Why Is GTA 5 Traffic So Bad?

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

The real question is: is chaotic traffic still better than a predictable traffic, as seen in Watch Dogs 2?

[@2boid]

obviously the chaotic traffic yeah also i bet that gta 6 is gonna have way more dynamic traffic, like when you knock down the traffic lights the cars actually have no idea what to do

[@thefallenvalley4340]

Playing WD2 rn, it's a great game but the traffic is extremely boring.

[@CMGIV]

And whats the thing with the traffic intersections? If you drive fast through them, on red light, some other vehicle speeds in from the right. Just in the speed you are. (it happes very often) I have to brake every time, to not crash into them. It must be scripted 🤔

[@Subreon]

@@2boid irl, when a traffic light is malfunctioning (before a signaller gets there), you treat it as an all way stop sign. but i doubt rs will go that far.

[@2boid]

@@Subreon would be pretty cool to see, and idk i have a feeling rockstar will go pretty far with these types of details

[@Mroziukz]

The often reason for crashes is also that: 1)NPCs dont use turn lights. 2) They make unreasonable and unrealistic sharp turns when changing lanes or going down the street.

[@chibisayori20]

i think turn lights are visual only, in GTA IV they prob activated them once a npc enters right/left lane, i think it's still in V just isn't acivated most of the time

[@PiniutLEGIT]

They use turn lights, but it's very rare.

[@NeutronixRL]

also they dont have proper reflections in their wing mirrors lmao

[@elgusanito4971]

I don't think that NPCs using turn lights will be enough for a player to dodge them while going at almost warp speed...

[@narrativeless404]

​@@PiniutLEGIT They only use turn signals on scripted turns. Random unrealistic lane shifts not included

[@Pedro-fh9ec]

So... NPCs don't do it because they see you coming, they do it because they *don't* see you coming.

[@SpectateDrake]

✅

[@Death_Jaw]

Yes.

[@XDMIIIIIIIII]

Nah they definitely swerve into you at least on missions

[@ZackeryMccoy-d9e]

It’s possible that gta online’s system isn’t exactly the same and he’s just viewing what the single player has

[@beartrap8625]

@@XDMIIIIIIIIInever had on crash into me in the 11yrs the games has been out lol. Just don’t hit them it’s simple

[@DeAndSp]

I feel like you and DarkViperAU need to talk.

[@RealFemale69]

Right? There's more than enough footage of him proving it

[@upcam6982]

Yess

[@robertemery8660]

Yes

[@papachefe]

darkviper is a stuck up buffoon

[@thedooonty123]

Yo imagine gtaguessr between these 2 "Oh yeah i recognise this street because of the slip node that causes traffic to cut lanes" 😅

[@cpljimmyneutron]

DarkViper has a video clip from a speed run where a truck slid sideways across 4 lanes of traffic and hit him... this was on a straight stretch of highway and in single player.

[@haymantaylor7583]

Yep. Was a tow truck. I believe he was heading westbound and had just crossed the bridge over the highway just south of the casino.

[@jamespeake4883]

IIRC it literally clipped into the ground to do it

[@nightwolf9951]

Most often it happens in story mode if you are going only straight for some time.. I'm guessing they wanted to make it so that your driving never feels "stale", rather it being more dynamic that way... Sadly it often just ends up being frustrating cause those random NPC swirls just feel way too unnatural and break immersion imo

[@Nasrul260]

Rockstar intentionally coded the cars to drive into you ❌ Rockstar does a terrible job at optimizing 12 year old code for GTA Online ✅

[@koji5705]

I genuinely believe it's coded intentionally for you to get frustrated and give up making money legit and spend money on shark cards, that's probably the intention for it anyway.

[@TKMacsta]

@@koji5705nope

[@Rootiga]

the problem is that it DOES happens in story mode... i got banned from online 7 years ago, and have played through story twice and this shit still constantly happens

[@koji5705]

@@Rootiga if so thats even more screwed up

[@MeadeJ67]

No, that's not correct either...

[@theslavscav]

If you really played GTA Online for several years and paid some attention, you should be very familiar with a certain NPC pattern that happens on junctions (in downtown most often). If a player is speeding through a red light, there's about a 70%-80% chance a very fast NPC will spawn on the street that had green and fly through the junction. Not only will it brake hard immediately when it clears the junction, it will also slow down if the player slows down, intentionally timing it to get t-boned. Even if you spot this a$$hole early, he's quite difficult to avoid. This behavior is perfectly reproducible, I confirmed it with my friends and this is the hill I'm willing to die on

[@fightlikabrave]

Exactly my point. the T-Bne bombers AND the "turn into you b/c im scared" NPCs have ruined the fun and realism.. its SO stupid and R* should fix it.

[@Shoxic666]

I think those guys are a result of the AI breaking off its nodes out of panic, they see the collision as the last second and it stops them just driving normally, ironically causing a crash.

[@fightlikabrave]

@@Shoxic666 but they always turn INTO you instead of AWAY from you..and its the SAME everytime..and been happening for a decade+ lol its in the code surely

[@IamMortui]

Every single time, seems even more so on a motorcycle. I've had this situation happen so many times and even when braking or avoiding, it's programmed to match your speed to force you into a collision. Seems to be based on some sort of time of when your last collision was.

[@SoloDallasII]

Also happens in SP. Usually big buses or trucks. Dead obvious that it's scripted because of how they match your speed and position.

[@Biggyzy]

its funny when you realize thats scripted events with NPCs in cars have been added, removed and re-added again. for someone thats been around the modding part of it too, yes there are physical scripts for these "kamikaze" npcs

[@FredGlt]

Seems intended for police vehicles.

[@Literallyryangosling777]

Could you post a video showing those scripts?

[@bradofthe1topg]

Are you talking about the npcs that swerve then dissappear from inside the vehicle?

