The Vapid Tow Truck (also and formerly named Towtruck) is a tow truck appearing in Grand Theft Auto V and due to appear in Grand Theft Auto VI.
Design[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
The Tow Truck's design is derived from the Yankee from Grand Theft Auto IV, using an identical cabin design, flat bumper and front lights. However, it uses a different grille design, a flat hood, visible door hinges, fuel tanks with side steps below the cabin, marker lights and trumpet horns on the roof, no circular mirrors on the sides and small box-shaped tanks behind the cabin. The rear section uses a large bed with square tail lights on the outer sides, a black bumper on the lower side and small mudguards below. The same bed mounts a large towing rig with dual crane arms and two functioning amber lights on top, which can be activated with the horn (similar to its smaller counterpart).
The Tow Truck is fitted with a CB radio, and occasional trucker chatter can be heard regardless of whether the main radio is turned on or off. The chatter will only play if playing as Trevor and in Blaine County.
The truck always spawns with a rusty appearance and may spawn either in a white or red color for the cabin and the bed, and uses industrial wheels seen in vehicles like the Phantom and the Mule.
Tow Trucks are operated by Casey's Highway Clearance.
Grand Theft Auto VI[]
The Tow Truck can be seen in the game's first trailer (0:51). The truck is seen passing a "Leonida Man" dancing at the side of the freeway next to his Ruiner.
In comparison to its design in Grand Theft Auto V, the truck features yellow and black diagonal warning decals on the rear facade, as well as what appears to be a "24 hour" recovery service decal of some kind. Changes have been made to the vehicle's rear light setup, with the top-most lights removed and replaced with decals. The vehicle's tow arm and car-carrier design has also been changed, while the rotating warning lights have been swapped out for what appears to be an LED amber lightbar. Outrigger legs can also be seen at the rear of the truck.
Performance[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
The Tow Truck's performance is average considering its weight, size and purpose. The truck is capable of reaching great top speeds, but due to its weight, it is sluggish and unresponsive when accelerated. Its long wheelbase and chassis results in it having a large turning radius, but thanks to its weight, it is very stable when cornering and maneuvering at high speeds. Additionally, it can easily ram smaller cars off the road, and its durability is remarkable. Overall, it performs similarly to its scrap and salvage equivalent, but has higher top speed and acceleration.
The truck is powered by a large twin-cam 4-cylinder engine that is fitted with a large turbocharger to the left of the engine bay, which is laid longitudinally, in a front engine, rear wheel drive configuration and coupled to a 4-speed gearbox. The engine sound is shared with most light trucks and its scrap and salvage equivalent, being smooth and high-revving.
The Tow Truck shares its towing capability with the smaller tow truck, which can be completed by reversing the truck up to a vehicle and setting the crane height to the vehicle being towed (or driving a car into the hook), until a clunk noise is heard to register the attachment. However, due to the raised bed and much larger crane, it is able to tow much larger vehicles, and drive with seemingly no issue. The crane's arm can be raised and lowered similar to its smaller counterpart, albeit on a much larger scale to compensate for the raised bed.
The Tow Truck can tow an indefinite amount of tow-trucks, with the mass of each having minimal effect. It seems the mass of a tow-truck being towed by another tow-truck has no impact to the performance of the towing vehicle, due to it being a tow-truck. Of equivalent mass, the Rhino Tank cannot be pulled at all. The more Tow Trucks that are towed, the more likely one will disconnect from the chain. [1]
Variants[]
| Image | Vehicle | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 A Chop Shop Tow Truck in Grand Theft Auto Online. |
Tow Truck (Chop Shop) | Clean variant of the tow truck, available for purchase. Can only be used during Tow Truck Service missions. | Added to Grand Theft Auto Online as part of The Chop Shop update. |
  A Chop Shop beater Tow Truck in Grand Theft Auto Online. |
Tow Truck (Chop Shop beater) | Another beater variant of the tow truck, available for purchase. Can only be used during Tow Truck Service missions. | Added to Grand Theft Auto Online as part of The Chop Shop update. |
Gallery[]
Design[]
Images[]
Unique paint scheme Tow Truck that spawns in Grass Roots for Franklin.
Spawned at Procopio outside Dignity Village. Note the mechanic under the broken down Granger.
Trailer Screenshots[]
Another view of the rear of the Tow Truck seen in the first trailer.
