Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Feature Explained Nearly 20 Years Later

Even as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas approaches its 20th birthday later this year, it's apparently not too late for new details about the game mechanics to come forward. Thanks to former Rockstar Games developer Obbe Vermeij taking to X to address a bug contributing to the game's infamous plane crashes that was pointed out by a modder for the game, additional details behind how exactly the planes in the game work have also been revealed that provide a deeper explanation on the mechanics behind them. 

The Unintended Entertainment of Crashing Planes

If you've already played San Andreas then you're well aware of the glitch that sometimes causes small planes to crash, the very detail that has now been confirmed via X. Vermeij, who worked for Rockstar for over 10 years and departed in 2009, cited issues with the planes spawning and the code itself in a post that confirmed what players already knew and Rockstar has never formally addressed themselves. The post also has a lot of great replies featuring priceless moments this exact issue came into play, providing unintended entertainment. 

In the post Vermeij explains, "Before creating the plane, my code looks for obstacles in its path. It scans a number of lines in the forward direction of the plane. These scans are slow so I used the absolute minimum. (Just the body and wingtips I believe) This is why thin obstacles are sometimes not detected. In addition, the planes would sometimes loose some height, right after being created because their initial speed may not have generated enough lift. There was an additional problem when map models were not streamed in yet. Their collision would be loaded after the plane had already been created." 

Due to the chance of a doomed flight path, Vermeij had considered removing the fly-bys altogether, though they are still a feature in the game and still experience crashes in the remaster. As was later pointed out by modder Silent, there is also a bug in the code that causes the planes to "crash more than they should due to a bug in the collision detection as planes are spawned. This can result in a false positive where the planes spawn, thinking the path in front is clear – when in reality, it's not."

And players aren't the only ones learning of this bug, as Vermeij replied to Silent to state he didn't know it existed either. The pair continued to dive into the specifics of the bug, explaining that it exists because the planes are passing the incorrect x and y axis. While Vermeij also stated the bug was "Embarrassing...", the two seemed to agree that a subtle bug like this isn't difficult to miss. 

While the post not only offers an explanation for the crashes it also provides an interesting bit of information in the fact that the planes were coded to include simulated flight physics replicating those of a real plane. The remaster of San Andreas is available on modern platforms so you can still experience the random crashes for yourself in the game, including on mobile.