Handling.cfg

The handling.cfg file is a text data file format which sets many performance and behaviour values for each vehicle in GTA III, GTA VC and GTA SA. The file can be opened and edited with any text editor.

GTA III

Standard Data

This section contains all the performance settings for land vehicles and provides the base settings for boats, bikes and flying vehicles. The special behaviour of boats, bikes and flying vehicles are hardcoded in GTA III and are not included in the handling.cfg file.

The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
a	vehicle identifier	Relates this data with default.ide and other files.
b	fMass	Mass of the vehicle in kilograms.
c	Dimensions.x	Width of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
d	Dimensions.y	Length of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
e	Dimensions.z	Height of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
f	CentreOfMass.x	Distance from the centre of the car in metres to the right for the centre of mass.
g	CentreOfMass.y	Distance from the centre of the car in metres forward for the centre of mass.
h	CentreOfMass.z	Distance from the centre of the car in metres upward for the centre of mass.
i	nPercentSubmerged	Percentage of the vehicle height required to be submerged for the car to float.
j	fTractionMultiplier	Cornering grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction.
k	fTractionLoss	Accelerating/braking grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction.
l	fTractionBias	Ratio of front axle grip to rear axle grip; higher value shifts grip forwards.
m	TransmissionData.nNumberOfGears	Number of gearchange animations and sound effects to use.
n	TransmissionData.fMaxVelocity	Limits the top speed.
o	TransmissionData.fEngineAcceleration	Basic rate of acceleration.
p	TransmissionData.nDriveType	Assigns Front, Rear or 4 wheel drive.
q	TransmissionData.nEngineType	Assigns Petrol, Diesel or Electric engine characteristics.
r	fBrakeDeceleration	Overall decelerative force, set so keyboard controls do not quite lock up the wheels.
s	fBrakeBias	Ratio of braking force of front compared to rear; higher values move bias forward.
t	bABS
u	fSteeringLock	Maximum rotation of steering arc in degrees; use negatives for rear wheel steered vehicles.
v	fSuspensionForceLevel	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
w	fSuspensionDampingLevel	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
x	fSeatOffsetDistance	Distance from door position to seat position.
y	fCollisionDamageMultiplier	How much damage vehicle engine gets from collisions. Higher value means more damage.
z	nMonetaryValue	Seems to have no effect.
aa	suspension upper limit	Uppermost movement of wheels in metres.
ab	suspension lower limit	Ride height of vehicle in metres.
ac	suspension bias	Ratio of suspension force to apply at the rear compared to the front.
ad	Flags Name	Special features which can be enabled or disabled.
ae	front lights	Defines the size of the head lights of the vehicle. Using numbers out of range has unusual effects.
af	rear lights	Same as above but for the tail lights.

Flag Data

Column "ad", called "Flags", is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
1	1	1G_BOOST	Makes tyres spin more readily from standing starts.
	2	2G_BOOST	Makes tyres spin more readily at low speeds.
	4	REV_BONNET	Reverses the direction boot and bonnet axis operate.
	8	HANGING_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the top.
2	1	NO_DOORS	Removes all testing for doors.
	2	IS_VAN	Allows double boot object.
	4	IS_BUS	Uses Coach version of animations over standard one and makes the driver invisible (only makes sense to use on Coach).
	8	IS_LOW	Uses low version of animations over standard one.
3	1	DBL_EXHAUST	Allows second exhaust particle animation.
	2	TAILGATE_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the bottom.
	4	NOSWING_BOOT	When damaged, boot does not swing if it normally does and falls off instead.
	8	NONPLAYER_STABILISER	Seems to have no effect.
4	1	NEUTRALHANDLING	Seems to have no effect.
	2	HAS_NO_ROOF	Various slight effects.
	4	IS_BIG	Changes the way that the AI drives around corners.
	8	HALOGEN_LIGHTS	Bluish headlights.

