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. It is manufactured by MTL in the HD Universe.

Grand Theft Auto: 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.

3D Universe
Between Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: 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 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: 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 Grand Theft Auto: 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.

Grand Theft Auto IV
The Flatbed in Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City 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 most trucks, it can be found easily in the industrial areas of Bohan. The current logo resembles the old-style logo used on Prevost Buses.

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

Grand Theft Auto V
The Flatbed appears in Grand Theft Auto V as a flatbed version of the Packer. On a closer inspection, it is depicted to be a recovery truck, as the platform features steel winches in it, supposed to carry small vehicles in case of malfunctions or accidents. Unfortunately, its unable to transport vehicles as is non operational in-game. Even using a ramp to get to get on the bed, the car will still slide off when in motion.

Current Design Gallery
Second Generation (GTA V)=

First Generation (Crane) (GTA IV)=

First Generation (Flatbed) (GTA IV)=

First Generation (Container) (GTA IV)=

Grand Theft Auto: 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.

3D Universe
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). In opposite way it's 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 speciality 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.

Grand Theft Auto IV
The Flatbed, despite its size and sheer weight, still manages to get a good top speed. However, it is quite slow to accelerate, but it has exceptional steering and manoeuvrability to make up for this. The brakes are adequate to its size and weight. Its performance has improved since its last appearance in GTA IV.

Grand Theft Auto V
The Flatbed in GTA V is an improvement over the last instalments. Due to sharing the same engine as the Packer, the Flatbed can achieve speeds just as impressive. Handling is quite decent due to not being that lengthy. Acceleration isn't bad either. Another advantage the Flatbed has, is its sheer size and weight. When chased by cops, the Flatbed is a rolling battering ram, being able to plough through many roadblocks. It is also quite durable.

The Flatbed has an engine model, but without the manifolds found on other trucks, such as the Scrap Truck, the model is hard to identify. Judging by the sparkplug imprints, it can be assumed that the vehicle is Petrol, furthermore, 8 sparkplug imprints can be seen, meaning the vehicle could only be a V8 engine. Despite all this, the engine sound is somewhat similar to an Inline-6 diesel, which revs moderately high (yet still lower than other trucks, such as the Benson and Police Riot), and provides a significantly smooth engine sound, yet the roar produced from the engine can still be heard unlike the aforementioned vehicles, the Benson and Police Riot.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * The Flatbed will appear in three forms: As a flatbed truck, with a unusable crane on the back and with a large container.
 * A Flatbed rigged with explosives appears in the mission Rigged to Blow, which is used to blow a garage under Mikhail Faustin orders. This one has a device placed on the back similar to a Car Bomb provided by Packie. It cannot be obatined, as it's destroyed as part of the mission.
 * A Flatbed with logs appears in the mission Search and Delete and Meltdown. In the first one, it only appears at the part where Lyle Rivas is escaping. This version can be obtained by killing Rivas just on the Dukes Bay Bridge and before his car disrupts the truck. If done correctly, the truck can be entered as a normal vehicle. However, the logs becomes unsolid and the truck loses its cargo when stored on a parking spot.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
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.

Grand Theft Auto IV
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 mission Rigged to Blow, where a Flatbed rigged with explosives is used to blow up a garage. On chase missions, Flatbeds are often scripted to increase the difficulty of such missions, usually by disrupting the target's/player's car or blocking the path.

Grand Theft Auto III

 * Rarely spawns in Chinatown, Portland.
 * Spawns rarely in Fort Staunton/Aspatria, Staunton Island

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

 * Parked southwest of the Pay 'n' Spray in Viceport.
 * Commonly found in Viceport.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * Commonly found driving around Ocean Docks.
 * Always found driving or parked at the cargo area of the Fallen Tree.
 * Common in Spiny Bed
 * Usually found driving on the Sherman Dam.
 * On the freeway just south of Hunter Quarry.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

 * Rarely spawns in Chinatown, Portland.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 * Parked at the southern Pay n' Spray in Viceport.
 * Parked near the east entrance of Escobar International Airport.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * Parked in a construction site adjacent to the multistory car park in Purgatory, Algonquin.
 * Parked on Fulcrum Avenue in Tudor, Alderney.
 * Two Flatbeds are parked in a construction site with a helicopter landing pad in Westminster, Algonquin.
 * Parked on Union Drive West in Purgatory, Algonquin near a skate park.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * Flatbeds are most common on the northern part of the Great Ocean Highway and eastern Highways. Spawns along with other trucks like the Phantom, Hauler and Packer.
 * Flatbeds sometimes appear in the Port of Los Santos, near the Dock Handlers spawn points.

General

 * The Flatbed plays the following radio stations by default when entered:
 * GTA San Andreas: K-DST.
 * GTA IV: Massive B Soundsystem 96.9 or Tuff Gong Radio.
 * Episodes from Liberty City: RamJam FM.
 * GTA V: Rebel Radio.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * The Flatbed is equipped with a GPS system with a male voice, but only if the player leaves the "selected cars" (default) option in the audio menu.
 * The platform and winch cannot be lowered or raised, and therefore the Flatbed ironically cannot tow cars.
 * Despite sharing the exact same front as the Jobuilt Phantom, it is manufactured by MTL.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * During the chase part of Father/Son, a Flatbed can be seen carrying a Gauntlet, which later falls from it. In normal gameplay, cars cannot be carried on the Flatbed, as they will simply slide off the truck when setting off.
 * Strangely, the engine model for the Flatbed appears to use 8 spark plugs, suggesting it is a petrol engine, untypical for a vehicle of this kind. It also suggests the engine can only be a petrol single-cam V8.
 * The Flatbed's badges incorrectly refer to the engine as a "V24", where it actually means "24 valved", which is supposed to be written as "24v". This also applies to the Packer and Phantom.

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