Locations[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- A Tow Truck reliably spawns parked outside in front of the Los Santos Customs garage located off of Greenwich Parkway near San Andreas Interstate 5 (La Puerta Freeway) between La Puerta and Vespucci Beach, behind Los Santos International Airport (LSIA).
- After purchasing the LSPD Auto Impound (as Franklin), a Tow Truck appears ready for the towing side missions.
- A Tow Truck intermittently spawns inside an open barnhouse on the left hand side of Dignity Village (a homeless encampment accessed through railroad underpass) located off of Route 1 (Great Ocean Highway) in Mount Chiliad (more precisely, across from Ray-n-May's Up-n-Atom Burger Shakes & Hamburgers Diner restaurant next to Procopio Truck Stop).
- It will often times spawn a couple feet across away from the Zancudo River parked at Ortega's trailer home.
- Can also be spotted on the road being driven on highways.
- Sometimes spawns off the side of the road on the northern end of Sandy Shores.
Prominent Appearances in Gameplay[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- The truck is featured for one of the main heists. First, appears in a setup, which is stolen from its owner to let it prepared. Later, in the heist itself, is used by Franklin to ram the armored van.
- It is prominently used in a series of Strangers and Freaks side missions encountered by Franklin, hosted by Tonya. In the first mission, the player learns about towing mechanics and the tow hitch controls.
- It is also used in the side mission, Grass Roots, playing as Franklin. Note that comes in a unique paint scheme.
- In Scouting the Port after Trevor takes the briefcase and leaves the restricted area, a Tow Truck can be seen parked outside. This Tow Truck has a unique license plate that reads "5T3ALM3" (STEALME). It can be saved and stored at Floyd's Apartment.
Rockstar Games Social Club[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
Radio Stations[]
- In Grand Theft Auto V, the default radio stations are grouped by genre. The Tow Truck uses the "Country" group which plays Rebel Radio.
Specifications[]
Model[]
| Model name | Texture name | Handling name | Text label name | In-game name | Swankness | Flags | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTA V | towtruck
|
towtruck
|
TOWTRUCK
|
TOWTRUCK
|
Tow Truck | 1
|
|
| GTA VI | |
|
|
|
N/A |
Population[]
| Groups | Scenario sets | Frequency (%) | Driver model | License plates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTA V |
|
towtruck | 10 |
|
None |
| GTA VI | None | None | None | None | None |
Handling[]
| Max velocity (kmh / mph) | Gears | Engine type | Drivetrain | Mass (kg / lbs) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GTA V | 105 / 65.1 | 4 | N/A | RWD | 5000 / 11000 |
| GTA VI | N/A |
Audio[]
| Horns | Engine | Police scanner | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Model | Category | Color | |||
| GTA V | horn_list_truck
|
box_van_1
|
Vapid | Tow Truck | Truck | |
| GTA VI | |
|
||||
Language[]
| English | Chinese (Traditional) | Chinese (Simplified) | French | German | Italian | Japanese | Korean | MexicanMexicanNahuatl/Aztec/Mexicano | Polish | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ' | Tow Truck | 拖吊車 | 拖吊车 | Dépanneuse | Abschleppwagen | Carro attrezzi | レッカー車 | 견인차 | Grúa | Wóz holowniczy | Caminhão-guincho | Эвакуатор | Grúa |
| ' |
Traffic Default Colors[]
| GTA V | PrimaryPrimaryPrimary color (1) | SecondarySecondarySecondary color (2) | PearlescentPearlescentPearlescent color (3) | WheelsWheelsWheel/tertiary color (4) | TrimTrimTrim/quaternary color (5) | AccentAccentAccent/quinary color (6) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 121 Worn Off White (Worn) | 111 Metallic White (Metallic) | 122 Util Off White (Utility) | 156 Default Alloy Color (Classic) | 0 Metallic Black (Metallic) | 0 Metallic Black (Metallic) | |
| 47 Worn Golden Red (Worn) | 0 Metallic Black (Metallic) | 3 Metallic Dark Silver (Metallic) | 156 Default Alloy Color (Classic) | 0 Metallic Black (Metallic) | 0 Metallic Black (Metallic) |
History[]
| Change log | ||
|---|---|---|
| GTA Online v1.68 |
December 12, 2023 | Renamed from "Towtruck" to "Tow Truck". |
See Also[]
- Tow Truck – Slamvan-based counterpart.
- Yankee – A box-truck appearing in the Grand Theft Auto series, which the Tow Truck is based on.
- Scrap Truck – Scrap and salvage equivalent using the same 10-wheeler chassis and cabin.