GTA Vice City

Standard Data

This section contains all the performance settings for land vehicles and provides the base settings for boats, bikes and flying vehicles. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
a	vehicle identifier	Relates this data with default.ide and other files.
b	fMass	Mass of the vehicle in kilograms.
c	Dimensions.x	Width of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
d	Dimensions.y	Length of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
e	Dimensions.z	Height of the vehicle in metres, used for aerodynamic and motion effects.
f	CentreOfMass.x	Distance from the centre of the car in metres to the right for the centre of mass.
g	CentreOfMass.y	Distance from the centre of the car in metres forward for the centre of mass.
h	CentreOfMass.z	Distance from the centre of the car in metres upward for the centre of mass.
i	nPercentSubmerged	Percentage of the vehicle height required to be submerged for the car to float.
j	fTractionMultiplier	Cornering grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction.
k	fTractionLoss	Accelerating/braking grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction.
l	fTractionBias	Ratio of front axle grip to rear axle grip; higher value shifts grip forwards.
m	TransmissionData.nNumberOfGears	Number of gearchange animations and sound effects to use.
n	TransmissionData.fMaxVelocity	Limits the top speed.
o	TransmissionData.fEngineAcceleration	Basic rate of acceleration.
p	TransmissionData.nDriveType	Assigns Front, Rear or 4 wheel drive.
q	TransmissionData.nEngineType	Assigns Petrol, Diesel or Electric engine characteristics.
r	fBrakeDeceleration	Overall decelerative force, set so keyboard controls do not quite lock up the wheels.
s	fBrakeBias	Ratio of braking force of front compared to rear; higher values move bias forward.
t	bABS	Seems to have no effect.
u	fSteeringLock	Maximum rotation of steering arc in degrees; use negatives for rear wheel steered vehicles.
v	fSuspensionForceLevel	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
w	fSuspensionDampingLevel	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
x	fSeatOffsetDistance	Distance from door position to seat position.
y	fCollisionDamageMultiplier	How much damage vehicle engine gets from collisions. Higher value means more damage.
z	nMonetaryValue	Used to calculate the Property Destroyed statistic.
aa	suspension upper limit	Uppermost movement of wheels in metres.
ab	suspension lower limit	Ride height of vehicle in metres.
ac	suspension bias	Ratio of suspension force to apply at the rear compared to the front.
ad	suspension anti-dive multiplier	Changes the amount of body pitching under braking and acceleration.
ad	Flags	Special features which can be enabled or disabled.
ae	front lights	Defines the size of the head lights of the vehicle. Using numbers out of range has unusual effects.
af	rear lights	Same as above but for the tail lights.

Flag Data

Column "ae", called "Flags", is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
1	1	1G_BOOST	Makes tyres spin more readily from standing starts.
	2	2G_BOOST	Makes tyres spin more readily at low speeds.
	4	REV_BONNET	Reverses the direction boot and bonnet axis operate.
	8	HANGING_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the top.
2	1	NO_DOORS	Removes all testing for doors.
	2	IS_VAN	Allows double boot object.
	4	IS_BUS	Uses Coach version of animations over standard one and makes the driver invisible (only makes sense to use on Coach).
	8	IS_LOW	Uses low version of animations over standard one.
3	1	DBL_EXHAUST	Allows second exhaust particle animation.
	2	TAILGATE_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the bottom.
	4	NOSWING_BOOT	When damaged, boot does not swing if it normally does and falls off instead.
	8	NONPLAYER_STABILISER	Seems to have no effect, could be related to how the AI operates the vehicle
4	1	NEUTRALHANDLING	Seems to have no effect, could be related to how the AI operates the vehicle
	2	HAS_NO_ROOF	Various slight effects.
	4	IS_BIG	Changes the way that the AI drives around corners.
	8	HALOGEN_LIGHTS	Bluish headlights.
5	1	IS_BIKE	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a motorbike when used with default.ide attributes.
	2	IS_HELI	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a helicopter when used with default.ide attributes.
	4	IS_PLANE	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a plane when used with default.ide attributes.
	8	IS_BOAT	Makes the game engine treat this vehicle as a boat when used with default.ide attributes.
6	1	NO_EXHAUST	Removes the exhaust animation particle for this vehicle.
	2	REARWHEEL_1ST	Seems to have no effect.
	4	HANDBRAKE_TYRE	Seems to have no effect.
	8	SIT_IN_BOAT	Makes the player sit in this boat.
7	1	FAT_REARW	Wider rear wheels.
	2	NARROW_FRONTW	Narrower front wheels.
	4	GOOD_INSAND	Prevents vehicle from bogging down on sand surface.
	8		Is not mentioned in the handling.cfg comments. Causes the vehicle to not render while looking behind in first person view.

• 

  An Idaho with normal headlights on the left compared with a Stinger with halogen lights (HALOGEN_LIGHTS) on the right.

• 

  A Linerunner with normal wheels on the left compared with a Linerunner with fat rear wheels (FAT_REARW) on the right.

• 

  A Linerunner with normal wheels on the left compared with a Linerunner with narrow front wheels (NARROW_FRONTW) on the right.

Boat Data

This section contains all the performance settings from the section for floating vehicles, such as boats and flying vehicles which can land on water. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
J	Bank Force Mult	Amount of lean when turning.
K	Rudder Turn Force	Effect of the steering.
L	Speed Steer Falloff	Amount to reduce steering effect by as speed increases.
R	Vertical Wave Hit Limit
S	Forward Wave Hit Brake
V	WaterResistance Volume Mult
W	Water Damping Mult
ab	Handbrake Drag Mult
ac	Sideslip Force	Strength that the boat will be pushed sideways by waves.

