Cabbie

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[edit] Grand Theft Auto III era Cabbie

Cabbie (GTA III era)
Cabbie in Vice City, circa 1986.
Located	Grand Theft Auto III Rendition Vice City San Andreas
Purpose	Takes protagonist to mission starter.

In the Grand Theft Auto III era game series, cabbies can be seen everywhere. They are located in San Andreas, Liberty City and Vice City. On the street, cabbies are very similar to other cars, until the protagonist carjacks or steals one. He can start the taxi side-mission for money and a reward for delivering a specific amount of passengers. The side-mission is similar to The Simpsons Road Rage and Crazy Taxi. The player must drive around in the taxi collecting passengers and needing to deliver them and collect another passenger in a time limit, which extends the more quickly the passengers are dropped off. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Tommy Vercetti can optionally buy Kaufman Cabs and complete asset missions for the company, mainly focusing on Tommy singlehandedly taking out a rival cab company.
Unlike sequel Grand Theft Auto IV, the cabbies cannot be used for quick access to all open areas on the map. They can only be used from the hospital or police station to go straight back to the mission starter.
In most of the GTA III era games, stealing a cabbie can give the protagonist a very minor money boost, usually $12.

[edit] Grand Theft Auto IV era Cabbie

Cabbie (GTA IV era)
A Grand Theft Auto IV era cab being hit by another car.
Location	Liberty City
Games	Grand Theft Auto IV Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Purpose	To transport protagonist to any location player wishes.

The Grand Theft Auto IV era cabbies are very different to the GTA III era counterparts. Now, the player and protagonist can be transported to anywhere in Liberty City they want and the role of quickly restarting a mission has been given to the mobile phone. The player can set a waypoint anywhere on the map of Liberty City and when he enters a taxi, the player can choose to 'warp' to the location, or as close as possible. During a mission, the player can choose to go to the destination by car or to catch a taxi. If there is another person that follows the protagonist around, he or she will follow the protagonist into the taxi, a feature not seen in the GTA III era games.
A feature added in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is that using the microphone, the player can whistle for a nearby taxi or cabbie.