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In numerous instances, I've wanted to disable a car quickly (usually while driving, but occasionally on foot). With my current loadout this means a lucky grenade, shooting the driver, or managing to get them to crash.

While seeing the driver fly out the front of the car into traffic is pretty entertaining, I'd love the ability to quickly and reliably disable a car while also driving (especially the big ones that the clones ride on). I've tried shooting all the tires, and was left with a still-driving spark-generating version of the car.

An ideal method wouldn't raise my notoriety - shooting the driver is quick, but that usually turns a one car chase into a 3+ car chase. Is there a way to quickly and "quietly" disable a car that's chasing me? If not, is shooting the driver the best method, and what gun is easiest to do this with?

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  • So your question boils down to, how to stop a pursuing car without angering the faction even more by killing them? I haven't had any luck doing that. When at 3 or less notoriety, just driving around for a while lowered it and was easier to outrun when down to 1. – Jeff Mercado Dec 6 '11 at 19:19
  • The cops seem remarkably good at staying on my tail when I accidentally bump into them or people real hard, regardless of my notoriety. – Ian Pugsley Dec 6 '11 at 19:25
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    Also note that blowing *#&$ up is the point of the game. Embrace people trying to kill you! (with explosives! from long range!) If blowing people up makes more people arrive, blow them up too! Explosions for everyone! Yay! – agent86 Dec 6 '11 at 20:37
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There's a couple of different ways of doing this, depending on the type of vehicle and who is driving it.

If it's an "non-hostile" driving, (even cops and gang members, so long as they're not angry with you) and they haven't yet panicked, you can usually pull over in front of them, and they'll stop. Gunfire and damage to cars, or other hostile actions will cause them to panic - speed up and drive faster than the car should be able to drive, with no regard for the safety of themselves or others.

If the car in question is hostile, you've got a few choices.

  • If you're behind them and coming up on them, you can slam your front wheel into their rear wheel. This is actually a real police tactic, and it's called the PIT maneuver. It doesn't work as well in this game as it does in real life, but it's often effective when you're trying to stop someone from fleeting.
  • Throw an electronic grenade at the car, which will stun it temporarily. I don't believe this will (generally) raise your wanted level, but it is considered hostile, so if you've got no wanted stars, this will likely give you one.
  • Get out in front of the car, and hop out of your car (making it into a car torpedo) and then press "Sprint" + "Steal Car" which will cause you to jump through the windshield. If there are multiple people in the car, the others will get out, even if they're manning the gun on an APC, for instance. (For tanks, you have to kill the gunner first)
  • The RC Possessor (which you get at the end of Act 1) will allow you to stop cars. Generally when you exit the remote control interface, the driver will just hop out. This works for helicopters and VTOLs as well. I don't think you can do this while driving, but it has a long range so you can get out in front of a car, jump out of whatever you're driving, and take control of it as it's chasing you. If you level it up, you can cause cars to explode when you take control of them, which will insta-kill any brutes or specialists in the vehicle.
  • Explosive weapons, especially the Annihilator, will destroy most cars with one hit. Your wanted level will probably go up, however. For dealing with gang cars featuring brutes and/or specialists, this is one of the best solutions.
  • Shooting the driver is possible, use something pretty accurate though, like the pistols. This can be tricky while you're driving.
  • You can shoot the wheels, the effect of this is that the car is harder to control. You'll want to maintain high speeds and/or turn corners frequently to shake a car that's been damaged in this way.

If you're having trouble doing this while driving, you might want to look into the cruise control feature. It's not perfect, but it can take one button off your list of things to be pressing at the same time. If you can find a co-op partner, most of the time the tasks will be divided between you, so one of you can focus on driving the car and the other on taking out pursuing vehicles.

Remember also that losing your wanted level is really easy in this game - visit any owned shop or crib and you'll magically, instantly, lose your wanted level. Plus, there are "homies" you can unlock that give you this option anywhere.

