Am I the only one who thinks R* should redesign the Hydra?

[Sentinel Actual]

Let me start off by saying, I'm a fan of VTOL aircraft, whatever they may look like. Being able to land like a helicopter and fly like a plane is a dream. The Hydra in GTA: SA was my favorite vehicle; a blend of a helicopter and an airplane, able to land almost anywhere. It's Harrier-esque design with an F-16 underside was beautiful and unique. I was excited to try it in GTA V with its updated physics engine and graphics. It was unfortunate that only the F-16/F-35/EF-2000 hybrid P-996 Lazer was the only jet aircraft in the game; its wonky handling and annoying nose-heaviness were tough to get over.

 

Then R* released the Hydra for the Heists Update in Online. I was enamored, and had a ton of fun flying it in its set up mission. $3,000,000 was a steep price, but for VTOL capabilities, it was worth it. It was a gorgeous plane from the front, having elements of the F-35 in its nose and a Harrier in its fuselage and SCARF side thrusters.

 

Then we got to the rear, and thats where the beauty ended. I flew mostly in first-person, very rarely in third. It dawned on me then, but I didn't frequent these forums when the Heists Update came out. The back of the Hydra is HIDEOUS. It took a while to get to me, but it looks awful.

 

 

 

Its just all kinds of awful; aeronautically, it makes zero sense to have a set up like that. It adds weight, and both the nozzles and engine supply rear thrust, which logically should make it faster than the Lazer, but it isn't. The fact that the Hydra has difficulty slowing from flight into VTOL mode may be because of that stupid fixed engine still supplying rearward thrust, "pushing" the aircraft along. No modern or previous VTOL aircraft has ever had such an awkward setup; the Harrier had all of the thrust (forward and hover) come through the side nozzles that the Hydra has, the F-35's engine swivels downwards, other VTOL aircraft have swiveling engines, etc. I don't know why R* thought this was a good idea. I don't know if engine limitations prevented them from making a true F-35 esque plane, with a swiveling engine and lift fan setup. Or they just smashed the Lazer, an F-35 and a Hydra into a blender. And why must it have a V-tail? The Lazer has a V-tail, and that looks cool. Here, its a little off. Aesthetically, the back looks chunky and weird.

Before I get flamed, told "its just a game", "don't fly it then" etc I'm aware its meant to be a fictional mish-mash of several planes, but the other planes in the game look good and make sense, the Hydra is fun to fly, but I just wish it looked a little...better and flew a little better.

 

In additional, for some baffling reason, R* gave it the same flight characteristics as the Lazer (wobbly flight, unresponsiveness if not under throttle, nose-heaviness) which makes no sense (its slightly bigger, so it should be more stable) and didn't give it any airbrakes.

 

Am I the only one on this? Should the Hydra get a redesign in the future? Something that makes it look more like a realistic VTOL fighter craft?

Edited July 11, 2015 by Sentinel Actual

[GTAFanClub]

Yes

[SkylineGTRFreak]

Hydra is faster than Lazer, but the acceleration is worse.

 

Also, yea, the engine setup is kinda strange, but imo the plane still looks somewhat realistic. It's okay

[SteelBeams]

They need to work out the hover/jet transition, i understand that doing so at odd angles will cause a bad stallout, but the parameters are so f*cking wonky. I literally just failed an entire mission, last guy alive, because my hydra stalled out going from hover to jet mode and i wasnt even at an insane angle, just the normal amount of nose up required for the transition. They also need to make the ejection a lot faster, i cant count how many times ive ejected too slow despite mashing the triangle button at the first sign of a death stall, smacking the ground at a million miles an hour. I know its just the hydra because ive never had that problem with the lazer...

 

Its a good aircraft otherwise, takes a bit of learning to fly it proficiently, but those damn stall outs...makes me wanna go back to my trusty buzzard lol

[Sentinel Actual]

Hydra is faster than Lazer, but the acceleration is worse.

 

Also, yea, the engine setup is kinda strange, but imo the plane still looks somewhat realistic. It's okay

 

Doesn't feel faster, interior speedo tops out at 140 knots, same as the Lazer.

 

Also, when I played SA on the PC, your mods were always fantastic. All of my planes in game were replaced with your models. Thanks for making such detailed and fantastic aircraft!

They need to work out the hover/jet transition, i understand that doing so at odd angles will cause a bad stallout, but the parameters are so f*cking wonky. I literally just failed an entire mission, last guy alive, because my hydra stalled out going from hover to jet mode and i wasnt even at an insane angle, just the normal amount of nose up required for the transition. They also need to make the ejection a lot faster, i cant count how many times ive ejected too slow despite mashing the triangle button at the first sign of a death stall, smacking the ground at a million miles an hour. I know its just the hydra because ive never had that problem with the lazer...

