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20 Nov 2012

The cars of Grand Theft Auto 5

Computer and console driving games come in all shapes and sizes.  Petrolheads argue over whether the Forza, Gran Turismo, Dirt or F1 games are the best.  But, secretly, everyone knows that the best driving game by a huge margin is Grand Theft Auto.

GTA is a game in the sandbox format, which means you can drive, walk, cycle, fly or ride a motorcycle everywhere and anywhere within the boundaries of the map.  Rather than having to tiresomely wait to progress through the game to get a decent car, if you see a car you like then you can steal it, jump in and drive it headfirst into the nearest brick wall - or oncoming traffic.

How can that not be fun?  The gameplay in GTA outlives the story because once you've finished every mission you can just drive around and do really fast, stupid and thrilling stuff in the car of your choice.  Or even an HGV if that takes your fancy.

Jump out of a car at top speed, drive down an airport runway, hit a ramp and jump into the sea, drive off the top of the tallest building in the game and smash into the ground, smash into something to see how far your 'man' flies out of the windscreen, throw bombs at oncoming police cars.  You can do all these things and more in Grand Theft Auto.  And that's why we love it.

The next edition, GTA5, is launched in Spring 2013 and ahead of the release the makers, Rockstar, have issued several video trailers and screenshots.  These are the cars we've seen so far from those.  Most of the cars in Grand Theft Auto have been created by the game makers but some bear an uncanny resemblance to real models.

We've tried identifying some.  If you think we're wrong tell us in the comments box below.
Infernus.  Has existed in GTA for years

Unnamed sportscar.  Maybe a small amount of Ferrari California in it

Cheetah.  This has been in GTA games since the first one

Looks like a BMW M3 with an aftermarket front end

For the first time the makers have added a branded car to GTA.  Audi R8 Spyder

Looks like a Pagani Zonda

Resembles a Bentley Continental GT