[@marklarizzle]

Hyper volatile, all black, car of any type, has entered the chat.

[@GreenHouseM13]

It is 100% scripted. There's a lot of video examples on whatever57010's channel. All this video is about is traffic pathing which is irrelevant. The problem of NPCs crashing with you isn't related to pathing, it's something like an event that is triggered, which causes an NPC to ignore current pathing and instead go towards the Player.

[@2boid]

it's the rockstar employees spying on us...

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

Now that i could believe

[@Thunder_unit00]

Dude I spent days with rockstar support troubleshooting survival mode and then the fix was doing the tutorials in the lobby in freemode like I was syncing up with a new character, before I did all of that the game asked me if I liked to redo my character appearance but I wasnt a new character but level 98. I believe after seeing this method of troubleshooting from rockstar support there is some truth that they are in lobbies watching us lol

[@Josh-jw3go]

In online there are random traffic vehicles occasionally that I can lock on to with homing misses which gives this credibility

[@UnrebornMortuus]

so true.boutya dropna truth bomb theyre linked with spectrum and darrpa

[@pizzacatz3174]

Yes the classic rockstar did it. show us on the dolls where rockstar touched you

[@MrZombiekiller787]

One thing about peer-to-peer networking in GTA Online - All the traffic/NPCs are "OWNED" by players. Their state is not managed by a server (as there isn't none, it's P2P) - Usually ownership of NPC's is dictated by proximity, but sometimes "ownership" can stick between players, which means traffic you're moving beside along, could actually be "owned" by a player 300-400 meters away from you, and since AI traffic is simulated by the owning entity, the player that's far away from you might not have all the information/state that's surrounding you, and therefore making the AI act unpredictably. Could be a big factor.

[@retardedchromosome3923]

Never thought of this, great point. But it happens even more in solo lobby. As I see it there are 3 big factors equally annoying - the path finding ai mess, p2p and the mystery code that I’m 100% convinced exists that makes the ai ram you on purpose at high speeds

[@pascal2085]

I would assume that the "Owner" dumbs down far away NPCs to save cpu performance.

[@fairplaymaxx7576]

I don’t mind that the traffic simulation isn’t perfect, but when a car spawns facing the wrong direction and then abruptly corrects itself with an unrealistic rotation, it really breaks the immersion.

[@nothughmahn]

Or when I started to walk across an empty street and a car spawned and immediately plowed into me at 80mph the second I touched the road. I literally have a video of it, too.

[@DigitalDevil_001]

2013 game btw but yeah I get that

[@toobin_]

@@nothughmahnpost it

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

Why are you worried about immersion? It's GTA not Dragon Age.

[@xxZerglorDxx]

I remember running the import/export business back in the day in online, and even in missions with absolutely 0 enemies, no gun shots, and im driving at least somewhat cautiously (not pissing off NPCs), the NPCs would still swerve into me, switch lanes to block paths, and pass through intersections right as I'm going through them to block me. It drove me to genuine insanity.

[@Eldraculaboy23]

I’ve been driving around Los Santos trying different things with traffic and something that I’ve been realizing is that if u drive through the city at max speed with any car and honk your horn most cars that would normally swerve into you they don’t and I’ve had less crashes, it doesn’t work all over the city but in most roads it does

[@martontichi8611]

yes!!!

[@Fable1724]

To add to this, if you just hold your horn down constantly the NPCs seem to return to their normal behavior of not noticing you, if anything holding it down will aggrevate them. I find using the horn is useful when you keep pressing it, like you have to recently have pressed it in the NPCs vicinity to get them to avoid you.

[@jordan-mn6yy]

I have had to do this honking as well just in order to have more realistic and humane traffic that isnt coded to ruin the game. But clicking honk all the time ruins immersion too

[@policedriver]

As a map modder and maker, this is a great in-depth analysis, helpful for anyone wanting to add traffic to their map. Great job explaining

[@youngknight5589]

@@policedriver its surprising how little talk there is about stuff like this tbh

[@mattmcintyre7083]

Except he's wrong about NPC behavior.

[@GodSkul]

I remember this happening way back in Vice City. I think it's all about optimization. Far away cars make less decisions save on computing, and closer car make more decisions, to feel more immersive. Also many times it's cars reacting to gunshots and explosions.

[@ScottThePisces]

In San Andreas their moves were linked to the framerate as well as the speed you were going. The fastest you drove, the faster they'd make decisions!

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

correct. I had to scrap a few mins off the clip but one of the points is in fact NPCs being in "auto drive" when away and when they get close they suddenly go "manual", which tends to be a rough awakening for most NPCs

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

this! GTA SA tied everything to FPS. many mission became unplayable in modern rigs without a patch mod.

[@GodSkul]

@@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS yeah that makes sense, great video!

[@fenn_fren]

Yeah, there's this little intersection close by the hotel where NPCs in bigger cars, if they're driving erratically (not snapped to the path), they'll go too wide and crash head on into a wall. And because their next node is a little further down the road, they never try and reverse out of there.

[@WinterGamesYT]

gta v players when theyre going 200 km/h on the highway irl and someone merges in front of them and they get in an accident (that car was an npc coded to do that)

[@badimagerybyjohnromine]

The only proof I need is if you sit on the side of the road with cargo EVERY car will veer off the road toward you one at a time as they pass EVERY SINGLE ONE and eventually one will jump the curb at full speed and hit you while youre stationary. Its not a myth, its an observable fact at this point.

[@resistivewig610]

link

[@trenaxy9938]

Not intentional

[@kaspisw]

Proof?

[@papachefe]

idiot

[@swiftuav3617]

Proof or it didn't happen

[@BlueLineVibes]

10 years of modding GTA 5 and I have never seen a video explain the GTA 5 NPC traffic in this detail, until now. Well done.

