Time Out

[Line Rider]

Clock time is sped up in GTA, so that what is 24 hours in Liberty City is about 40 minutes of playtime. This so that missions or meetings schedules to take place on specific days of the week won't take forever to wait for. And if you still detest waiting, taking a nap will set you ahead about 3-4 hours, and being arrested about 3 hours.  I haven't bothered clocking going to the hospital, getting a lap dance or having a paint job and repairs done to a car, but they also seem to advance the clock. Aside from missions or calling people when they are awake, time doesn't seem to have much meaning. The restaurants, strip clubs, bowling alleys, chop shop, pool hall,  internet cafés and shows run 24/7. Radio stations have the same hosts or guests all hours of the day and night. The only ones who seem to have a schedule are the prostitutes.  Yet, time can be your enemy if you schedule a date or set up a meeting with a friend. The first time I played GTA IV I completely misunderstood it when Roman said "Pick me up in an hour", then about 10 minutes later got a text complaining that  I didn't show up. Sometimes agreeing to take a friend to an activity ends up a nightmare as you realize they are completely on the other end of the map and you have to race over there. I mean, I just dropped you off at your Ma's house a few minutes ago  Packie, how the hell did you get all the way over to the prison in Alderny? And yet, there is one thing that still makes no sense. Lets say you get a phone call requesting you show up to a mission. Like maybe Francis  McReary calls you and asks you to meet him at a pier. But instead you go on other missions, go bowling with Roman, go on a killing spree, go on dates, and do a lot of other stuff so that McReary is waiting for you to show up for weeks of Liberty City time. And you go to the meeting area at 2am in the morning, and he is still there and doesn't complain about waiting there that long. 

[billiejoearmstrong8]

1 hour real time = 2 minutes game time in GTA IV (and V). And I believe sleeping advances time 6 in game hours, pay n spray I'm not sure but I think it's around 4? I think getting wasted (and I'd assume busted, but I've hardly ever had that happen) advances you towards a certain time of day rather than moving you forward a set number of hours, usually to around 6 or 7 in the morning or evening depending on when you died. 

 

I think time does make quite a lot of difference to stuff. It's true businesses stay open 24 hours but your friends/girlfriends have their time schedules, the traffic and ped activity changes a lot depending on the time of day/night, although radio songs and ads are randomised they have some specific comments from the DJs about it being morning or evening etc that are set to only play at the appropriate times (along with weather reports that are also accurate for the current weather), the trash trucks have a schedule (only appearing in the early hours of Tuesdays and Fridays), there's a few missions that can only be played at certain times of day, at Perestroika at a certain time of the evening there'll be people queuing outside getting checked by bouncers before being allowed in, in TBOGT the club has opening and closing with different activity depending on the time of night (eg people staggering around drunk and vomiting outside at closing time) and of course there's the overall day/night timecycle. Also uniquely in GTA IV you have the organiser on your phone so that not only can the time of day matter but the days of the week sometimes can too when you have an appointment. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by billiejoearmstrong8

[Lance Mayhem]

Yes, it is a bit odd that a contact will wait at an outdoor location for days after calling you to see them about an urgent matter. And aside from Bernie meeting you at the docks to start Buoys Ahoy (and maybe some McReary missions), they do seem to wait all day, even for weeks, as the OP said. 

 

The strangest ones are the missions given by friends with whom you can hang out. Call them to go eat, and they'll tell you they were sleeping, but show up at their map icon for a mission, and they're ready to go. 

 

Another strange one is Brucie's races. As with the other friends, you can only call him to hang out at certain times of day, but he seems to answer his phone with full Brucie exuberance when you phone him to go racing. 

 

I haven't yet found a way to rationalize this phenomenon. Does anyone have any suggestions? 

 

 

Also, cool thread title. Take Five.