If the game is feeling "hard" - (ie, gang wanted level is tearing you up, or brutes are really difficult) go progress the plot or play some of the easier activities. In the meantime, invest your money in buildings you can own, damage reduction/health increasing upgrades, and upgrading one or two weapons.

Later in the game you will have many more tools for doing damage and avoiding the law/gangs. if there's something in particular that's got you stuck, put it aside, since by the end of the game you will easily be godlike, and you can use your powers to finish off anything that was tricky before.

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  • Electronic grenades might work well if the range is decent and it doesn't raise notoriety - I'm mostly concerned in how to do this while I'm driving. – Ian Pugsley Dec 6 '11 at 19:28
  • The PIT works here? I've never tried it considering how the driving physics works in the game. – Jeff Mercado Dec 6 '11 at 19:31
  • @IanPugsley, you'll probably want to sink some money in them, if you find they work well for you. They stick to objects, so they don't roll down the road (and therefore go off course) like frags do. You can throw grenades while driving, but you're going to have to take your eyes off the road. Check into cruise control, although that doesn't completely solve the problem. – agent86 Dec 6 '11 at 19:36
  • @JeffMercado, I've done it a few times, it's much easier when you're driving a large/heavy car compared to them. At the very least, you'll end up turning them sideways, which can make it harder for them to continue pursuit. – agent86 Dec 6 '11 at 19:36
  • +1 for stopping; I believe if you have two stars or less, police will happily exit their vehicle and approach yours if you stop for them. I don't recall if that works as well with gang cars. With three stars and above, they're more likely to ram you anyway. In some situations, like during Trafficking, shooting the driver is the only feasible option; anything less and they'll continue to pursue. At respect level 50, if you purchase the right upgrades, you can simply walk up and use the Annihilator, as it really won't matter how they respond - you're practically invincible. – Dave DuPlantis Dec 6 '11 at 20:34
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The sprinting and jumping in to their car via windshield is always the best deal with chasing cars.

But you can also pimp your car, if you give it the best armor it is like a half tank... then you can also increase speed. And the fun thing is the spikes in the wheels... if you drive by a car you can slash the tires. And since the tires are sliced only on one side they will usually drift towards that direction and crash against a wall.

Also noting that when trying to kill the tires of a car, you should always try and shoot 2 of them on the same side. The car will almost always pull to that side.

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Here are my tips to deal with car-chasers. There are two main tactics here, not including outspeeding and outmaneuvering: (A) Retaliate or (B) decelerate.

(A) While driving, your weapon options include in-built vehicle weaponry, pistol, SMG, and grenades. If your vehicle has in-built weaponry, that usually means that you can't use personal weaponry anyway (exception(s): the Genki Girls vehicles). Pistol and SMG are underwhelming even fully upgraded unless you're a crack shot at sniping pursuing drivers while driving. So, we'll focus on throwables. Molotovs are one of the kings of instant vehicle destruction, particularly when upgraded.

"Like all fire weapons, they inflict extra damage to vehicles, but only for the initial hit: vehicles do not sustain DoT damage. At level 4, the Molotov gains an explosive damage effect against vehicles (replacing the normal fire damage dealt). This makes the level 4 Molotov more effective at destruction than a Grenade." - http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/954854-saints-row-the-third/faqs/63686

On the other hand, fully upgraded flashbangs become fart-in-a-jar (FIAJ). Enemies in vehicles hit by this will exit the vehicle to vomit. In regards to the remaining two throwables, I find the blast radius/AoE on shock grenades lacking (for car chases) and the delayed detonation on both it and grenades is impractical for high-speed chases.
But in any case, it's hard to land a hit on pursuers, especially while being the driver yourself, so...

(B) You could stop. The enemy will come up on you, kindly stop and exit their vehicle, and that's when you drive off. I don't think that they'll get back in their car. They'll just plink away at you from afar. You can even leave them a goodbye present, which you'll be more likely to land from a more stationary position.

Lastly,

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