Reversing Vehicles is a relatively common glitch present throughout San Andreas and occurs when a vehicle mistakenly spawns facing the wrong way on the road for its respective lane but still travels with the flow of traffic by reversing. Within seconds of spawning, the car will attempt a J-turn to correct its route and face the right direction. While this is the most directly observable result of the glitch, there is a range of other secondary symptoms that are rarely noticed.
If the glitch is present, it is most easily observed on the Julius Thruway, particularly Julius Freeway North on the shoulder of the freeway just southwest of the train bridge crossing the freeway in north-east Las Venturas. Another notable location is the highway intersection south-west of Hunter Quarry. Some players report having seen it during the mission Toreno's Last Flight.
Cause
The glitch was initially believed to be some kind of AI pathing discretion error, however, it has since been discovered by OrionSR and pdescobar of GTAForums, to be directly related to the game's Global Timer, with the glitch only appearing on saves with particularly high playtime.[1] The sample size of saves examined by both OrionSR and pdescobar has not been adequate to pinpoint an accurate amount of playtime required to cause the glitch. Two saves with approximately 150 hours on each were observed with the glitch firmly present, while another with over 200 hours exhibited the glitch severely. Another save with just 18 hours playtime was also thought to have been in the very early stages of the glitch.
It has been noted that the glitch is not instantaneously triggered and gradually worsens over time. It is also notably more common on PC versions and appears to happen more frequently when the frame limiter is disabled.
Other Symptoms
- Traffic may appear to jitter when driving. This is more apparent when vehicles are driving quickly, but is subtle nonetheless.
- Cars will disappear and jump a short distance, sometimes right over overpasses and other vehicles, often appearing backward.
- Certain vehicles are more affected than others, for example, police cars and motorcycles have never been observed jumping while Perennials and Taxis are observed jumping frequently.
- Cars that reappear occasionally merge with other vehicles and the front of the jumping vehicle is embedded in the rear of another.
- Traffic jams are more common when this glitch is active but may not be obvious without the analysis of other symptoms.
Solution
The glitch can be successfully rectified by changing a save game file's Global Timer to a low value and making adjustments to other variables dependent on the timer. The glitch has not yet been rectified by Rockstar with the release of the v1.01 or v2.00 patches, the v3.00 steam release or the mobile ports of the game. It is unknown whether the glitch has been rectified with the Definitive Edition versions of the game.
Pdescobar of gtaforums had completed work on a beta version of a patch to rectify the glitch. However, it has since been removed and is no longer available. It is unknown whether OrionSR or pdescobar have produced any additional patches.
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