Why can’t Tommy Vercetti swim in GTA Vice City?

One of the most prominent frustrations players have with GTA Vice City is that Tommy Vercetti can't swim.

Vice City is a beautiful town based off of Miami, Florida. Not being able to swim there is mind-boggling for some players. Having said that, there are reasons why Tommy Vercetti can't swim, although they're not the most satisfying to hear.

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Why can't Tommy Vercetti swim in GTA Vice City?

Tommy Vercetti sadly can't swim (Image via Tumblr)

The GTA Vice City instruction manual contains some text regarding swimming:

"Shark attacks off Vice City happen a few times a year and there are more sharks out there than you would like to think - Best advice: Stay out of the water!"

Surprisingly, there are sharks in GTA Vice City. However, these animals are simply props that roam the ocean. Like turtles and other fish, Tommy Vercetti cannot interact with sharks in any capacity. This statement means that they cannot hurt him.

Hence, it's not the most reliable answer as to why he can't swim. GTA 3's manual claims that the water is toxic, which is a better excuse, yet that's not the true reason.

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Rockstar didn't see the need to program swimming

Tommy Vercetti wasn't programmed to swim in GTA Vice City (Image via AngryCappe)

GTA Vice City is a video game. Developers at Rockstar programmed all of its nuances and features. Rather than incorporating swimming, somebody decided that it would be easier to program characters drowning.

There are fewer animations involved in this method. Not to mention, Rockstar wouldn't have to bother with adding more content in the water to incentivize swimming. Swimming for the sake of it wasn't enough of a reason to incorporate it.

Compare that to a game like GTA Vice City Stories. It takes place in the same setting, but two years prior to the events of GTA Vice City. Those two years didn't change anything significant in the water from a lore perspective. The main difference was that GTA Vice City Stories came out after GTA San Andreas.

It was far easier to reuse some old code and modify it for that game than it would've been to start anew for GTA Vice City.

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Mods for swimming

Naturally, some players still wish to swim in GTA Vice City. Fortunately, mods make that possible. The GTA series is notoriously popular when it comes to mods, and that includes even the less mainstream games like GTA Vice City.

There is no cheat code for swimming in Vice City, so mods are the only way to get Tommy Vercetti to swim.

Players can download this swimming mod by clicking here.