[@YeEpIkAiYeI]

Something else I want to point out are the traffic lights. For some reason when you enter an intersection with traffic lights, about 99% of the time you have a red light. I thought to myself "Well, maybe I'm just unlucky", but then I started to look at the traffic lights to the sides (the ones that should be on green) and MANY times they were also on red. I don't know how it really works, but for some reason when you're going down a certain street, the game will give you a red light in your intersections ahead.

[@bigdatapimp]

So basically there is not line of code that says "Be a dick" but they are basically coded to get in your way constantly. Very interesting video.

[@FurryWrecker911]

Sorta. They're pretty much programmed to do their own thing regardless of what the player is doing. It's just that at high speeds we're injecting ourselves into the middle of merges or scenarios automatically playing out. If we drove slower then these merges and scenarios would be finished by the time we stroll up to them.

[@theonlyplain]

I just dont understand how people expect not to crash often when youre driving at 200 kmh+ in hypercars in a populated metropolitan

[@gibleyman]

​@@theonlyplainThis exactly. Chances are, if you're speeding, rear ending a car who was changing lanes or hitting one coming out of a parking spot etc are the most likely ways you'll end your joyride. You know, the same scenarios where you'd crash in a GTA game.

[@mekacrab]

@@theonlyplain and in a city where nobody has turn signals

[@Pappalardium]

@@mekacrab Some do have turn signals but it's rare to see

[@VioletGiraffe]

I'm not convinced. This happens in solo (private) sessions ALL THE TIME. Also, you are completely ignoring the cases of a car driving across your path. Not swirving or lane changing, but driving across an intersection with abnormal speed, sometimes abnormal trajectory, obviously specifically to ram you. No missions, no shooting, just diving. This happens when your speed is above some threshold. Props for your research, it was very interesting to learn what's under the hood. But your research is not quite complete.

[@dyIanVII]

'your research isn't quite complete because I saw something and my conclusion I leaped to > your factual evidence'

[@SoloDallasII]

@@dyIanVII The evidence presented in the video does not explain why this would happen, or address this scenario at all. This guy doesn't have the source code and cannot actually look at everything involved in V's traffic AI. He's just using Codewalker. Furthermore, the same thing was scripted into Midnight Club (I can literally show you the code for that, I removed it for myself) and the MC devs worked on GTAV after the MC series ended.

[@mcbamm5683]

⁠@@dyIanVIIgoing at speed through four way junctions you’ll notice that there’s always a car programmed to match your speed so you T-Bone it. That being said, they’re likely “scenarios” like he explained.

[@mekacrab]

@@mcbamm5683 Any evidence of this happening that can be found online ? I didn't find something, although I didn't search very hard.

[@mathdessin6755]

Exactly, anyone who played midnight club would recognize the behavior

[@JuniorDjjrMixMods]

I coded a traffic system for my GTA-like game named "IMPUNES" and it feels more complete than the GTA V system, wtf. Like, my system can even work flawlessly without any traffic lights (they make decisions based on other cars positions placed on other lanes, without any physical detection), they have turn lights and the player can do a turn light and they will obey etc. I'm also the creator of Real Traffic Fix for GTA San Andreas, which fixes, among many other things, cars changing lanes in front of you.

[@AlphaGarg]

What's the CPU and memory overhead of that system, though? How scalable is it? Does it run on a separate thread?

[@YOEL_44]

You missed the whole point. Please test this while doing vehicle cargo missions, you'll see how they just bump you, then go back to their regular path.

[@mekacrab]

Did you even watch the fkn video ? It literally explains why NPCs change lanes to hit you and go back to their path. You're the one who missed the point.

[@YOEL_44]

@mekacrab No, he explains why cars change lanes erratically, which is because of poor path design decisions mostly, but those cars try to dodge you if they notice you (which just happens when you're in front of them). The traffic in those specific missions actively goes towards you, no matter if they see you or not, heck you could even be completelly still in a sidewalk, and they would still bump you.

[@BobbyCarillo]

I always loved how LA is known for having heavy traffic but GTA V hardly has any traffic, there's even times when the streets are completely empty and I have to wait for a vehicle to show up.

[@anthonym138]

Yea im replaying gta 4 and same. Streets be empty and its like its ny. Should be packed

[@qweebey]

@@anthonym138play it on PC and jack up the population density to 100. You’ll be sitting in traffic the whole time.

[@BobbyCarillo]

@anthonym138 oddly, I remember San Andreas having more traffic

[@qweebey]

@@anthonym138 set the traffic density to 100 and you’ll be stuck in traffic in GTA IV

[@user-k5y8l]

You can change the Traffic density however you like. With PC atleast.

[@W4rm0ng3r]

Your own test doesn't work because you drove nice and slow. Try doing that again except in a "high value" vehicle (expensive cars or mission vehicles) and drive faster and watch certain NPCs ahead of you matching your steering inputs 1:1 so that you crash into them. There is no reason for some guy with a minivan to mimic my swerving through traffic to cut me off, unless of course he was programmed to do so.

[@NeutronixRL]

lol

[@papachefe]

idiot

[@Shoxic666]

"Drive faster" he addressed that several times lmao. Drive slower and you'll crash less.

[@elgusanito4971]

​@@Shoxic666So... you'll drive slower so you don't crash(or at least reduce the chances), but run the increasingly high chance of getting spotted and/or shot by pursuing NPCs? That's kinda counter-productive

[@beartrap8625]

@ 🧢

[@wickermind6668]

One thing that is blatant though is the rubberbanding speeds some of these NPCs have. The node system explains why NPCs carelessly careen in front of you or into you, but it doesn't explain when NPCs literally change their speed when going through a junction to always get in your way. You can literally see them slow down or speed up based on your speed to try and get you into a T-bone.

