Cheetah

The Cheetah's acceleration and speed are slightly inferior to other sports cars in the game, but handling and braking are far superior to all others. Due to its low suspension, it hugs the road and is not prone to rolling over or spinning out of control when cornering at high speeds like the Infernus. Looking at the shape of the car, its clear to see that it is mid-engined, however when the hood is removed, in GTA III and Vice City, the engine appears to be at the front, possibly due to programming limitations. This is in stark contrast to the design of the Testarossa in general, which has the engine placed behind the passenger compartment, just in front of the rear axle (mid-engine). However, in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the design is more faithful to the real-life counterpart, with the engine being evidently placed at the rear of the chassis. Now, when its front hood breaks free, the inside is empty. In all it's iterations the vehicle closely resembles a Ferrari Testarossa, with each game's version following the design of the corresponding era. For example, in Grand Theft Auto III, it looks like a slightly generic-ized F512 M, while in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, it resembles a mid-80s Testarossa, and in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a 512 TR Testarossa (but without the hidden headlamps) with the rear lights of a F512 M. The engine of the Cheetah sounds and looks like a V10. Sometimes it has both side rear-view mirrors and on others it only has the one on the driver's side.

In Vice City Stories, which is set in 1984, the Cheetah was based from the first generation Ferrari Testarossa, which started selling in 1984. The first "red head" didn't sell enough until late 1985. For the sake of having no irregularities about the comparison of the two cars, Rockstar Games made the Cheetah scarce in Vice City Stories, spawning only in parking lots.