What is a Grand Theft Auto city without its taxis?
From Vice City to Liberty City, taxis are a vital part of the visual identity of any self-respecting urban open world – and real-life cities are much the same.
Getting some taxis you really vibe with is a great way to improve your time spent roaming Los Santos. Taxis are ubiquitous, so you might as well like what you see.
That’s only scratching the surface of what’s possible with mods for Grand Theft Auto 5, so let’s stop wasting time and check out some fully-functioning taxi mods!
Around 2012, when Grand Theft Auto 5 was initially released, most of the taxi fleets in Los Angeles were made up primarily of Ford Crown Victoria cabs.
The Crown Victoria was famous among North Americans due to its prevalence as a police vehicle all around the USA. Many of those Police Interceptor cars became taxi cabs as the forces of law and order updated their fleets.
Importing these to Los Santos adds a degree of authenticity never-before-seen in Grand Theft Auto 5. The Crown Victoria should be your first stop in your quest for the best taxi cab.
Not all taxis around the world have a black-and-yellow color palette.
Some companies, like the Korean taxi app Kakao T, prefer a cleaner all-white cab. They add some stripes and minimal text to ensure you can tell it’s a cab.
This mod lets you replace the boring vanilla taxi with a comfortable Mercedes-Benz C-Class W205, complete with Kakao T’s typical livery.
I chose this for the ranking because of the fabulous car model and unique color palette. The little cartoon bear decal reminding people to wear a mask is mind-bogglingly cute, too.
It’s always nice when developers include little side activities like Taxi driving into their open-world games.
I could become an Über in real life, so why wouldn’t I be in GTA 5?
Still, the Taxi missions in the vanilla game are somewhat simplistic. If you want something that’ll make you feel like a real taxi driver, check out these Enhanced Taxi Missions.
This mod takes pick-up and drop-off locations from around 10 to over 950. There’s also a rating system evaluating your speed and efficiency!
If you run over too many grandmas, customers might get off and run away, so tone it down and try to drive like a normal person.
Another exciting add-on in a similar vein is the Crazy Taxi mod, which turns Rockstar’s sandbox open world into a surprisingly competent Crazy Taxi clone.
Once installed, you’ll see a yellow taxi blip on your map. Head to that location, pick the taxi you like the most, and the fun begins.
These missions are about getting your passengers to their final destination in as little time as possible. It helps if you don’t destroy your taxi in the process.
Thanks to the green arrow hovering over your vehicle during these challenges, it feels just like playing the original Crazy Taxi (1999). It’s a race down memory lane!
I have a lot of respect for people who try to make their games as realistic as possible.
Me? I prefer to make them fun.
That’s the logic behind replacing Los Santos’ regular old cabs with flashy second-generation Baller SUVs sporting the old-school black-and-yellow color scheme.
It may not be realistic – and larger cabs often mean higher prices – but I’ll be damned if you don’t look amazing pulling up in one of these yellow beasts.
What some people don’t realize is that the future is also self-driving.
Little by little, companies like Tesla will roll out safe and efficient self-driving cars that’ll do a better job getting you from point A to point B than any taxi driver.
Lisboa made the news when Tesla Model S taxis started roaming the streets of the Portuguese capital. They still have human drivers, but this is a taste of what’s coming.
With this Portuguese Tesla Model S Taxi, you can put Los Santos at the forefront of taxi innovation.
Instead of looking at the future of taxi driving, let’s take a moment to appreciate the past.
London is well-known for its iconic public transportation systems, including the famous red double-decker busses and the unforgettable “black cabs.”
The London Taxi mod replaces Los Santos’ regular taxi fleet with these black cabs from the London Electric Vehicle Company.
You read correctly. These classic-looking black cabs actually house electric engines. It’s the future, dressed as the past – and it’ll look amazing in your Grand Theft Auto 5.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
