We start a new mission, and the radio kicks up. Suddenly, we're off, cruising the zigzag hilly streets and pockets of sweeping fog in vintage San Fran fashion. We even pass the site of the 1989 earthquake, in the mythical area of Doherty, indicating the historical realism.

CJ pulls up at a garage which he's bought with some other friends. He hooks up with Cesar (sporting a head scarf and a droopy 'tache), and old pal from Los Santos who's been dating CJ's sister Kendall for quite some time. The friends decide to steal some new motors from Otto's Autos, located in the San Fierro version of the real life Embarcadero area. The guys drive through the towering skyscrapers of the financial district and past the imposing Garden Bridge (San Fierro's version of the Bay Bridge). They also pass a helipad, on top of a swishy apartment building by the sea.

The friends zoom past the Transamerica building (the tallest point in San Fierro) and pull up to Otto's Autos. The dance music stops dead. Cesar and CJ head up to the second floor, a panel glass showroom. In a cutscene, Cesar 'persuades' the owner to lend them the cars, by jumping in and driving out of the window with you in pursuit. The camera pans. Glass shatters and the cars shunt the tarmac. CJ has to chase Cesar through the streets of San Fierro until they reach the safe house. The cars weave through tight traffic on the vertigo-inducing slopes while the music pumps and Cesar tears ahead. The inner city gives way to open suburbs, and the straight roads becoming winding curves. In one section, CJ barrels over a steep incline at speed, as the camera pans in slo-mo for a gratuitous insane stunt.

Eventually, we reach the trolley station and a new garage, Transfender. A place where you can pimp your ride and customize your cars to the nth degree.

CJ takes their newly customized car out for a spin, and Flash FM burns on the radio. We scream up trademark streets before reaching the famous Lombard Street -- the windiest hill in the world. Perhaps. The snaking path really shows off the game engine's graphical flexibility, with the towering Transamerica building  shimmering over the pitch potch of low-rise suburban accommodation and skyscrapers on the horizon.

- Originally from PSM2 UK October, 2004.