There are plenty of activities and mechanics in GTA 5 that you can master, and diving is definitely one of them. Given how there’s a large body of water surrounding San Andreas, you’re most likely going to have to learn how to dive underwater in GTA 5.
There wasn’t a lot of focus on swimming and diving in older GTA games, but the newer iterations expanded upon it in a pretty nifty way. With that being said, the ocean is often overlooked when it comes to GTA 5, and people don’t realize just how much effort went into creating San Andreas’ unique seabed.
How to Dive in GTA 5
Diving in GTA 5 isn’t that hard, you simply have to find a body of water, walk into it and start diving. There’s not much more to it, but what tends to confuse people is the button that activates the diving mechanic.
Here’s how you can dive underwater in GTA 5 on all platforms:
- PC – Press Spacebar
- Xbox – Press RB
- PlayStation – Press R1
What you need to remember is that you won’t survive long underwater without scuba gear. Diving can be a great activity that lets you experience the map in a unique way, but you have to make sure to bring suitable protection.
Where to Get Scuba Gear
Scuba Gear is essential for diving, as it will allow you to spend more time underwater. It’s also useful for finding all sorts of hidden areas and collectibles in the ocean or other bodies of water. The easiest way to get scuba gear in GTA 5 single-player would be to find and enter a Nagasaki Dinghy boat.
Dinghy boats are very common and can be found near ports or docks, and you’ll always be given scuba gear upon entering them. Alternatively, if you’re playing GTA Online, you can simply purchase it at Ammu-Nation or find it around the map.
How to Move Underwater in GTA 5
As you can see, diving is pretty simple. But, there is one very important thing to keep in mind when it comes to diving, and that is moving underwater. Your controls are inverted whilst diving, which will be hard to get used to at first.
If you’re on PC – holding the W key will steer you further down, and holding the S key will move you closer to the surface. Additionally, holding Left Shift and S will also help you resurface faster.
The same thing applies to consoles and the direction of your left stick on controllers. If you want to resurface faster you’ll have to hold down the left stick and press X on PlayStation, or press A on Xbox.
Can You Attack Underwater in GTA 5?
You’re at a big disadvantage whilst underwater, as you can’t really use conventional guns. This becomes an even bigger problem when you realize that there are sharks in GTA 5. You won’t find sharks in rivers or lakes, but they will appear off the coast of the pacific ocean.
Your only way to defend against a shark or enemy NPC when underwater would be with a knife. Here’s how you can equip a knife and attack with it underwater:
- PC – Press Tab to equip and R to attack
- Xbox – Press LB to equip and B to attack
- PlayStation – Press L1 to equip and Circle to attack
Compared to the previous games, swimming and diving in GTA 5 are a bit more complex. From inverted controls to actual sharks; a detailed guide explaining all of the intricacies of diving was long overdue.
That only scratches the surface though, GTA 5 has quite a few unique mechanics that you wouldn’t find in other games. Here are some of them that you can look into:
How to Drop Money in GTA Online | How to Crouch and Take Cover in GTA 5 | How To Ragdoll in GTA 5
