Time for another GTA V post! Today, as you can see by the title, I will be talking about GTA V’s police chases. I’m sure most of you who own the game have come up against law enforcement in the game and they certainly can be very brutal at times. After all, this is a game about crime so you have to expect that the law will definitely come after you to try and stop your crime spree. Let’s start by talking about how you get the cops to start coming after you in the game.

Breaking The Law

You should be pretty familiar with the Grand Theft Auto franchise and since the game series is titled Grand Theft Auto, you should know that it is the biggest draw or way to commit crime in the game. You just go up to a vehicle, hope the person driving stops, and then with the press of a button you’ll open the door, drag the person out and drive off. Now you don’t necessarily have to drive off, you can just decide to kick and punch the victim and then steal their money that’s laying on the ground after they’re dead. Just know though that if there are a lot of people around, they will witness this, take pictures with their phones and some will call the police.

Now sometimes there will already be a police officer in the area of the attempted car jacking that you initiate and if that’s the case then you’ll automatically get a one star wanted level. Now the wanted level has always been a staple of the GTA series. It signifies the level of crime you’ve committed as well as the severity of the cops coming after you. Past GTA games have had six star wanted levels and you better pray you never reach the sixth level because that usually signifies the military has been sent in after you and it is very rare to survive their onslaught once that happens.

For this latest iteration of GTA, the wanted level is 5 stars instead of 6. Don’t think for a moment though that just because there is not 6 stars this time around that law enforcement won’t be as brutal. Trust me once you get to a 5 star wanted level, the FBI or I should say FIB (that’s what they’re called in the game) are just relentless. Better hope the private military contractor in the game known as Merryweather doesn’t get involved. Let’s move on now to see just how severe each wanted level is in the game.

1 Star

As I mentioned before, to get one star you usually have to be committing some kind of crime such as stealing a vehicle or killing someone and the cops being called or one in the area already. The mini map will flash red and blue signifying that the police are en-route or are already in the area and are looking for you. If you quickly leave the area of the crime you committed, it is pretty easy to hide from them at this wanted level and after a short bit, the 1 star wanted level will go away.

The police will usually tell you to stop running or shout other things at you. They won’t always have their weapons drawn at this point, but if you do keep running from them or decide that a different course of action seems better, lets say drawing out your own weapons to use against the cops, that’s when things will quickly escalate.

2 Stars

So you’ve decided that you don’t want to always run and you want to take on the cops. You draw your weapon or decide to fist fight one or take out another pedestrian in their presence, get ready for a 2 star wanted level and believe me they will have their weapons drawn and ready to use. More cops will be called to the area or will start searching for you and if they see you, they will fire upon you. You still have a fair amount of a chance to get away from them at this wanted level, but it does get a bit harder.

If you happen to be in a vehicle and decide to drive away as fast you can, they will pursue you and try to keep up with you. They sometimes will bump your vehicle as well, but they will not have any roadblocks at this point. If you happen to pull away from them, you can try and find an alleyway to park your vehicle and hide in the hopes that they will go past you and your 2 star wanted level goes away. Again, not too terribly difficult to get rid of the wanted level at this point, but you will have to put more effort into it. Still feeling brave and want to take on the cops? If you start shooting at them and happen to kill one of them or blow up one of their vehicles, get ready for your wanted level to go up.

3 Stars

You’ve now got a 3 star wanted level on you. This is where things start getting intense. The amount of police coming after you increases quite a bit as well as the weapons they use. They will start using more aggressive tactics if you try getting away from them in a vehicle such as ramming your car more and some roadblocks will be setup and police helicopters are called in to search for you. If the cops see you they will definitely not hesitate to shoot at you and by this point, some of the cops are using shotguns. You better have stronger firepower at this point as well as some armor if you want to survive the onslaught of cops at this stage.

A quick way to get a 3 star wanted level quickly is to really start aggressively killing pedestrians as well as blowing things up such as vehicles and what not, robbing stores, etc. You’ll definitely start becoming a marked man by the police at this point. It really does get a lot harder to get rid of the wanted level at this point and you’ll really need to know some very good hiding spots in order to hide from the very aggressive police so you can wait for your wanted level to disappear.

The police chases on the streets and highways of Los Santos can start to get pretty intense. It’s not uncommon to have 3 or 4 cop cars on your tail with others coming in from in front of you. They’ll also other cop cars used as roadblocks in the distance to try to stop you or slow you down. The police helicopters will be flying above you keeping an eye on your location and calling back what directions your taking and where you are headed. Still feel like taking them on, but with even more powerful weapons? Take out a few cops or a couple of police choppers with a rocket launcher and watch your wanted level go up after that!

