Sometimes in Liberty City you just don’t have time to waste.  The parked car theft animation that Niko performs is sometimes just too slow, and costly when your are being attacked.  Nothing is more painful to watch then when Niko is elbowing out a car window while the Cops take your life total from full to half.  You can counter this problem if your fast using this technique.

Use Free-look by holding L2 lightly, and shoot out the window of the parked car that you wish to steal.  Instead of performing the long “look around and elbow” animation, Niko will simply open the door and proceed on to hotwire the car.

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If you are in any vehicle that has a siren (eg: a police cruiser, ambulance, etc) you can activate these sirens or shut them off by pressing the L3 button down.  If you hold the L3 button down in a police cruiser you will get a different sounding siren.

Emergency sirens will cause all vehicles in your path to move out of your way by pulling over to the right.  If you pass through a toll booth with the sirens on, you will not gain a warrant level and will not have to stop to pay the 5$ fee.

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Everybody loves wheelies!  Niko can perform a wheelie on any motorcycle or scooter.  To do a wheelie simply hold down the accelerator button (R2) and hold the left analog stick backwards.  If you do not have enough speed while tilting too far back on the analog stick, it is possible to flip over backwards and crash the bike.

The more speed the bike has, the easier it is to maintain a full wheelie.  Use the wheelie to drive around Liberty City in style!

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If you steal an ambulance in GTA IV, you will recieve a full health boost for free upon entering it. Why pay $800for a health boost from the paramedics – when you can just steal their ambulance and get it for free?

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Grenades are a handy tool to have when you need to clear out a room full of enemies, destroying parked vehicles or causing general mayhem.  To prime a grenade hold down the R2 button, then release to throw.  Remeber, you have roughly 4-5 seconds to throw the grenade when primed or else it goes off in Niko’s hand…

Here are several ways of using the grenade:

#1 Lock-on Throw: Hold the L2 button to target an enemy to throw the grenade at.  Press/hold R2 to throw.

#2 The Free Look Throw: Exactly like free-look aim, hold the L2 button down lightly and aim the throw using the right analog stick.

#3 Blind-Fire Throw: While behind any type of cover, hold the L2 button lightly to use free-look mode, aim where you want the grenade to go, then throw the grenade.  Niko will automatically throw the grenade over, and around whatever object you are using as cover.

And yes, you can toss grenades into open car windows…

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Throughout GTA IV you will encounter many, many enemies. The key to passing missions that throw ridiculous amounts of enemies at you is: the head shot. Combining good cover, and the head shot can allow you to take on many enemies at once, without taking too much damage.

To get a headshot, simply use auto-aim by holding the L2 button and target an enemy. Use the Left analog stick to aim up to the target’s head and fire a burst of 3-4 rounds. The benefit of headshots is that not only are you dispatching enemies quickly and efficiently, but you are also conserving ammo.

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There are 3 types of weapons that you can use while operating a vehicle. The pistol, a sub machine gun and the Molotov/grenade can all be selected while driving in GTA IV. To fire a gun inside a car simply hold R1 and aim the firing reticule using the right analog.

Cars with their windows up will cause Niko to first smash them out with his fist if you press L1. A good habit to get into is breaking out the glass beforehand if you know that you are going to use a gun or grenade soon.

To change weapons while in a vehicle, press square. You do not need to reload a weapon while in a car, it is done automatically for you.

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Shooting out the tires of a vehicle can be very advantageous strategy whilst trying to survive in Liberty City.  Destroying a car’s tires severely hampers the vehicle’s handling abilities, often causing the vehicle to spin out or crash.

Once a car’s tires are flat, it is only a matter of time before the fall off completely and the car is running on its rims alone.  This helps a lot when on a mission that requires you to kill off someone before they reach a destination.  If you can shoot out their tires while driving, you will have a much easier time catching up to them and finishing the job.

The same technique can be used against you though, as enemies can shoot out your tires too and make escape that much more difficult.

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Diving from a vehicle is a handy tool should you ever inconveniently realize that your car is on fire, with 4 cops chasing you. Turn it into a rolling bomb by gaining speed and pressing triangle. Be warned however as the faster the vehicle is traveling, the more likely it is that Niko will take damage when he bails out.

Once Niko has dove out of a vehicle he will be “injured” on the ground.  If you press X repeatedly you can get Niko up faster  – a handy technique to know if you’ve got 20 cops about to surround you…

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To perform a stoppie, you must first acquire a motorcycle, or a scooter (scooter stoppies!)

Gain some speed on the motorcycle/scooter and then hold down the brake (L2) button while holding the left analog stick forward.  The end result will lift the back end of the bike into the air, while you slide or stop on the front tire.

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