 

Its a good aircraft otherwise, takes a bit of learning to fly it proficiently, but those damn stall outs...makes me wanna go back to my trusty buzzard lol

 

It for some reason requires careful throttle modulation at low altitudes (like around street level), the engine cuts out and the plane plummets to the ground. Its annoying.

[The Lone Wanderer]

the thrust control should be analogue

that is all

[Arrows to Athens]

 

Hydra is faster than Lazer, but the acceleration is worse.

 

Also, yea, the engine setup is kinda strange, but imo the plane still looks somewhat realistic. It's okay

 

Doesn't feel faster

 

 

 

Ahhh well you see there's your problem. Everyone has that placebo effect from time to time. You can't just base something off of just 'feel'. When I played that Hydra heist the Hydra literally overtook me and pulled away from my lazer. It's faster but has poorer acceleration. The speedometer isn't accurate at all in this game just like the in-game stats aren't accurate either.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Fearx--

[Based God Cali]

Idk I think it's fine the way it is imo. But whatever floats your boat

[Robaldinio]

OP, you probably know more about this than the dude who designed the Hydra.

[universetwisters]

And many people will complain ROCKSTAR REDESIGNED THE HYDRA I LIKED THE ORIGINAL

[Sentinel Actual]

the thrust control should be analogue

that is all

 

No, that eliminates camera control, I liked the Right on the D-Pad as it is now.

[Setzaroth]

I came here thinking I would disagree but you actually brought up some things I never thought about.

 

I agree because of the design, the hover mode is pretty much useless. also the horrible camera angle while using it.

And many people will complain ROCKSTAR REDESIGNED THE HYDRA I LIKED THE ORIGINAL

 

People who don't know what they're talking about

[Sentinel Actual]

OP, you probably know more about this than the dude who designed the Hydra.

 

Whoever designed the Hydra for GTA V didn't really understand aeronautical principles. Having an engine supplying rearward thrust, in addition to nozzles that supply rearward thrust at the same time will just up the fuel consumption, and make the jet harder to land in VTOL, as it'll keep overshooting its landing spot.

[Sentinel Actual]

I do a lot of flying, oftentimes I'll hop on Online just to fly the Hydra, and get a feel for its flight characteristics. Its almost a carbon copy of the Lazer in flight characteristics. Its quite nose-heavy if not under throttle, and doesn't glide well. In fact, it doesn't glide at all, it just plummets like a stone if the engine cuts out. In addition, if the engine is shut off, and it transitions into hover mode, the engine won't switch on no matter what.

 

Also, while the cannon being on the underside like an F-35 is cool, damn does it make it hard to aim. The plane has a tendency to "jerk" if the stick is pulled, which throws off my aim.

[TheTigOlBitties]

The Hydra is fine. It's just about every other aircraft that needs buffing. Counter-measures like chaffe are needed for choppers so that they aren't sitting ducks for jets. Hydras and Lazers should not be able to lock onto small planes at all. Pilots of unarmed aircraft should be given parachutes upon entering aircraft and an award for evading missiles and/or jumping out of plane right before missile hit. BALANCE IT, R*.

Edited July 11, 2015 by TheTigOlBitties

[Sentinel Actual]

The Hydra is fine. It's just about every other aircraft that needs buffing. Counter-measures like chaffe are needed for choppers so that they aren't sitting ducks for jets. Hydras and Lazers should not be able to lock onto small planes at all. Pilots of unarmed aircraft should be given parachutes upon entering aircraft and an award for evading missiles and/or jumping out of plane right before missile hit. BALANCE IT, R*.

 

Its not a buff I'm suggesting, its a redesign of how it looks. Its not a very pretty or logically designed aircraft, at least from the rear. Also, every time I enter an aircraft, I get a parachute. I think its level specific.

[BlackMilk]

The Hydra is fine. It's just about every other aircraft that needs buffing. Counter-measures like chaffe are needed for choppers so that they aren't sitting ducks for jets. Hydras and Lazers should not be able to lock onto small planes at all. Pilots of unarmed aircraft should be given parachutes upon entering aircraft and an award for evading missiles and/or jumping out of plane right before missile hit. BALANCE IT, R*.

Respectfully, did you read the thread? He wasn't talking about combat so much as performance and manouverability.

[TheTigOlBitties]

I did read it and understand his point. I'm just referring to priorities when it comes to changes to aircraft in free-roam.

