Drinking

The player drunk in GTA IV.

Drinking is an activity featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV (and its episodes), and Grand Theft Auto V.

GTA San Andreas

In GTA San Andreas, drinking is counted as part of "eating" in dates, meaning bars in San Andreas are clumped together with restaurants.

Each of the player's girlfriends has preferences towards bars, which are more of a low-end destination for a date; as a result, certain girlfriends will shun bars altogether. When entered along with a girlfriend, the player is treated with a cutscene of player character drinking in the bar with the girlfriend, the girlfriend's behavior dependent on whether she likes going to a bar or not. Bars are the favourite locations of Denise Robinson and Michelle Cannes, and during a food date, it is strongly advised to take them to a bar. However, players cannot get drunk by purchasing alcoholic drinks in any of the bars.

Locations

Drinking can be done at any of these bars accessible by the protagonist and their friends and girlfriends:

• Ten Green Bottles, Los Santos.
• Misty's, San Fierro.
• The Craw Bar, Las Venturas.
• Lil' Probe'Inn, Bone County.

In addition, there are Sprunk vending machines scattered throughout the state, which can be used to restore a bit of health.

GTA IV

In GTA IV, drinking will usually result in both the player and his accompanying friend leaving drunk, staggering and tripping over. The effects of the activity is made worse with the camera swaying about (worsen with motion blur enabled).

The cost of drinking in a bar is between $50-$100, depending on the "class" of the bar. When visiting a bar with friends and girlfriends, a cutscene will show them going in the bar. Afterwards, both of them will appear outside the bar, drunk/intoxicated.

Whoever Niko gets drunk with will determine how severe the effect is and how long it lasts, for example, drinking with Roman or Packie will get Niko completely wasted, but drinking with a girlfriend will get him only partially drunk.

When drunk, there is some unique conversation between the characters, who will sometimes reveal other aspects of their personality. Frequently, the conversation may become an argument and Niko will tell the other person to be quiet. While drunk, Niko will stumble and sometimes fall to the ground, the same as the person who is with him. He will also be unable to walk in a straight line, run, and jump, access his phone (unless in a vehicle) or draw a weapon (though they can still shoot) or fight. Vision will also become blurry and the camera will move irregularly. The controller will vibrate sporatically, increasing and decreasing in severity if one is using a Dualshock 3 controller.

If the player has a weapon equipped before drinking they will be holding it soon afterwords, swinging it around with their hands. If the player presses the fire button they will be able to shoot, but it is impossible to aim, making the shots fly wherever the barrel of the gun is pointed. Strangely the player does not need to reload and is able to fire as many bullets as they have available. Unfortunately shooting off a gun in a drunk state does not scare off NPCs, but will actually make them aggressive to the point of whole mobs surrounding the player and his friend (girlfriends are still scared off by gunfire). These mobs will still keep attacking even if the player manages to shoot one of them. Other than that the NPCs are completely normal and will stop attack the player if they are punched, shot at, arrested, etc.

The intoxication wears off after a while, and if another activity is done after drinking or after dropping off the other person at their house, Niko will become sober again after about 10 seconds.

If the player gets into a vehicle while drunk, Niko will remark that doing so is not a good idea (only Niko Bellic will say this, because when Johnny Klebitz gets on his bike, a short cutscene will follow, showing his friends saying they had a good time and driving off, and then Johnny's intoxication will wear off soon). Driving while drunk also becomes difficult because Niko will not be able to see clearly and control the vehicle properly. When driving under the influence, the car moves towards the nearest solid object; if there is a car 5 feet in front of you and a tree three feet from you you will hit the tree and then ricochet into the car. If Niko is driving while intoxicated and the police see him he will get a one star wanted level. The effects get less severe as the intoxication wears off.

Alternatively, the player can opt to take a taxi ride while drunk. The player character will confusingly call for a taxi using lines (such as "Yellow car!") unique to only the moment the player is drunk.

Locations

Drinking can be done at any of these bars accessible by the protagonist and their friends:

• Comrades Bar, Broker.
• Steinway Beer Garden, Dukes.
• Club Liberty, Algonquin.
• Lucky Winkles, Algonquin.
• Jerkov's Bar, Algonquin.

