The craziest GTA videos... Part #1

With Grand Theft Auto IV little more than a few days away, it's only right that we contribute to the event by whipping up everyone's excitement into a frothy-mouthed fit as the launch day looms. And how do we do that? By reminding us all of the crazymad fun the series has brought to us in the past.

YouTube is, as you'd imagine, packed tight with user-made Grand Theft Auto vids. We've grazed through what's on offer and liberally seized upon anything that catches our eye, brings out a belly-laugh or simply grabs our attention with its crazy content. Expect more later in the week...

The one with the bike stunts

GTA's free-roaming cityscapes offer many opportunities for vehicular acrobatics. The superfast bikes are especially suited to stunt-fiends, and this video showcases some gobsmacking airborne action. Sure, it might have been modded, or the gravity altered. But that doesn't make the 360 degree motorbike leap off a bridge into pinpoint-landing on nearby tugboat (at 1:18) any less spectacular.

The one with Superman

On PC, there are almost too many add-ons and mods to count. This, however, has to be one of the best reskinning jobs out there - turning CJ into that super man, Superman. Admittedly, the whiteface 'Clark Kent' mask CJ is wearing is really quite disturbing. But just watch his little legs run! And then leap! And fly! Dig the quiff, too.

The one with the Batmobile

And, while we're on superheroes, how about this for a car conversion? It's not just a fantastic looking GTA incarnation of the Batmobile, but it also seems to be utterly unstoppable, pinging oncoming cars from its front end like pebbles. If only there was a Batman skin to go with it...

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.