There are four sets of Race Tournaments in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: three involving road vehicles and one involving aircraft.
Description[]
Each race follows a different course. The main goal is to pass through a succession of markers, and passing a marker will automatically unlock the next one. In order to successfully complete a race, Carl must finish in first place. Each first-place finish carries a reward of $10,000. Finishing all races in first place gives the player an additional $1,000,000; doing so is also necessary for achieving 100% completion. The air races are an exception as they are considered "won" as long as the player simply completes the set course - there are no competitors or time limit. The races can be completed in any order and at any point once they are unlocked. There is no entry fee (unlike the Turismo race missions in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories).
All race tournaments are marked with a flag icon on the map. The Los Santos Race Tournaments can be found in Little Mexico. The San Fierro Race Tournaments can be found behind Wang Cars in Doherty/Downtown (just north of the Doherty garage save point). The Las Venturas Races can be found at the LVA Freight Depot. The checkpoint air races, meanwhile, can be accessed at the Las Venturas Airport, just inside the main access gate. The Race Tournaments are unlocked after the completion of Verdant Meadows (Deconstruction in the mobile version and The Definitive Edition), but only when Driving School has also been completed.
When Carl enters the marker for a tournament, a selection of races are shown, with maps indicating length and location. Choosing a race automatically transports Carl to the starting line (which may be a considerable distance from the marker), and places him inside a vehicle (usually a different one each race, with a mix of cars and motorcycles for the road races). The selection screen also indicates best time and position for the race after the first attempt. There is no limit to the number of times of activation.
The road races place car in the "back of the pack" and most of the races offer a variety of hazards ranging from collisions with obstacles like poles, to driving off cliffs and into rivers. If the vehicle the player is driving is destroyed, or Carl intentionally destroys an opponent's vehicle, Carl is disqualified from that attempt at the race. If Carl exits his vehicle, he has 25 seconds to re-enter it, or the race will fail. The quickest way to abort a race and start over is to destroy the vehicle, but Carl must not be inside when this happens, otherwise he'll be wasted.
Regardless where the race begins or ends, the player will be transported back to the original starting location after completing or quitting a race. However, Carl will spawn in front of a hospital (or Katie Zhan's house if the player is dating her) if the player dies in a race. It is also possible to obtain wanted level during a race, and it's possible to be busted or even wasted by police during the course of a race. The most frequent cause of obtaining a wanted level is colliding with a police vehicle during the race or running over a pedestrian within sight of one, though using firearms or explosives to destroy a vehicle will also trigger it (though doing so will result in race disqualification).
Note: three races offered from Los Santos are identical to ones undertaken during various missions. When the race tournaments are unlocked the player is given credit for these races and does not need to do them again; they're made available in order to allow the player to better his time, but this has no bearing on the overall completion of the tournaments. The major difference between the replay races and the original missions is Carl is assigned a vehicle and cannot bring his own as he did originally.
Any vehicle brought to the race trigger point will disappear after the races, so it's advised, as with most other missions, not to bring a prized vehicle to the site.
Street Races[]
Los Santos Race Tournaments[]
| Race name | Given vehicle | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lowrider Race | Blade | Race is featured in High Stakes, Low-Rider |
| Little Loop | NRG-500 | |
| Backroad Wanderer | FCR-900 | |
| City Circuit | FCR-900 | |
| Vinewood | Sunrise | |
| Freeway | Super GT | |
| Into the Country | Bullet | |
| Badlands A | Sabre | Race is featured in Wu Zi Mu |
| Badlands B | ZR-350 | Race is featured in Farewell, My Love... |
San Fierro Race Tournaments[]
| Race name | Given vehicle |
|---|---|
| Dirtbike Danger | Sanchez |
| Bandito County | Bandito |
| Go-Go Karting | Kart |
| San Fierro Fastlane | Alpha |
| San Fierro Hills | Phoenix |
| Country Endurance | Bullet |
Las Venturas Freight Depot Race Tournaments[]
| Race name | Given vehicle |
|---|---|
| SF to LV | Banshee |
| Dam Rider | NRG-500 |
| Desert Tricks | FCR-900 |
| LV Ringroad | Turismo |
Video[]
Air Races[]
Las Venturas Airport Checkpoint Races[]
- Note: these races differ from the others in that Carl is not pitted against any opponents, although obstacles like trees and buildings can make them tricky.
| Race name | Given aircraft |
|---|---|
| World War Ace | Rustler |
| Barnstorming | Stunt Plane |
| Military Service | Hydra |
| Chopper Checkpoint | Maverick |
| Whirly Bird Waypoint | News Chopper |
| Heli Hell | Hunter |
Video[]
Trivia[]
- To obtain any vehicle used in any race, simply drive the vehicle to a safehouse garage and park it there. Exit the vehicle and allow the timer to count down to zero. The race will be abandoned but the vehicle will be preserved in the garage. In theory this should also work for the aircraft, if flown to the Verdant Meadows safehouse and parked in the hanger garage.
- It has been noted that vehicles often behave differently in races than they do during regular driving, such as more violent reactions to hitting obstacles, greater tendency to flip, or less resistance to damage. So if a player is intimately familiar with, for example, the NRG-500 bike, he should be prepared for the bike to handle differently during the Little Loop race, such as the added tendency to do wheelies when accelerating. Having a high skill in riding motorcycles will minimize the chances of Carl being thrown should he collide with something during a race.
- It is dangerous to "rest on one's laurels" should other competitor vehicles be seen to overturn or go off cliffs. Either through glitch or design, these vehicles will usually respawn. So a race with 6 cars in it will always have 6 cars in it and the player cannot win by default by the other cars being destroyed or rendered inoperable in some way.
- In Dirtbike Danger, there's an NPC sharing the model with Michelle Cannes.
- The map used to search for races is a beta map, but looks closer to the final. Several differences can be spotted.
- If the player recruits a gang member before entering a race, the gang member will spawn at the starting point and attempt to enter the player's vehicle.