[Captain Sensib1e]

INB4 "this isn't Microsoft Flight Simulator!!!!"

[Sentinel Actual]

Oh, I'm not expecting R* to do a redesign, if they do, my hope is for future games, like GTA VI and so on.

[BlackMilk]

I did read it and understand his point. I'm just referring to priorities when it comes to changes to aircraft in free-roam.

Alright then. Just seemed rather off-topic to me, which is why I asked. For the record, I agree with what you said. I like flying jets, but I'm not a good PvP pilot and I've disliked jet griefers since the early days. Over time I became a little more accepting of them, but there should always be some ways for other players to defend themselves or at least escape with their lives. It's silly that a single decent jet pilot can "own" a whole public session on his/her own.

 

Flying a chopper is dangerous, flying anything without weapons on it is suicide.

[Semaj 2JZ♢]

They had to keep in check with it's supposed 40-year old tech. In '75 there were no rear thrust vectoring capabilities.

 

It wouldn't make sense to try to modernize an aircraft that is supposed to be 40 years old in it's design. Imo, anyway.

[Sentinel Actual]

They had to keep in check with it's supposed 40-year old tech. In '75 there were no rear thrust vectoring capabilities.

 

It wouldn't make sense to try to modernize an aircraft that is supposed to be 40 years old in it's design. Imo, anyway.

 

The Harrier was designed in 1969, thrust vectoring nozzles and whatnot. The tech was there, the thrust could be vectored in order to VTOL. It wasn't great or as advanced as later iterations that could have the engine swivel. The Hydra depicted in game is a modernized variant, it has a modern HUD with helmet display inclinometer, and a side mounted control stick like in an F-16.

 

My idea is that when R* were designing the Hydra for GTA V, they initially were going to have it be an F-35 style VTOL system; engine swivels, the lift fan in front opens up, boom its in hover mode. But they ran into some hiccups (maybe the game engine wouldnt allow it, it didnt function well or was too slow) so they abandoned it, slapped the Lazer's engine on and slapped some Harrier nozzles on the side and called it a day.

[MrMadMike]

I just want it in a different paint scheme

[A Maned Wolf]

They had to keep in check with it's supposed 40-year old tech. In '75 there were no rear thrust vectoring capabilities.

 

It wouldn't make sense to try to modernize an aircraft that is supposed to be 40 years old in it's design. Imo, anyway.

This statement make no f*cking sense....

[Mach1bud]

While I very much appreciate your knowledge and points you have made OP, I believe you may be out of luck here. The Hydra has looked the same since it first appeared on the in game tv commercials back in 2013 when the game launched. I believe they intended for it to look like this.

 

Many cars and vehicles have pointless and/or flawed design features. I highly, highly doubt they will change it.

 

Also, the average person doesn't know the difference at all. I didn't until you made this thread.

[Maibatsu545]

R* really f*cked up with the hydra. The transition from hover to flight is atrocious. For whatever reason it makes the plane start to plummet to the ground. Really big f*ck up with the handling of the Hydra. The OP probably understands aviation and flight better than the dumbsh*t that coded this waste of money.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Maibatsu545

[BlackMilk]

R* really f*cked up with the hydra. The transition from hover to flight is atrocious. For whatever reason it makes the plane start to plummet to the ground. Really big f*ck up with the handling of the Hydra. The OP probably understands aviation and flight better than the dumbsh*t that coded this waste of money.

I thought that was a bug of sorts. I've scraped trees a couple of times with my Hydra but fortunately it took the scars like a man and flew off just fine. Little unsettling at times, though. Now I don't bother switching flight mode until I'm far from the ground.

[Semaj 2JZ♢]

 

They had to keep in check with it's supposed 40-year old tech. In '75 there were no rear thrust vectoring capabilities.

 

It wouldn't make sense to try to modernize an aircraft that is supposed to be 40 years old in it's design. Imo, anyway.

This statement make no f*cking sense....To the likes of you, probably not. Now either contribute or GTFO.

[BigJoe_1]

Nope, you're not the only one. I think the rear of the Hydra just seems off and the fact that it still generates thrust when you switch into VTOL mode is unacceptable, I paid 3 million for the thing and it can barely do what it's supposed to do without horrible side effects, it practically enters ragdoll mode for at least 5 seconds before you gain control.

 

Who knows, maybe they'll fix it, I just hope they buff the Savages armor first, that sh*t's made of paper at the moment. On another note we might, in the future, hopefully, get another VTOL jet. I just hope they model it as a mix of the Yak-130 and Yak-141, and also level lock it to 200 and above.

Edited July 11, 2015 by BigJoe_1