Repurposed Standard Data

Some of the Standard Data settings have a different effect for floating vehicles than they would for land vehicles.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
-	-	-

This section is incomplete. You can help by fixing and expanding it.

Bike Data

This section contains the performance settings from the section for motorbikes. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
-	-	-

This section is incomplete. You can help by fixing and expanding it.

Flying Data

This section contains the performance settings from the section for flying vehicles, such as planes and helicopters. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
-	-	-

This section is incomplete. You can help by fixing and expanding it.

GTA San Andreas

Standard Data

This section contains all the performance settings for land vehicles and provides the base settings for boats, bikes and flying vehicles. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
A	vehicle identifier	Relates this data with vehicle.ide and other files.
B	fMass	Mass of the vehicle in kilograms.
C	fTurnMass	Used to calculate motion effects.
D	fDragMult	Changes resistance to movement.
F	CentreOfMass.x	Distance from the centre of the car in metres to the right for the centre of mass.
G	CentreOfMass.y	Distance from the centre of the car in metres forwards for the centre of mass.
H	CentreOfMass.z	Distance from the centre of the car in metres upwards for the centre of mass.
I	nPercentSubmerged	Percentage of the vehicle height required to be submerged for the car to float.
J	fTractionMultiplier	Cornering grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction.
K	fTractionLoss	Accelerating/braking grip of the vehicle as a multiplier of the tyre surface friction.
L	fTractionBias	Ratio of front axle grip to rear axle grip; higher value shifts grip forwards.
M	TransmissionData.nNumberOfGears	Number of gearchange animations and sound effects to use.
N	TransmissionData.fMaxVelocity	Limits the top speed.
O	TransmissionData.fEngineAcceleration	Basic rate of acceleration.
P	TransmissionData.fEngineInertia	Smooths or sharpens the acceleration curve.
Q	TransmissionData.nDriveType	Assigns Front, Rear or 4 wheel drive.
R	TransmissionData.nEngineType	Assigns Petrol, Diesel or Electric engine characteristics.
S	fBrakeDeceleration	Overall decelerative force.
T	fBrakeBias	Ratio of braking force of front compared to rear; higher values move bias forward.
U	bABS	ABS Brakes "0" = no and "1" = yes
V	fSteeringLock	Maximum angle of steering in degrees.
a	fSuspensionForceLevel
b	fSuspensionDampingLevel
c	fSuspensionHighSpdComDamp	Stiffens the dampening strength as speed increases.
d	suspension upper limit	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
e	suspension lower limit	Explained in my suspension tutorial.
f	suspension bias between front and rear	Ratio of suspension force to apply at the front compared to the rear.
g	suspension anti-dive multiplier	Changes the amount of body pitching under braking and acceleration.
aa	fSeatOffsetDistance	Distance from door position to seat postion.
ab	fCollisionDamageMultiplier	Amount of engine damage vehicle gets from collisions. Higher value means more damage.
ac	nMonetaryValue	Used to calculate the Value of property damaged statistic.
af	modelFlags	Special animations features of the which can be enabled or disabled.
ag	handlingFlags	Special performance features.
ah	front lights	Type of head lights of the vehicle.
ai	rear lights	Same as above but for the tail lights.
aj	Vehicle anim group	Refers to an Animation ID number.

Model Flag Data

Column "af", called "modelFlags", is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
1	1	IS_VAN	Allows double doors for the rear animation.
	2	IS_BUS	Uses Coach version of animations over standard one and makes the driver invisible (only makes sense to use on Coach).
	4	IS_LOW	Uses low version of animations over standard one.
	8	IS_BIG	Changes the way that the AI drives around corners.
2	1	REVERSE_BONNET	Bonnet and boot open in opposite direction from normal.
	2	HANGING_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the top.
	4	TAILGATE_BOOT	Affects physics of boot hinged from the bottom.
	8	NOSWING_BOOT	When damaged, boot does not swing if it normally does and falls off instead.
3	1	NO_DOORS	Removes all testing for doors.
	2	TANDEM_SEATS	Two people will use the front passenger seat.
	4	SIT_IN_BOAT	Uses seated boat animation instead of standing.
	8	CONVERTIBLE	Changes how hookers operate and other small effects.
4	1	NO_EXHAUST	Removes all exhaust particles.
	2	DBL_EXHAUST	Adds a second exhaust particle on opposite side to first.
	4	NO1FPS_LOOK_BEHIND	Prevents player using rear view when in first-person mode.
	8	FORCE_DOOR_CHECK
5	1	AXLE_F_NOTILT	Front wheels stay vertical to the car like GTA 3.
	2	AXLE_F_SOLID	Front wheels stay parallel to each other.
	4	AXLE_F_MCPHERSON	Front wheels tilt like GTA Vice City.
	8	AXLE_F_REVERSE	Reverses the tilting of wheels when using AXLE_F_MCPHERSON suspension.
6	1	AXLE_R_NOTILT	Rear wheels stay vertical to the car like GTA 3.
	2	AXLE_R_SOLID	Rear wheels stay parallel to each other.
	4	AXLE_R_MCPHERSON	Rear wheels tilt like GTA Vice City.
	8	AXLE_R_REVERSE	Reverses the tilting of wheels when using AXLE_R_MCPHERSON suspension.
7	1	IS_BIKE	Use extra handling settings in the bikes section.
	2	IS_HELI	Use extra handling settings in the flying section.
	4	IS_PLANE	Use extra handling settings in the flying section.
	8	IS_BOAT	Use extra handling settings in the boats section.
8	1	BOUNCE_PANELS
	2	DOUBLE_RWHEELS	Places a second instance of each rear wheel next to the normal one.
	4	FORCE_GROUND_CLEARANCE
	8	IS_HATCHBACK