4 Stars

You’re a major threat now and law enforcement will do ANYTHING at this point to take you out. They really don’t care whether you’re dead or alive and honestly felt about the same way at the 3 star wanted level. Swat has now been called out after you, police in the helicopters will now begin shooting at you as well not just flying above you making sure they don’t lose you. More roadblocks are setup, the cops will get even more aggressive if you’re running from them in a car will do whatever takes to get you off the road. They will SWARM in by the dozens after you, using assault rifles especially when swat is after you. It becomes VERY hard to find a place to hide at this point to get rid of the wanted level.

Sometimes if you’re driving and trying to get away from them and you drive to certain areas, some pedestrians, usually groups or gangs will even start coming after you or shooting at you. Trying to survive becomes very difficult at this point. It’s best to try and get out of the city and head for the hills or mountains and try to hide out there if you can even make it that far. Let’s say to that if you get away from the cop cars, but the helicopters are still on you and for some reason you’re in a stationary spot, the choppers will lower, ropes will come down from helicopters and police will come sliding down the ropes with their weapons to get you.

Still think you can take them on and survive at this point? I’m sure you have some heavy weaponry at this point and the strongest armor you can get to survive and put up a fight. Let’s say you take out a good number of police helicopters, scores of police and swat, destruction of lots cop cars and anyone else who gets in your way. Get ready for the 5th and final star of the 5 star wanted system.

5 Stars

You’ve reached 5 stars. You’re a complete threat to society. It is time to call in the heavy hitters. The FIB arrives and will not hold back. You are to be completely taken out. No negotiation, no talk, no compromise. You cannot be allowed to exist any longer. ALL law enforcement is relentless at this time. You’d better have some help if you want to survive at this level. Swarms of law enforcement vehicles come after you and they will slam into you relentlessly. They don’t even care if any civilians are hurt at this point, they just know you have to be taken out at all costs. Good luck surviving at this stage and having any hopes of getting rid of the 5 star wanted level. Actually it can be done at this level, but you can forget about hiding at any place above ground because they will find you.

The FIB have armor and assault rifles as well. Their vehicles also have armor and they will shoot at you non stop! The FIB, Swat, and police will all come after you now. Any armor you have on you at this point will be gone through like butter melting. The FIB, Swat, and regular police will all be coming after you at this point and if you happen to be on the road when they come, look out! Swarms of law enforcement vehicles will be constantly coming at you, from behind and in front of you. There will be all kinds of roadblocks out there with law enforcement teams at the ready to shoot upon you with heavy weaponry should you come their way.

While it is seemingly impossible to survive such an onslaught, it has been known to happen before. You certainly can forget about hiding in any alleyways or what not in the city of Los Santos because they WILL find you! Your best bet is to get out of the city and head for the country side in Blaine County if you’re lucky to survive that long. You’ll want to hide in the hills or the mountains. I once had all 5 stars and was in Blaine County trying to get away from them. It was then that I decided to use the invincibility cheat (I know, I’m bad), but it only lasts for 5 minutes at a time. I put in the code, jumped out of my vehicle and into a large lake and I went swimming as fast and as far deep as the game would allow me.

Now I could’ve easily put in another code to remove the wanted level, but that would be too easy and take the fun out of it. It is funny though that I went to the bottom of the lake and hid there with that invincibility code on. They saw me jump in, but they couldn’t find me and eventually the 5 star wanted level went away.

There was another time I got to 5 stars and I was driving around on the Los Santos freeways. I was being chased so heavily and my fast vehicle was getting hammered relentlessly with bullets. I blew both my front tires, but managed to get to the downtown area and along side a wall on the freeway, there’s an opening which you can go into and it goes deep under the streets of Los Santos. I made it there and immediately drove my vehicle into the opening. If that wasn’t there, I would’ve been dead. I was able to drive around down there in the sewers and subway system underground until the 5 star level went away.

The End

Well there you have it folks. The different wanted levels and severity of them should you happen to be chased by the cops in the game. I can tell you that on the online multiplayer part of the game, it can get even tougher if you’re being chased by the cops as you also have to deal with other players online that might come after to try and take you out themselves. If you happen to have a bounty on you as well, look out! If you haven’t already, check out my full review of the game here. I can tell you without a doubt, GTA V is probably among the most popular games out there today. There are MILLIONS of players that play the game online weekly. You need to get this game if you’re a fan of open world games and haven’t played this game yet. Check out the video below where I get into a police chase at the 3 star wanted level. As always, check back here for more updates!