[@jamesobrian1643]

Soooo, how much is Rock* paying you for this? Cuz I can tell you from the 12+ years I've been playing that if I'm simply driving around, with no special mission or cargo, no matter the vehicle I have there's no issues. I can split lanes, drive through intersections, and weave through heavy traffic with ease. *BUT*, if I'm delivering a specced out car or something that damage will decrease my payout you can be guaranteed I'll have at least several NPCs swerve into my lane. I know the AI will have them panic if there's shooting or cops on me and it'll get crazy but even just cruising along with nothing going on it happens.

[@Damian-cilr2]

I've seen a video where someone was LITERALLY sitting still and the npcs briefly swerve in front of them before they correct their path Okay i can see the intersection ones being pure coincidence because the traffic ai code sucks,but they literally SWERVE onto an oncoming lane,may only happen online but holy shit

[@skibiditoiletlover9017]

Ive been thinking about this topic recently a lot. Yesterday, was on my phone texting while sitting in my car, on the side of the road, not in npcs path, and yet, they still loved to crash onto me. Idk how on earth its possible its just the codes

[@Galeriarch]

14:50 I could never enjoy following traffic in GTA 5 as I did in GTA 4 because of this. You are constantly put in a situation where every single light is red and no traffic advances.

[@theraiden1018]

Saying it’s a predominantly online issue is false. It happens just as much in single player too

[@ek2013_]

Now what about the AI speeding up drastically or slamming on the brakes as you’re approaching an intersection? A very common thing I see is when approaching an intersection, a crossing NPC will speed up or slow down to seemingly block your path. It’s obviously not them detecting a threat since they only see forward threats and not side or behind.

[@Halnineo0one]

When delivering a car to the Dock from the chop shop, an npc drive to the middle of the road at the last intersection. Whatever side you try to pass, the npc will turn in to you

[@HoggySklump]

I’ve never had that happen to me, just get better at staying as far away as possible from the npc cars.

[@mcbamm5683]

The best way to get a perfect delivery is to be patient and drive slower than the NPCs. It gives you the perfect opportunity to see strange driving before it happens, unintentional or not.

[@KonaSquid]

So basically it's poorly coded which we already knew.

[@noobsaibot2255]

quality content right here

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

always trying at least ahah. appreciate the love

[@Purpical]

1:18 the man himself

[@SIMULATAN]

Ok, so they don't target you, they're just hella weird and aggressive all the time, lol

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

Pretty much yes. Their code runs on prayers

[@Scornfull]

AKA accidentally on purpose

[@TheAverageGamer1]

Idk man when I'm driving a car to a delivery location and an noc is going down the wrong side of the road and turns into me when I try to go around doesn't feel like an accident to me

[@IamMortui]

@@TheAverageGamer1 Because it isn't lol. Even if there is no disturbances at the time, they should follow their path right? Total BS this video is. Why would they go off of their path suddenly out of nowhere when you're in collision range.

[@mekacrab]

@@TheAverageGamer1 Well if they're on the wrong side of the road they either spawned on the wrong side because of desync (or slided on the wrong side) or they are panicking but you would know if they were panicking so let's assume they weren't. Car deliveries are in GTA Online so a lot of this weird stuff is because of the server that messes up the spawns and/or the behavior of some NPCs.

[@ric1101]

The fact rockstar knows they made it worse after the Cayo perico update and hasn’t even attempted to fix it just makes it so much more annoying

[@yournarrativehasexpired3201]

This was informative. I'm played GTA 5 for the first time in about 4 years and honestly I was shocked how bad the driving can get (I guess I never paid much attention to it when I was just racing through the game). I now understand why the NPCs will sometimes keep backing into stuff and making strange maneuvers though, now that I know about those invisible nodes. They're just trying to get to the next 'magnet.'

[@SoloDallasII]

I think there's something you're missing; that separate scripts can override the basic pathing. For example, there are scripted buses and trucks that will cross an intersection when you approach at high speed. You can tell they are scripted because their speed increases or decreases to match yours so that you are guaranteed to arrive in the intersection at the same time. Once they cross the intersection, they resume their normal slow speed. It's not just about making lane changes into you. BTW I never play Online, only SP and I run into this stuff all the time. In the Vinewood Hills back roads, oncoming traffic will match up with the car in front of you to block both lanes right as you arrive and need to pass the car in front. Every single time. Not even "often", I mean I challenge you to find an instance of it not happening.

[@maryedmonds4350]

Stuff like this is very obvious to see

[@postl3]

NPCs will literally drive onto oncoming traffic to hit you. Its either intentional or the code is falling apart, no in-between

[@shroomologist]

Most people irl rarely pay attention to what's going on behind them, not sure why people expect NPCs in GTA to be any different lol

[@fenn_fren]

Yeah, everyone's crying how NPCs keep crashing into them when they're blowing through the city at max speed. Try it in real life, you'll also be crashed into.

[@2810Mad]

I googled what's skinny fat and this video popped up

[@GlutenEruption]

13:50 - just an fyi, the proper phrase is "to your hearts conTENT" (aka satisfaction), not contempt, but great video 👍

[@AmmyWulf]

That Pedestrian to the left of the screen at 16:52 is HILARIOUS, he doesn't even avoid the trashcan but rather bumps into it and glitches out in a spastic motion.

[@Juan_Jalapeno]

This all started with the import export update where you ultimatly get less money when crashing the car so yea its 100% intentional this wasnt like this earlier than this

[@IamMortui]

I would say it has existed before hand, at least the intersection interaction where an NPC will purposely try and match your speed to wreck you. But ever since import / export update, it has ten folded like you've said.

[@dyIanVII]

No it didn't lmao, and it isn't intentional - this exact video provs it.