Handling Flag Data

Column "ag", called "handlingFlags", is a sixteen-bit integer value stored as a hexadecimal value in four bytes (characters). The number is written with the smallest value on the right, which is bit number one, with the higher value bits to the left. The below table describes what each of the sixteen bits in this setting do:

Byte	Value	Column Name	Description
1	1	1G_BOOST	Gives more engine power for standing starts; better hill climbing.
	2	2G_BOOST	Gives more engine power at slightly higher speeds.
	4	NPC_ANTI_ROLL	No body roll when driven by AI characters.
	8	NPC_NEUTRAL_HANDL	Less likely to spin out when driven by AI characters.
2	1	NO_HANDBRAKE	Disables the handbrake effect.
	2	STEER_REARWHEELS	Rear wheels steer instead of front, like a forklift truck.
	4	HB_REARWHEEL_STEER	Handbrake makes the rear wheels steer as well as front, like the monster truck.
	8	ALT_STEER_OPT
3	1	WHEEL_F_NARROW2	Very narrow front wheels.
	2	WHEEL_F_NARROW	Narrow front wheels.
	4	WHEEL_F_WIDE	Wide front wheels.
	8	WHEEL_F_WIDE2	Very wide front wheels.
4	1	WHEEL_R_NARROW2	Very narrow rear wheels.
	2	WHEEL_R_NARROW	Narrow rear wheels.
	4	WHEEL_R_WIDE	Wide rear wheels.
	8	WHEEL_R_WIDE2	Very wide rear wheels.
5	1	HYDRAULIC_GEOM	Lowrider hydraulics
	2	HYDRAULIC_INST	Will spawn with hydraulics installed.
	4	NOS_INST	Vehicle automatically gets NOS installed when it spawns.
	8	HYDRAULIC_NONE	Hydraulics cannot be installed.
6	1	OFFROAD_ABILITY	Vehicle will perform better on loose surfaces like dirt.
	2	OFFROAD_ABILITY2	Vehicle will perform better on soft surfaces like sand.
	4	HALOGEN_LIGHTS	Bluish headlights.
	8	PROC_REARWHEEL_1ST
7	1	USE_MAXSP_LIMIT	Prevents vehicle going faster than column N value for maximum speed.
	2	LOW_RIDER	Allows vehicle to be modified at Loco Low Co shops.
	4	STREET_RACER	When set, vehicle can only be modified at Wheel Arch Angels.
	8	UNDEFINED	No effect.
8	1	SWINGING_CHASSIS	Lets the car body move from side to side on the suspension.
	2	UNDEFINED	No effect.
	4	UNDEFINED	No effect.
	8	UNDEFINED	No effect.

Boat Data

This section contains all the performance settings from the section for floating vehicles, such as boats and flying vehicles which can land on water. The below table provides the column letter, column name and a brief description for each setting available in this section.

Column Letter	Column Name	Description
J	Bank Force Mult	Amount of lean when turning.
K	Rudder Turn Force	Effect of the steering.
L	Speed Steer Falloff	Amount to reduce steering effect by as speed increases.
S	Vertical Wave Hit Limit
T	Forward Wave Hit Brake
a	WaterResistance Volume Mult
b	Water Damping Mult
d	Handbrake Drag Mult
e	Sideslip Force	Strength that the boat will be pushed sideways by waves.

Tools

•    CFG Studio - a comprehensive handling editor for GTA3, GTA VC and GTA SA by Cerbera.
• Handling.cfg Reloader

See also

• handling.dat

External links

• GTA3 Handling Definitions - Project Cerbera
• VC Handling Definitions - Project Cerbera
• SA Handling Definitions - Project Cerbera