The Ballad of Gay Tony

“

In the VIP area of Maisonette 9, you'll be able to pop some bottles and get rowdy. Nothing says 'class' like a magnum of champagne - especially when you're spraying it on an entire crowd with reckless abandon. Then find out how much you can swill without losing your poise - or your lunch

”

— TBoGT Official Website

Uniquely, in the Ballad of Gay Tony, Luis has the option to drink alone, and for free at either Hercules or Maisonette 9 at the bar. As he drinks successive shots, Luis will become increasingly drunk until he finally collapses in a heap and blacks out. This effect also occurs when Luis does the drinking contest in Maisonette 9 where he blacks out after continuously repeating the contest. This leads to Luis randomly waking up somewhere around Liberty City, often in places that are either hard to get to or simply odd. Some locations include:

• Inside the Statue of Happiness.
• In mid-air, falling with a parachute from a great height.
• On top of the skip in the middle of Star Junction.
• In the small island in Middle Park.
• In a dumpster.
• Floating in a fountain.

Grand Theft Auto V

Drinking in GTA V has been expanded. The player is able to either go drinking with a friend or drink alone in his safehouse. You can also drink at the Vanilla Unicorn, and after about four shots the woman behind the counter will refuse to serve you unless playing as Trevor after he took over the club. Another unique feature is that occasionally when switching to Trevor, he will wake up intoxicated in different areas of the state of San Andreas (like in an empty swimming pool at Sandy Shores or in a dumpster in Davis) and sometimes wearing a dress. This may be a parody of The Hangover film series.

Michael, during his exile in Sandy Shores, might have one of his switch cutscenes getting out from the Yellow Jack Inn drunk by his own.

The drunkness effect last slightly shorter than in GTA IV, and if you're with friends, just like in GTA IV, some extra dialogue lines can be heard with the friend. Uniquely, it's possible for Michael to get drunk with his wife, Amanda. If you remain idle while drunk, the camera will switch automatically in first person, showing the blur effect of his vision (sometimes even focusing the camera to certain areas, like the buttocks of a woman or a car passing by), sound also will have an echo effect and finally the blur will have a ripple effect that leads into sobriety.

Trivia

• In GTA IV, an animation for the player getting into a vehicle while drunk is unusually absent - if the player is entering a vehicle, instead of stumbling around, he will instantly become "sober" for a few seconds while the normal car entering sequence plays. The camera, however, still moves irregularly. This is usually a good move to make your phone work and request a taxi to Roman (if you're not hanging out with him) or to chase and get in a taxi quicker and not waiting until the drunken effects clear away.
• If the player opts to fly a helicopter after getting drunk in GTA IV, they will not suffer any of the adverse effects of being drunk while driving.
• Niko will often shout "YELLOW CAAAR!" when hailing a taxi while drunk, which achieved a brief memetic status on the Internet.
• Michelle is the only character in GTA IV that will not emerge from any bar drunk. Niko will comment on this by saying things such as "I'm sure I was the only one knocking back that stuff." This is one of the many subtle hints that foreshadows a later secret in the game concerning Michelle.
• There is a small glitch that will 'injure' your friend after drinking. It is caused if your friend happens to fall on the small staircase leading into an accessible bar.
• In GTA IV it is possible to use a gun drunk if previously equipped. The player cannot aim until they sober up and guns will not require reloading.
• In The Ballad of Gay Tony, Luis will always black out after nine shots and becomes drunk after three shots.
• Roman Bellic is seen coming out of Perestroika, drunk in a GTA IV pre-release trailer.
• In GTA V, the effect of being drunk doesn't last nearly as long as it did in GTA IV. 
• In GTA IV, the player can stop the drunk effects from Drinking by going into another venue (e.g. Restaurant).
• Cops cannot arrest you while you are drunk, but will still shoot at you if you manage to get at least a two star wanted level.
• As the GTA Online Protagonist can carry around Pißwasser in their inventory, he/she can get drunk anywhere and anytime, even at the start of races which makes the race extra-challenging. Be mindful that over-consumption will eventually lead to death.
• In GTA IV, in some occasions, if Niko continue driving the car in which he took his friend home after drinking, he will still turn the steering wheel of the car without control of the player even though he is not drunk anymore.
• Luis Fernando Lopez, Trevor Phillips, the Online Protagonist and Franklin Clinton can't control their drinking (Meaning they can drink until they faint, unlike Michael De Santa, where he stops after a certain amount of drinks, and Trevor can only do this feat after he takes over the Vanilla Unicorn, while he'll stop after a certain number of drinks in his other safehouses).
• Franklin is the only protagonist who can take Jimmy to go drinking during friend activities. Jimmy will sometimes suggest drinking while hanging out with Michael or Trevor if they pass by but the idea is rejected due to Jimmy being underage.