[@Juan_Jalapeno]

@@dyIanVII it definetly got way worse with that update before it i can only recall npcs driving into me like 3 times max and that was in the span of about 500 hours

[@Juan_Jalapeno]

@@dyIanVII + he just yaps

[@HansWurst-I]

@@IamMortui Yes, i think the traffic cars try to go into your path where the navigation system is guiding you. So i think it could be prevented by diactivate the navigation system in the game and everybody would be fine. I mean rockstar is making money if we fail in this missions and some people are buying shark cards because they are frustrated xD.

[@Jacob_24]

GTA V traffic is coded to perfection to accurately represent how an average US citizen drives everyday

[@TheSurvivor-tv9jf]

kinda makes me feel bad for them, they're like ants following a trail of scent, meanwhile you're just plowing through the highway in a car doing 4x their speed.

[@_Diamond-Dog]

I’ve played since day 1 across 3 generations of PlayStation this game has been manipulated the npc has been programmed to drive into you on PlayStation 5 , it’s a fact

[@yakovvidberg7035]

Interesting to see what rockstar can do with gta vi ai driving

[@Get-Native]

Back in the 360 days, only the Bati RR could out ride the rubber banding, where NPC'S would seemingly cut you off. If you dodged them and maintained speed online, the game entered the low poly version until a lag induced bike crash or the rubber banding caught up. I have had the NPC vehicles literally teleport into me. We suspected even then at launch that this was deliberate.

[@realviralin]

Rarely happens in singleplayer? Wrong. NPCs are consistently swerving into me in singleplayer from opposite lanes when I am driving fast. While observing traffic you will clearly see that they do not do this to eachother. These "scenarios" you speak of also exist, but they only add to the problem.

[@Tr1xyB3nz]

23:02 NPCs are coded to try and avoid collisions, but like he said only from the front. The "swerving" is them trying to attempting avoid you, but not doing a very good job at it.

[@TaimaEnenra]

Completely agree! I don't play online, and I get swerved into all the time.

[@ferrumignis]

@@Tr1xyB3nz Wait, you think they are coded to swerve into you in order to avoid a collision, rather than 1) do nothing, 2) swerve the other way?

[@Tr1xyB3nz]

@@ferrumignis well, when you drive at an NPC head on, they will try to swerve to avoid you. I think the AI misjudges a lot though, like on small two lane roads and they think you're driving at them head on when you're not, so they swerve in a random direction to try and avoid a collision that they thought was going to happen, potentially running into the player or getting in the player's way accidentally. Which is where I think the whole "intentionally swerving into players" thing comes from.

[@realviralin]

@@Tr1xyB3nz Yes, they are probably not hard coded to try to hit me, but that is the end result anyway. It is also possible though, that Rockstar knew this happens and left it like this to add challenge to the game as driving otherwise is the easiest I have ever experienced in any game like this.

[@Centerfoldz]

Whether is true or not. I didn’t need a video to tell me that NPCs are coded to crash. Thats how bad they are

[@nym7973]

This was a damn good video, you earned the sub. Thanks for the deep dive. (Now find out why the GTA IV NPCs hate us.)

[@gamb]

haven’t watched this video yet but anecdotally the civilian cars crash into you much more often when you’re doing export missions in gta online. either i was extremely unlucky (one in a decillion odds), was actively looking for examples to make it seem like less of my fault when cars are damaged, noticed it more due to stress, or the coding made the cars swerve into my path more often. i personally think it was the coding one after doing hundreds of exports and having thousands of hours in free-mode. no actual data, but worth looking into‼️

[@ZacCoxTV]

There's always that one mission in GTA where NPCs intentionally swerve into you failing the mission!!

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

There are missions where NPCs will be FULLY scripted. You can crash into them and they won't move an inch. An example would be Fame or Shame mission. But the vast majority of Online missions is just NPCs being awful, reckless drivers. We share the pain

[@agrippa2012]

seeing someone actually investigating something instead of just being another "trust me bro" on the internet is always refreshing

[@frankysupreme]

unfortunately i can’t find anything online talking about it so i wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t believe me, but i’m nearly positive that for whatever reason tow trucks in particular are coded to crash into you. at least in singleplayer. i say this not only from experience but because there’s a clip of darkviperau speedrunning where it’s abundantly clear the tow truck just jittered into his way, which couldn’t have been explained by lag that you’d see in online since he was in singleplayer. he states himself in the clip that it’s programmed that way very matter of fact like, however i wouldn’t be able to find it. it would be interesting if you asked him about it

[@frankysupreme]

if you’re interested in testing this yourself im pretty sure tow truck drivers are most common on the east side of southern los santos near the oil derricks

[@Jew1469]

I thought of exactly the same clip. tow trucks don't spawn in online anymore, so we don't see the issue there, but its very noticeable in singleplayer, because they cant do the maneuver realistically, and seemingly just glitch to the side.

[@PaulTC97]

In Midnight Club 3 most NPC cars accelerate when you are crossing a street in order to cause you to crash into them.

[@SoloDallasII]

And the Midnight Club devs moved on to GTAV after the MC series ended.

[@EdvanDomingues]

I play a lot in single-player, and this behavior is very common. It’s not on purpose; it’s actually a limitation of the traffic system, which was programmed not to look back.

[@fightlikabrave]

They ar timed to perfectly TBone you or swerve INTO you Happens the same way ALL the time. Youll see cars at abnormal speeds coming at just te perfectly matched speed to hit you. In ANY normal situation wherte a car comes at you, you would steer AWAY from oncoming cars and the NPCs in GTA turn INTO you unnatuarlly.. its %100 programmed and on purpose.

