Special Ability

The Special Ability is a mechanic in the Grand Theft Auto series appearing in Grand Theft Auto V.

Each protagonist has his own unique special ability which is based on his own "specialty"; Michael has the ability to slow down time during shoot-outs, Franklin can slow down time while driving, and Trevor can enter a "rage" mode where he is able to deal double damage to enemies while making himself nearly invulnerable to all forms of damage. Each protagonist has a small yellow meter below the radar which indicates how much time the player has left before the special ability deactivates. While playing as any protagonist, the player can activate the special ability by pressing + on PS3/PS4/PS5, + on Xbox 360/Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S, or on PC. Each protagonist has his own way of refilling the meter.

Franklin Clinton[]

Franklin's ability, Driving Focus, allows him to slow down time while driving any land vehicle. This allows him to easily take corners at full speed and make precise maneuvers quickly. By enhancing this skill, its maximum storage capacity is increased, which directly affects its duration. Franklin's special ability begins at one third of maximum capacity, which lasts for 30 seconds of duration. As soon as the ability gets activated, the screen darkens and takes on a slight hue of green, during which the game world becomes very slow, and all of the lights on the screen become blurry and leave trails. Controls of the vehicle become smoother and allow Franklin to pass through narrow gaps between other cars to do dangerous turns and slides without losing control or speed of the vehicle and overall improve performance. This is reminiscent of the Zone ability in Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, which are also made by Rockstar Games, which allows the player to slow down time to weave through traffic. It is also reminiscent of the Speed Breaker ability in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Need for Speed: Carbon and Need for Speed: Undercover, albeit without the vehicle mass increase.

This ability only can be applied to ground motor vehicles like cars, motorcycles, and even to the Rhino tank. This is particularly useful if Franklin is attacking someone with the cannon. The special ability also applies to drive-by shootings.

Just driving around with Franklin can increase his special skill although minutely. The more extreme the circumstance the better chance of increased skill. The following events give an increase to Franklin's special skill in varying amounts:

• Drifting around corners adds a continuous bonus.
• Near vehicle misses at high speed: small bonus
• Driving on the wrong side of the street in traffic adds a continuous bonus.
• Driving at or above 90% of vehicle's top speed: continuous bonus

Lamar Davis is the only in-game character who acknowledges the existence of Special Ability, asking him to "use that special driving thing that he does" during Chop. According to him, Franklin looks funny while using it, "like watching Chop try to read while you do that shit," or "when you go all cross-eyed like you constipated or some shit."

Michael De Santa[]

Michael's Special ability is Area Kill. While active, Michael enters a bullet-time-like effect, allowing him to slow time and gain the advantage in shootouts. By enhancing this skill, its maximum storage capacity is increased, which directly affects its duration. Michael's Special skill lasts for 30 seconds when the Stat Bar for Special skill has been maxed out. Similar to other Rockstar titles such as John/Jack Marston's Dead Eye (Rank One) ability in the Red Dead Redemption series, the Bullet Time ability in the Max Payne series and the adrenaline pill power up from some 3D Universe games, this allows Michael to focus and plan his movements and aim while shooting. As the ability is activated, the screen acquires a blue tint and the action is slowed down, including Michael's movements and the weapon used.

This ability can only be activated when Michael is on foot and cannot be activated when he's in a vehicle (unless when switching to him and he's in his car giving money to Tracey or Jimmy; here, the ability can be activated, but once the ability is stopped or depleted, it can't be activated again).

Special combat maneuvers increase Michael's Special. The following events increase Michael's special skill in varying amounts:

• Headshot: 7.5% bonus
• Stealth kill or knock out: 10% bonus
• Health drop below 25%: 20% bonus
• Maintaining high speeds in vehicles: small bonus

Tracey De Santa indirectly mentions his special ability in Daddy's Little Girl, saying "My daddy never misses!", although this could simply be her overplaying Michael's aim.

