GTA's Biggest Glitch Is Back

Years after its release, Grand Theft Auto 5 is still going strong. It's easy to see why. Aside from the wildly compelling story and memorable cast of characters, players continue to find new and wacky ways to pass the time on the mean streets of Los Santos.

Players on Reddit and YouTube have has discovered a trick that will cause a player's car to shoot up into the air. If you push your car up against a certain electronic gate in Grant Theft Auto 5, a glitch will trigger that launches the vehicle sky high. You may have to tap the brake a few times, but if you position your car just right, you'll be launched into the stratosphere.

Oddly, some cars seem more susceptible to this phenomenon than others. Whether it has anything to do with the shape of the cars or the ease of acceleration in certain models is unclear. It does appear that not all of the game's race cars will take to the skies with this glitch. One Redditor claims they attempted to launch themselves in the game's Krieger supercar to no avail.

This spectacular feat brings to mind a similar glitch from Grand Theft Auto 4. By driving into some swing sets in the game, you could send your car flinging through the air in an unpredictable and terrifying arc. It was like getting the biggest kid on the playground to give you a solid push, only now you were trapped in a metal coffin as you hurtled into the stratosphere. It was always hilarious and always dangerous. 

As the GTA Wiki points out, the swing glitch had a habit of chucking players through their windshield during take off, which often led to said players falling to their deaths. It also acts as basically the polar opposite of those inexplicably invincible volleyball nets you can find in Grand Theft Auto 5. For some reason, even though you can literally knock down telephone poles while you race, driving into a volleyball net will stop your vehicle cold.

As fun as the glitch seems, you can't help but think of its strategic applications as well. Imagine you're in a high speed chase with the Los Santos Police Department. They're closing in on you and you have a five star Wanted level. Things are looking grim. You pull into this driveway, giving the police a false sense of relief as it appears you're finally ready to lay down your weapons and come in quietly.

Then, just as they think it's all over, you drive into this gate and take to the skies like a bat out of hell. Not only could this help you make a quick escape, it might make the police officers consider another vocation. It'd be yet another day where they'd question why anyone would want to be a police officer in Los Santos.

The only problem with this glitch is that you can't really control where your vehicle lands. Also, given how much air you get with this, it's a miracle any time someone manages to walk away from a landing. It's a trade off, for sure. At the end of the day, you really have to decide if you're prepared to possibly end up in Central Los Santos Medical Center to pull off this sweet trick. At the very least, maybe try this in a stolen vehicle, because the repair costs on your favorite car are going to rack up a pretty penny.

Still, discovering a glitch like this is always a fun time. Sometimes glitches can be just bizarre or infuriating. Even other Rockstar games aren't invulnerable to some weird bugs. Players have discovered glitches in Red Dead Redemption 2 that offer similarly deranged visuals, like men falling from the sky and the ability to paddle your canoe underneath the world map, completely disappearing. 

Thanks to recent announcements from Rockstar Games, its clear new content is coming to its biggest titles, including Grand Theft Auto Online. Rumblings of an impending Grand Theft Auto 6, which might take place in Vice City in the 1980s, continue to circulate. While that sounds like it could be an absolute blast, you're no doubt wondering what kind of unassuming structures will be able to launch your cars into the upper atmosphere in the next installment of Grand Theft Auto.