[@newvalue]

Very nice video. I actually already had this assumption about traffic, but couldn’t prove it. Because when you drive slowly, you can see the lane switches very often especially in certain areas, it happens regularly

[@Mr.Capitalism]

my main take away from driving in los santos, is that cars speed up when they are in an intersection, they speed up when making a turn, they make a sharp turns too, which is counter intuitive

[@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS]

Yes, this is something they do a lot between junction nodes, you are correct

[@Mr.Capitalism]

@ObviousMalcolm_PLUS yeah, quite realistic ngl

[@noobiumbaconate]

yoooo cappie

[@Mr.Capitalism]

@noobiumbaconate the man the myth himself

[@Manwith6secondmemory]

Liked and subscribed, love how you actually get down into the grittiness instead of speculating You are a man of science indeed

[@ijustliketowatchvideosandc8630]

NPCs do intentionally get in your way you can even bait them in to missing you. Also at intersections vehicles will speed up or slow down based on how fast your car going which again you can even get around by taking your finger off the button. There is 100% intentional things coded into this game. All you have proven is vehicle pathing is bad and scripted events refused to end till they hit their goal or are spooked by the player. This all happens in Solo online lobby. There is even times this system is clearly turned off, for example when deliverying a car from your Auto Shop or a bike from your Clubhouse NPCs will not get in your way unless spooked.

[@gta_nerdxox2847]

Did you actually watch and listen to the vid

[@papachefe]

idiot

[@SoloDallasII]

@@gta_nerdxox2847 They clearly did. Did you actually read their comment?

[@busyworksbeats]

This makes me appreciate the game ever more! Thank you!

[@sussybaka42069]

Nope. They are 100% coded to crash into you, when you are doing a mission. For example exporting a car, you are not shooting, driving carefully and they will still crash into you

[@dyIanVII]

Some random person deeming it fact based on them seeing something they know damn well they can't explain versus someone who actually thoroughly looked into it, ON A CODE LEVEL? nah, clearly the rando knows more

[@_fifty6]

​@@dyIanVIIthere are two scenarios here ... Either u dont have much hours in gtaonline or you are the same as NPC

[@sussybaka42069]

@@dyIanVII blud you gotta be the advanced npc talking shit, without actually knowing anything about it lmao

[@97Crazysteve]

​@@dyIanVII Load up the game, drive around in Freemode for a while, then try to export a car and see what happens.

[@maryedmonds4350]

@@97Crazysteve exactly. do some import/export missions and see exactly how the NPC is designed

[@steven_lhmn]

I really like the effort you put into researching all the situations and your knowledge of how gta works

[@inkco420]

I have 7.5k hours in GTA, 7480 are single player. and yes- even in single player you get these stupid NPC, but you'll see it happening in Online more often than in single player.

[@deanchur]

Looking at the comments there's 2 consistent points about NPC traffic that people think weren't addressed: -Speed matching at intersections, where a large vehicle (bus, truck, etc) crossing perpendicular to you will match your speed to try and force a T-bone collision. -NPC's are more likely to drive erratically around you and intentionally try to hit you during missions and when you're driving expensive vehicles.

[@itsmi4848]

So fun fact, they coded this into the game post release for GTA online specifically. In story mode there’s rare occasions that they change lanes chaotically. I have an old version of GTA on disc and haven’t updated the game since release.

[@indanow6932]

What would be your theory as to why it was added into online? Mine is the increase to shark card sales, due to people getting frustrated with all the time and money they lose during the exotic car transfer missions.

[@MentalParadox]

@@indanow6932 Answered your own question. Delay people's profit generation so they are annoyed into buying shark cards

[@itsmi4848]

@ the import export missions with cars, your earnings are a direct correlation to vehicle damage. The cars drive more erratically in those missions than they do online free mode or in story mode

[@midwestoenr4905]

@@indanow6932 they do it so the terrain and stuff can load in if you go a long time without crashing everything starts getting laggy

[@dyIanVII]

Funny how everyone that peddles this nonsense theory always has zero proof

[@0th_dimension]

Great video man.. There is a van in some of the warehouse missions that has tiny orange hazard lights on.. It can be hard to notice them..When they are on all oncoming traffic just stops immediately. For a while i had no idea what was going on. My actual point was supposed to be.."Why would anyone want a game that just always 'allowed' you through every junction"?

[@jasabasenara8124]

I play this game 10 hours a day. The pattern of npcs is always the same. They do turn into you deliberately it's so obvious.

[@ferrumignis]

It's so obvious that this guy must be gaslighting.

[@zebracherub]

Very good stuff, very understandable for people who don’t know anything about coding ! I’m glad I found your channel my dude, seeing you’re in Portugal, all my love from France ✌️

[@CYBERBOIUK]

Well put together video 🫡

[@elsenior8110]

Excellent video. Is nice to see people digging into this kind of stuff. I usually play every gta following traffic laws and i csn tell you that the worst streetlights are placed in gta v. I mean gta iv had the overtake issue but it can be fixed with a mod. But 5 second green light thats abusive

[@Covid-bv4hp]

I love this video, it's really well made, its engaging and keeps the viewer entertained and informed, and it get the point across. Well done. It's sadly rare to see these type of videos being recommended on the algorithim. 10/10

[@sheesssshhh]

The fact you made in a depth in detail 27 min video on a explanation of why my blood pressure is so damn high over all these years. fkn goat 🥺🫡

[@adrianbalboa5353]

I have adopted to gta npc traffic even the one where green light traffic will speed up to block you if you try to run a red light.

[@PeninsulaCity2024]

The thing about junctions and intersections might explain why NPCs will randomly pull off a perfect handbrake J-Turn as if they changed their mind and try to go down a different street. Sometimes, the NPCs on narrow, two way roads will attempt to avoid a potential head-on collsion but they incorrectly swerve into you or another NPC. Similar to how cars in GTA 4 will for some reason try to avoid hitting the subway trains moving under the Algonquin Bridge. I bet people thought that was "intentional" back then too.

[@BouffantRhino]

you dont need evidence when you can play the game yourself and go top speed down the highway and have a npc turn into oncoming traffic just to slow you down i believe its so the map can load in fully

[@gabrielandy9272]

what you believe is not the truth, its just lies in you own head, thats not how science and the truth works, we would not even have eletricity if people tried to discover stuff like that. the map can load just fine if going faster even on the console, sure theres a speed limit on how fast things can load, but no car in the game reach this speed.