Trevor Philips[]

Trevor's special skill is Red Mist, which allows him to take less damage and inflict more damage, making him nearly invincible. As the ability is activated, Trevor bursts into rage, damage taken is decreased and damage given is increased. Trevor will not die while the ability is activated, allowing him to survive lethal events such as explosions, heavy collisions, or being hit by trains or other locomotives. The screen turns orange and blood red, acquires both a ripple visual effect and a buzzing sound effect, time slows down slightly, but never as slow as Michael's or Franklin's ability. By enhancing this skill, its maximum storage capacity is increased, which directly affects its duration. Trevor's Special skill lasts for 30 seconds when the Stat Bar for Special skill has been maxed out. This special move is reminiscent of Tony Montana's Blind Rage in the game Scarface: The World is Yours, where the camera shifts from a third-person view to a first-person view, Tony becomes invincible, is given unlimited ammo, the ability to recover +200 health points with every kill, deals increased damage and auto-targets multiple enemies at once in a berserk rage. The similar ability is also in another Rockstar Games movie-based game, The Warriors. This game also has a similar rage mode where the playable characters become invincible, and their attacks doubled. The screen also becomes orange-shaded when activated. Another rage mode reminiscent to this special move is in the game The Punisher called Slaughter Mode, where Frank Castle becomes invincible, his melee attacks deal increased damage, is given unlimited throwing knives and his health bar slowly regenerates to full. This skill is also reminiscent of the Agro ability in Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and Midnight Club: Los Angeles, which are also made by Rockstar Games, which allows the player's car to become indestructible and inflict more damage towards traffic, racers, objects and even police vehicles.

He is able to resist serious to lethal damage like fire, explosions, cougar attacks and Rhino cannons. He also performs a special melee attack with up close enemies. Unfortunately, while he doesn't take as much damage, he's still susceptible to the reactions of these attacks (body flying during an explosion, cars can run over him, cougars taking him down etc.), sometimes rendering him defenseless if attacked constantly by grenades, rockets, animals, or vehicles. A modified version of Trevor's ability is featured in Rampages, but his special ability can still be activated, allowing even more advantage against the targets.

He only can perform his special ability while on foot.

When activated, Trevor will furiously shout random unique taunts and scream in a fit of rage when reactivated.

Things that make Trevor angry increase his special capacity. The following events increase his capacity in varying amounts:

• Failing a mission: small bonus
• Fall over: small bonus
• Take damage: small bonus
• Rammed by vehicle: small bonus
• Bumping into pedestrian: small bonus
• Headshot: 7.5% bonus
• Kill at least one pedestrian in explosion: 15% bonus
• Maintaining high speeds in vehicles: small bonus

Oversights[]

• If Franklin has maxed out his Special Ability level before participating in any race where he can utilize his Special Ability (Shift Work, Stock Car Racing), Franklin will lose almost two bars on his Special Ability level after a race is completed. This is just a minor inconvenience since it is easy to max out Franklin's Special Ability level through driving, and can even be replenished with a few races. However, once maxed out Franklin will again lose almost two bars on his Special Ability level after his next race and the quick level replenishing process will have to be repeated. This does not pertain to races where Franklin cannot use his Special Ability like Sea Races or Triathlon. (Tested on Xbox One)
  • Michael has a similar occasion to this bug, but the exact cause is unknown. It appears to occur when the player constantly and regularly uses his special ability. This more commonly occurs in older copies of the game, such as on PS3 consoles.

Trivia[]

• Michael's Area Kill ability does not affect the images on Television.
• If the player repeatedly activates and deactivates Franklin's ability, the speed of the vehicle he's driving will dramatically increase. This is useful for slow vehicles, like trucks.
• All three protagonists' special abilities involve slow motion, however for Michael and Franklin, their special abilities slow down time drastically, whereas for Trevor, his special ability slows down time slightly.
• In the Collector's and Special editions of Grand Theft Auto V, the abilities' regeneration periods are boosted by 25%.