Radar

For the arrows used in early top-down perspective GTA games, see Location Compass. For the directions system, see GPS.

The radar in GTA San Andreas, showing blips for various landmarks.

The Radar (also known as a minimap or Satnav in Grand Theft Auto IV), is a map on the heads-up display showing the player's current location in the game, and the relative location or direction of various points of interest.

Description

3D Universe

Introduced in Grand Theft Auto III, the radar essentially replaces the player centered location compass used in preceding GTA games, and remains an element of all GTA games after.

Each rendition of the radar features a portion of a location's map within the immediate vicinity of the player, and shows various blips, representing various points of interest, such as:

• A compass point pointing north (represented by a black "N" blip).
• Mission contact points.
• Mission targets. Initially indicated only by colored squares in GTA III, radars from GTA Vice City onwards specifically use squares for targets on the same physical level (altitude) as the player, and a triangle pointed upwards if the target is above or a downwards triangle if it is below. In GTA IV and GTA V, the radar uses coloured circles; if the target is higher or lower, there will be a small arrow inside the circle.
  • In GTA San Andreas and onwards, these mission targets are color-coded; red represents enemies or other threats, yellow represents fixed location points, and blue/green represents objects or characters.
• Spray shops, gun shops, clothing stores and places where the player can purchase food.
• Savepoints and safehouses.
• Gang colors or territory (GTA San Andreas).
• Custom waypoints (GTA San Andreas onwards).

The radar in GTA San Andreas is also adapted to support flight. When the player operates a helicopter or freefalls with a parachute, an altitude indicator will appear to the left of the radar showing the player's height from sea level. Additionally, if the player controls a fixed-wing aircraft, an artificial horizon (represented by a semi-transparent green horizon and a horizontal miniature wings) is integrated into the radar, and pitches and banks in accordance to the plane that the player controls. Rows of three yellow blips will also be added into the radar to indicate the position and alignment of the nearest aircraft runway.

GTA IV and GTA Chinatown Wars

For GTA IV and GTA Chinatown Wars, the Health and Body Armor indicators, which were initially located on the upper right side of the heads-up display, are integrated into the radar, warping around the radar's circular border; the health bar and armor bar each take up half of the radar's circumference, and the health bar will become red and blink if the player's health is low. In addition, in GTA IV also indicate the extent in which law enforcement scouts for the player whenever they have a wanted level; this is not implemented in the GTA Chinatown Wars radar due to a significant different police evasion system.

Grand Theft Auto V

In GTA V, the radar has been significantly redesigned and includes several features not present in previous games.

• The radar itself is now rectangular in shape.
• The map within the radar is displayed in a top-down perspective when the player is on foot and in a slanted perspective when the player is in any vehicle. Additionally, when the player goes inside any accessible building, the interior floor plan is displayed.
• When using the GPS, a direction indicator is shown at the bottom on the left side with a mileage indicator shown on the right side. If the player enters a tunnel, connection to the GPS satellites is lost until the player exits the tunnel. While underwater in a Submersible, the distance to surface is displayed on left side while the distance to the floor is displayed on the right.
• A sound indicator is included for stealth purposes. The indicator is blue when the player is either sprinting or talking loudly, and the indicator is red whenever the player discharges a firearm or triggers an explosion.
• Whenever the player is wanted by the police and the police has lost sight of the player, the radar displays field of vision indicators on police blips.
• As with GTA San Andreas and The Ballad of Gay Tony, the radar displays an altimeter when the player controls any aircraft or is parachuting.
• As with GTA IV, health and armor meters are still integrated into the radar; however, they are now located at the bottom of the radar. Additionally, in single-player, a third meter is present, representing the protagonists' Special Abilities. If the player dives underwater, the special ability meter in single player or the armor meter in multiplayer changes to an oxygen meter, indicating the player's lung capacity.
• As with GTA IV, the radar flashes red when the protagonist loses health. In GTA V, additionally, the protagonist's sight would be covered with blood if he loses much health for once, like that in Red Dead Redemption.

Gallery

3D Universe

Grand Theft Auto III (PC version. In the PS2 version, the color of the safehouse marker is green. It was changed to pink/purple in later versions).

Grand Theft Auto III - The Definitive Edition.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - The Definitive Edition.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Definitive Edition.

Grand Theft Auto Advance.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

HD Universe

Grand Theft Auto IV; the green bar denotes the player's health and the blue bar denotes the player's armor. (Wanted level radar)

The Lost and Damned; the white bar denotes the player's health and the blue bar denotes the player's armor.

The Ballad of Gay Tony; the white bar denotes the player's health and the purple bar denotes the player's armor.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS version), having been integrated into its HUD.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (PSP version), being closer in design to the GTA IV version.

Grand Theft Auto V; note the special ability bar.

Grand Theft Auto V (Enhanced version); note the special ability bar and the "2.5" perspective in vehicle.

Grand Theft Auto Online.

Grand Theft Auto Online (Enhanced version); note the "2.5" perspective in vehicle.

Interior radar in the enhanced version of GTA V.

Exterior radar.

Exterior radar zoomed out.

GTA Online radar.

GTA Online expanded radar.

GTA Online options for radar view.

Trivia

• The "north" radar blip seen in the first three 3D Universe titles was originally from DMA Design's 1999 action video game Wild Metal Country. The same icon was also reused in Bully.
• In GTA San Andreas the normal Player Icon on the Radar is a white arrow which is round on one side like in all other 3D Universes (except GTA Advance). But when CJ enters a dark area, one can hear him breathing, indicating that the player is hidden. Also, the Icon turns blue. It's first introduced in the mission Madd Dogg's Rhymes.
  • The Player Icon on the map is a bit different, it's a crossbred white arrow which tip shows the exact location of the Player.
• In Chinatown Wars iOS version, if the HUD is turned off, the mission icons will be displayed on the edge of the screen, causing similar look as in GTA V.
• In HD Universe, all police units will be shown in the radar during wanted levels. This will help the player at making a getaway or to hide from them.
  • Optionally, for GTA V, when the player is "perfectly hidden", the white arrow becomes a grey arrow, indicating that the police can't see him within their line of sight. However, if they're near, the police will be alerted.
• In GTA Online, double-tapping (triple tapping in the enhanced version with more than 16 players in the session) the down button on the D-pad will enlarge the map for approximately 10 seconds to the expanded radar view. The expanded radar view can be turned on permanently in the Online, Options menu in the Pause Menu (Settings, Display menu in the enhanced version).
  • When in an aircraft in GTA Online, pressing down will display the expanded radar until down is pressed again, as of patch 1.17
  • Online players can elect to display other player names on the expanded radar view in the Options menu.
• In GTA IV and GTA V, hitting down on the D-Pad will zoom the radar out to display more of the map, but the display is not enlarged as it is in the Online expanded view.