[@paneerbread]

i'm ready to die on this hill

[@pliantimpala7858]

@@paneerbread Same here, I've done nearly 1000 import export missions, they are absolutely programmed on purpose to run into you, often 2-5 cars at once.

[@papachefe]

idiot

[@GlutenEruption]

@@pliantimpala7858 I personally believe that regardless of if it's intentional or not the fact that despite the massive backlash R* has never even attempted to fix or address the problem in updates shows they are at least happy with the current situation, but saying "you don't need evidence when you have personal anecdotes" is just severely flawed logic. Expectation and confirmation bias, pattern seeking, and all sorts of flaws with the human brain and how we perceive things like this make your personal experience all but worthless at determining the facts. Especially after this video clearly demonstrated a completely plausible explanation for this behavior arising from unintentional flaws in how normal NPC driving is handled and the online architecture itself

[@scottalmond5321]

I can't even begin to express all of the holes in this video. But i'll give a couple of examples. 1. Of course we can avoid cop cars when they do it, thats because we are acutely aware of them and have plenty of time to see them and plan our avoidence, they are even highlighted on the map for you. 2. You admitted yourself that you drive slowly and safely. The issue of traffic purposly driving into you only occurs when the player is driving at high speeds. It would be a pretty pointless addition by Rockstar if they drove into you at any other time. It's designed to slow you down by destroying your vehicle or working toward that goal. Your time is their money to Rockstar. 3. There are plenty of example videos online showing traffic driving off bridges above you, directly in your direction. 4. NPC cars never used to drive in to you on purpose for the first several years of online. It became a "feature" when they added the import/export dlc. For the stealing/selling cars missions in order to damage said cars resulting in lower payout/rewards. This could be argued as a time/money argument again, or just as a "challenge" for the player. Note NPCs driving in to you was purley restricted to the import/export missions at that time. But several years later, they added it to freemode, then several DLCs later, they rampped up the frequency/severity of it. Only players who play every day and have played since day one clearly witnessed the progression of the feature/problem. They even dialed it upto 11 with one update but then promptly dialed it back with a severside script not too long later as it was too obvious to everyone. 5. All the examples you gathered for yourself in the game aren't examples anyone who truly understands this issue would choose as examples. We would know imidatley that they were just normal traffic changing lanes at normal predicatable times and would dismiss them as such. 6. If random objects spawing into the road for a split second is the cause, how come you provide no evidence of this? And even if that's what does cause it, why do cars never randomly vere out of your way sometimes, or into other npcs? It alwyas directly into you. Thats not random. This if anything would suggest planned object spawning. If Rockstar couldn't add agressive traffic without totally re-writing the traffic code, maybe as a work around they use random split second object spawing to force npcs into you? 7. Since the introduction of Franklin Assassinations, we know NPCs can be forced to colide with a specific type of object and dont JUST follow nodes, because the cop car assasination ends with the persude NPC vering off and colideing with a random wall, not just vering off. They dont vere off onto patches of grass or anything else, they specifically TARGET a wall in the area you are in at that point in time, in order to explode the vehicle on impact. So sure, you reviewed the whole traffic/node system, but you didnt appear to review the AI system or any other potential layered systems that come into play. So I feel this investigation is severely lacking. I honestly really enjoy watching your videos as you dig deep into the game code and provide good evidence to things, but i feel that you really missed the mark with this one, possibly due to not fully understanding the issue at hand.

[@maryedmonds4350]

THANK YOU. I'm level 656 in GTA and I used to grind import/export and i had developed a system where I would do fake turns to purposely throw off NPCs that were trying to ram into me. I'd make a very sharp turn left and immediately correct whenever i was meeting a car and the NPC would often freak out and turn right, but completely miss me because i had got back. I was really enthralled by this video, it's super good, but I just can't get behind it because it is, at it's core, wrong. I loved seeing how the NPCs worked though

[@dmign]

love the armchair experts with their confirmation bias disregarding evidence by someone LOOKING AT THE CODE

[@maryedmonds4350]

@@dmign "looking at the code" I'm on my phone so I'll make this short. He is obviously wrong and either can't find or is unable to see what this is coming from. I've been playing this game since its release, and every long time player has seen a bus slam on it's breaks in the middle of an intersection, or speed up to match you and get in front of you. The "code" may not be able to show this, but I've got about 5k hours and I'm sure I know more than this guy, who doesn't seem to have actually played the game very much. (He says "import export" in the same way an old person says "PlayStation")

[@paesutori_y_pastry]

@@dmign Yep he sure looked at it. Too bad he couldn't understand it.

[@jamesheller9185]

remember you could park a big truck diagonally on a fly over bridge and the npcs would choose to drive to the next node just to find themselves exploding from the crashes while they hit the ground

[@anonym5160]

I don’t believe you. The’re are exists to many videos that shows that npc crash into you on purpose.

[@papachefe]

idiot

[@lilkiwi608]

Yeah I've seen videos were a car is literally magnetizes to a player so instead of swerving into/in front of them it shifts like crab to the side and hits the side of the vehicle

[@bmxscape]

for a guy with "evidence" and "the ability to read the games code" i sure did not see any evidence in the video, only random speculations such as "invisible objects spawning for 10 miliseconds causing cars to swerve off the road" like at 19:00 lmfao

[@Tr1xyB3nz]

I'm glad someone finally made a in depth analysis on this disproving the myths that GTAV's NPC are intentionally trying to crash into you. It's just kind of a mess of uninterruptible scenarios and NPCs only really being able to avoid collisions head on (but still not doing a very good job of it). I've noticed the head on swerving for awhile now, and figured it was just the NPC trying to avoid me, but not really being able to figure it out in time. As someone who's been playing rockstar games for awhile now since midnight club, they've always coded traffic to try and not be in your way, GTAV just has spaghetti code and the NPCs can be really dumb.

