.

Landing glitch
If the player is killed after landing successfully within the target area in a Parachute Jump, they may register as DNF (Did Not Finish) on the scoreboard, even though the player technically landed.

Wanted requested car
If the player owns a personal vehicle that Simeon desires, when they drive out of their garage they will immediately gain a two-star wanted level.

Silent Carbine Rifle
The Carbine Rifle will randomly stop making noise, allowing the player to essentially become 100% silent. When firing, the player will no longer show up on the radar and sprinting will not make any noise while it is equipped.

North Yankton glitch
PATCHED It was possible to get to North Yankton in GTA Online. This video demonstrates this method. Rockstar tried to be patch this glitch in Patch 1.08. However, it is still possible to reach North Yankton after Patch 1.08 by repeating the same steps, but instead of following the steps in the "Prologue" mission, the player must do them in "Bury the Hatchet". Then the player must accept the friend invite to GTA Online when Michael has reached North Yankton. North Yankton should be in the bottom-right corner of the map (south of Elysian Island), floating in mid-air. This method was also patched after the 1.10 patch.

CE vehicles with no CE
PATCHED It is possible to buy the special vehicles that come with the Collector's Edition of GTA V. e.g. the Hotknife. The method of doing this glitch can be seen here.

No 10 cars
PATCHED Strangely, the player can only store nine land vehicles in a ten-car garage. This was patched.

Lost Insurance
PATCHED Since patch 1.07, the first car slot in any ten-car garage can randomly lose insurance. This was fixed in the 1.10 patch.

Cornrow tattoo glitch
PATCHED Since patch 1.08, if the player scrolls past the Cornrows hair style, they will have permanent cornrow tattoos on their head. These cannot be removed by any means. Strangely, they do not appear in mirrors and can go away after extended play. This was fixed in the 1.10 patch.

Mask glitch
Putting on a mask can make the player character bald until they change their hairstyle. This has been patched along with many glitches in 1.10 patch, but a small chance of the glitch happening once again (confirmed on the PS3 version).

Safehouse invasion
PATCHED Random pedestrians may occasionally spawn in the player's safehouse, using props that aren't there and bumping into walls and furniture. They cannot be killed, but if the player approaches them, they may become aggressive and beat the player to death since the player cannot fight inside an apartment. If the player invites another player to their apartment, another pedestrian will spawn; although, this time, the pedestrian will spawn inside of the other pedestrian. This glitch has been patched.

Random safehouse access
If a Session Timeout error occurs during online play, you will be sent back to story mode and may spawn in that location where the error occurred with one of the protagonists. This can result in spawning in places that are inaccessible during story mode, such as online safehouses, where random pedestrians can also spawn.

Insurance glitch
PATCHED If another player destroys the player's personal vehicle but cannot pay the insurance in full, then the owner is forced to pay for it, minus whatever was taken from their bank. This can be exploited by emptying the player's bank account and destroying other players' vehicles, forcing them to pay the full charges. This has been patched in the 1.14 update.

Free purchase with Content Creator
As of 21 April 2014, the Content Creator was taken down due to a very serious glitch involving leaving the content creator mid-use, going to the story and reentering online play. This would freeze the player's bank account, allowing free purchases of any item in game.

ATM glitch
Occasionally, after the player finishes using an ATM, they will become frozen in place, and will not be able to move out from in front of the ATM machine.

Taxi ride" in a four-door vehicle
A player must have a friend steal a random four-door car from an NPC, and then get into the backseat of the same car. If the NPC is aggressive, he will open the driver's door, drag the other player out, and then get in the driver's seat. After this, the NPC will begin driving the vehicle around the city with the player's character in the back seat.

Emergency siren glitch
PATCHED If the player is in a police vehicle with the sirens on and the player taps the horn rapidly, sometimes, it will desync and it will make no noise and only the lights will flash, though other players in the session will be able to hear the sirens. In single player, it also happens with the same method. This has now been patched.

Unlimited LSC sell
There was once a glitch in which the player was able to sell as many cars as they wished through Los Santos Customs. However, it has since been patched in subsequent versions.

Grenade Launcher glitch
PATCHED After dying, any Grenade Launcher ammunition that the player had will become lost. As of the 1.16 patch update. This has now been patched.

Pegasus glitch
PATCHED Since 1.15, when calling Pegasus Lifestyle Management for a land vehicle, it may spawn at the Vespucci Police Station. When the player approaches it, it will then move to Fort Zancudo (if the player requests it in a three-gang territory or in Elysian Island). This glitch has been patched.

"Dying" NPC
Sometimes, NPCs will continue screaming even after they have been killed, usually after a headshot or after having been burnt to death.

Garage glitch
Rarely, when a player has entered one of their vehicles in a garage, they will instantly glitch out of the car. This affects every car in the garage.

Rooftop Rumble glitch
During the Rooftop Rumble mission, after all the Professionals are killed, the Document Has Been Dropped Message will appear. The documents may not even spawn and the mission will fail because the documents were "destroyed", even though they didn't even spawn. The mission may also fail with the Out of Lives message, even if one or more players are still alive. As of the 1.16 patch update, this glitch hasn't been patched.

Parachute pattern glitch
PATCHED Since the 1.16 update, regardless of the pattern of the parachute bag, it will always turn to that of the USA flag when on the floor. This glitch has been patched.

Drunk protagonist glitch

 * If the player drinks at least five bottles of beer (or until they get drunk), and then loads up a job from their job list but then immediately withdraws, the player will continue to show the effects of being drunk (shaky camera, clumsy player, etc.) and this may last the entire session. The only way to stop these effects is to die, or to quit and join a new server.

Window tint glitch
If the player has the 'Pure Black' window tint after Patch 1.17, the windows will be transparent in Los Santos Customs, but will become opaque when the player exits.

Stuck player
Since 1.17, if the player failed to join a job sent by another player and returns to their previous session, the markers will disappear and the player will unable to enter their safe houses or garages.

Cop Outfit glitch
PATCHED The Cop Outfit could be obtained in free roam from Prison Break - Station using a glitch.
 * It could also be obtained in Hasta La Vista and Siege Mentality.
 * This glitch also worked with other Heists-specific outfits, such as the Bugstars outfit and the Garbage Collector outfit.
 * This glitch has been patched in the 1.23 (Xbox 360/PlayStation 3)/1.09 (Xbox One/PlayStation 4) update, though it is still possible to wear the outfit if the player has previously performed the glitch prior to the patch and is still wearing it, or has saved it as a Player Saved Outfit.

Night Vision glitch
If the player is using Night Vision and disconnects into story mode, there is a chance the Night Vision won't deactivate when entering single player.


 * Re-entering GTA online should fix this.

Online's vehicles in Story Mode glitch
If the player start a race, head to a Story Mode's safe house provided with garage (like Trevor's Trailer or De Santa Residence), park the vehicle inside the garage, switch to the character that owned that safehouse and then immediately go back to that garage, the vehicle previously driven during the race by the GTA Online Protagonist will be still inside and can be driven and stored. This is useful for storing, or trying for free, a vehicle normally not available in Story Mode, like the Insurgent or the Banshee 900R.
 * Although Benny's Original Motor Works isn't available in Story Mode, the player can transfer a GTA Online Protagonist's personal vehicle previously modified at Benny's by putting "On" at the "Custom Vehicles" variable while in the lobby.
 * Just like the Vindicator, the KERS boost ability on the Lectro doesn't work in Story Mode.