[@Nick-kb2jc]

Awesome content. I want to download the GTA V source code so bad but I’m scared of malware. I don’t even want to mod anything, I just want to study the code because it would be fascinating.

[@henriquem3111]

Nice video, very interesting to see how things works in the backend. It's way "simpler" than I've thought ("simpler" because gamedev is not simple at all, but they are not that totally autonomous either). Buuut you should do a test during a Import/Export mission. They behavior is totally different from the normal game

[@pliantimpala7858]

There's a video from 3 years ago with nearly 2 million views showing that they are indeed programmed to run into you, in online at least.

[@papachefe]

idiot

[@raxpyraxp]

This is a video, bro. Well done. I even thought about making the same video and start my own channel with this lol. I mean, I've heard so much complaining from I/E guys... "Why they ram me when there's no reason to do this?" Dude, you have 2 shooting sultans behind you all the time, no wonder NPCs are scared

[@Zyphr--]

If you drive in a straight line without touching the joystick, they will crash into you. If you constantly, gently steer left/right, they won't crash into you. Try it

[@Joshinken]

As for the “i couldnt find any cases of this happening in singleplayer”, theres a clip of dark viper getting cut off by an npc that literally teleported in front of him, only for that same npc to run him over immediately after the first crash

[@crnoman9408]

your 28 minutes worth of proves means nothing to me they do it purposefully

[@raymanmann8132]

cry more

[@dyIanVII]

And your opinion means nothing because it's based purely on anecdotal evidence.

[@raymanmann8132]

cry more

[@raymanmann8132]

cry more

[@rompevuevitos222]

No one in the comments understood the video apparently

[@Remix2366]

The video was too disingenuous for them to care

[@paesutori_y_pastry]

"Because the man on the TV said so."

[@MikaelaExtra]

I constantly getting things related to "how rockstar intentionally code npc to crash onto us" type of vids recommend to me.. Even shoved to me in short or reels... I never like any or engage with any It's hard for me to believe, because It never happen to me. Your explanation is great, I believe it. Because what reason why R* need to do it..? I see no benefit for them doing it

[@BelgianCat]

Their conspiracy theory is that Rockstar does this deliberately so people would be more inclined to buy shark cards to skip import/export missions and other missions that rely on you delivering vehicles in (near) perfect state.

[@MikaelaExtra]

@BelgianCat that's just sound insane, even if it's true... Rockstar probably already have the statistic that people who grind will probably never buy shark kards and those who will buy it... will probably buy it the day a new thing come out

[@megadeth8592]

@@MikaelaExtra rockstar has made more money from those shit cards than gta 5 sales but oh yeah......def not being used

[@MikaelaExtra]

@@megadeth8592 so they intentionally code it, hoping people buy shark card? Nerfing heist n stuff, sure but crashing car? 😐

[@ook_3D]

never thought i would see a video covering the software im a contributor for, very well put together video :)

[@nagarafasmc-nmc]

also happens in GTA IV, i remember npcs in one lane of the bridge, ALL of them turned toward me when i tried to overtake them

[@Furious321]

I just assumed that one bridge's lane change problem was a result of the train passing by on the lower level. Wonder what the actual explanation is.

[@kindasus]

Yeah, I did another play through of gta iv some months ago and this issue was really annoying, NPCs will try to converge on you, they'd switch lanes even twice or more in a few seconds just to collide with you

[@mikekartwii]

Interesting that the Myth is busted. And to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised *if* they did it on purpose. Let’s face it, R* has been turning this game into a ‘no fun allowed’ zone more and more with every single patch. Adding cars that mess up your grind, just to nudge you even slightly into buying Shark Cards, would be 100% believable at this point. Remember when they ruined 'Rooftop Rumble'?"

[@firehedgehog1446]

R* is only following the orders of the assholes at Take-Two Interactive (Who I should mention ALSO owns 2K Games, need I mention THEIR line of shitty sports games?). Remember it was Take-Two who tried to issue that Cease & Desist to Open IV all those years ago (Which didn't stick btw) because we all know they were doing it to try to get more people away from SP modding & into GTA online purely to spend money on Shark Cards. Take-Two is just that fucking greedy & R* is just following their orders

[@BigBoyz33]

Man I miss rooftop rumble. Down the drain was so much fun too. Good ol days

[@DesertCamoGaming]

If you scaled the occasional crashing script on a massive scale (i.e GTA Online) you could force players to have to go to LS Customs more often which means more players are losing their money supply and inevitably it might create more Shark Card sales

[@DesertCamoGaming]

I also grinded Rooftop Rumble so much in the beginning

[@firehedgehog1446]

I don't blame R* though, I blame their owner; Take-Two interactive (Who I should mention also owns 2K games which explains a lot) They're the ones who tried (& failed) to issue a C&D on OpenIV, the GTAV mod loader. And we all know they did it so that players would stop modding single player so they can go spend money in GTA Online, Take-Two can pretend otherwise all they want

[@aminopatron76]

if u are rockstar, how can u fix it ? we need a video

[@scottieplaysgta3579]

Awesome topic, and awesome coverage of a game I've been playing for a decade, and keep learning new shit about. I love it. This explains so much of the "randomness" I've experienced in my embarrassing amount of hours playing this game.

[@LoLacCro]

How much did Rockstar pay you for this one...

[@Mohamed58290]

They put all this work just in the traffic that i barely care about being realistic

[@cryban7011]

Just ask DarkViperAU and btw this rather happens in single player wich makes sense to me, bc Rockstar could deactivate this "feature" in online.

[@papachefe]

darkviper is a buffoon