Heists
Gauntlet
Act III · Lucia
- Location
- Vice City
- Protagonists
- Lucia
- Summary
- Steal and modify Gauntlet muscle cars for the Obvious getaway fleet.
Mission briefing
Gauntlet is a Heists mission in Act III, playable as Lucia and set primarily in Vice City. Steal and modify Gauntlet muscle cars for the Obvious getaway fleet.
Inside the Leonida campaign structure, this entry feeds the Heists thread: its contacts, tone, and unlocks matter more to that lane than to unrelated hubs. Finishing it advances Obvious Big Score cars, with an immediate listed payout of Getaway fleet · $8,000.
Tone-wise, Act III missions in this category mix free-roam travel with scripted set-pieces. You should expect driving, on-foot objectives, and at least one surprise that forces a change of plan - a chase, a betrayal, a wanted-level spike, or a dual-character switch.
Scout the pause map before committing to the first yellow pin. Players who learn district exits in Vice City finish cleaner and medal faster than players who only follow the GPS line.
There is one backbone path, but dialogue picks and how loudly you resolve encounters can still change later mission lines and relationship outcomes.
Location guide
Gauntlet anchors on Vice City. Dense traffic, CCTV clusters, and multi-lane chases. Garages and underground lots are your best star-clear tools. Avoid beachfront promenades during wanted levels.
Before the mission marker goes active, ride the block once in free roam if you can. Note one-way streets, garages, alley motorcycle cuts, and any water ramps. That five-minute scout saves restarts when the alarm hits.
Ambient threats in this district match the Heists fantasy: Private security opens most scores; police, then air units, then multi-agency response follow the alarm timeline.
If you fail and restart, your world position usually snaps to the checkpoint - but ambient wanted level and damaged personal vehicles may persist depending on how the checkpoint was written. Re-armor before re-entering the hot zone.
Objectives
- Steal three Gauntlets
- Deliver to the shop
- Complete modification waits
- Test drive one
Recommended loadout
Pack a carbine or assault rifle with extended magazines, a shotgun for doorways and interiors, full body armor, max snacks, and either a high-handling sports car or a motorcycle for alley escapes. Heavy weapons (RPG, MG) belong in the backup vehicle - not always in your hands at mission start - so you are not slow during the opening stealth or social beat.
Opposition & threats
Private security opens most scores; police, then air units, then multi-agency response follow the alarm timeline. Rival crews may attempt mid-escape theft of the take on larger jobs.
Detailed walkthrough
Three separate boosts across Vice. Mods are timed waits you can skip with story advance.
Mission start & preparation
Mission start places Lucia in or near Vice City. Before you touch the first objective marker, open the full map and note police stations, hospitals, garages, and any water routes - Gauntlet punishes players who improvise without geography.
Read every line of the phone, corkboard, or in-person brief. Rockstar-style Leonida missions often hide soft fail conditions in dialogue: do not kill a contact, do not leave the district, keep a vehicle intact, or protect a VIP. Steal and modify Gauntlet muscle cars for the Obvious getaway fleet.
Recommended opening routine: repair or replace your vehicle, buy armor and snacks if a shop is available, set a waypoint to the primary pin, and approach without sideswiping traffic. Early wanted stars almost never help a gold medal run.
Dense traffic, CCTV clusters, and multi-lane chases. Garages and underground lots are your best star-clear tools. Avoid beachfront promenades during wanted levels.
Walkthrough overview
Quick reference walkthrough: Three separate boosts across Vice. Mods are timed waits you can skip with story advance.
Rewards on completion: Getaway fleet · $8,000. Unlocks tied to this mission: Obvious Big Score cars.
This mission follows a single primary path. How loud you play and which dialogue choices you pick can still alter later banter, relationship flags, and optional contacts.
Walkthrough - Steal three Gauntlets
Objective 1 of 4: Steal three Gauntlets.
This opens Gauntlet. Travel to the marker without farming wanted stars. Use the approach roads around Vice City that keep you off camera clusters and police stations. If a cutscene plays on arrival, your loadout and vehicle state carry through - arrive prepared.
Stay oriented on the mini-map. Heists missions in Act III often spawn secondary markers (escape vehicles, allies, or optional loot) that are easy to miss under fire.
Dense traffic, CCTV clusters, and multi-lane chases. Garages and underground lots are your best star-clear tools. Avoid beachfront promenades during wanted levels.
Walkthrough - Deliver to the shop
Objective 2 of 4: Deliver to the shop.
Mid-mission objective in Vice City. Expect the resistance level to rise compared to the previous pin. Clear the immediate area, complete the interaction or combat beat, then reassess ammo and armor before moving on.
Gameplay tip: this is often where Gauntlet teaches or stresses a mechanic - hacking, trailing, intimidation, boat handling, or protagonist switching. Failures commonly restart at a mid-checkpoint rather than the mission start.
Dense traffic, CCTV clusters, and multi-lane chases. Garages and underground lots are your best star-clear tools. Avoid beachfront promenades during wanted levels.
Walkthrough - Complete modification waits
Objective 3 of 4: Complete modification waits.
Mid-mission objective in Vice City. Expect the resistance level to rise compared to the previous pin. Clear the immediate area, complete the interaction or combat beat, then reassess ammo and armor before moving on.
Complication tip: plans break here on purpose. Prioritize the objective over perfect cleanup. Civilians and side enemies only matter if a gold criterion calls them out.
Dense traffic, CCTV clusters, and multi-lane chases. Garages and underground lots are your best star-clear tools. Avoid beachfront promenades during wanted levels.
Walkthrough - Test drive one
Objective 4 of 4: Test drive one.
This is the closing beat. Three separate boosts across Vice. Mods are timed waits you can skip with story advance. Confirm gold-sensitive conditions before you trigger the end marker: vehicle health, VIP health, wanted level, and any cargo integrity. Once the final cutscene starts, you usually cannot reverse a failed criterion.
Stay oriented on the mini-map. Heists missions in Act III often spawn secondary markers (escape vehicles, allies, or optional loot) that are easy to miss under fire.
Dense traffic, CCTV clusters, and multi-lane chases. Garages and underground lots are your best star-clear tools. Avoid beachfront promenades during wanted levels.
Escape, delivery & cleanup
When the last combat or interaction objective clears, Gauntlet still requires a clean handoff. Lose heat with tunnels, public garages, mangrove blinds, district borders, or chop shops depending on where Vice City sits in Leonida.
Deliver cargo, intel, cash, or VIPs to the final marker with integrity intact. Damaged vehicles and bleeding allies can fail gold after an otherwise perfect shootout.
Do not skip the debrief cutscene on a first playthrough - Obvious Big Score cars often appear as map icons or phone contacts immediately afterward. Save manually if you are about to chain heist prep.
Fail conditions & restarts
Common fail states in Gauntlet include death of a required character, destruction of a mission-critical vehicle, abandoning the mission area for too long, or killing a contact the brief told you to keep alive.
Wanted-level soft fails appear on stealth-leaning medals even when the story continues. If you are hunting gold, treat stars as a fail and checkpoint-restart rather than fighting the whole district.
On dual-character missions, letting the idle partner die in the world while you play the other can still fail the mission - watch both health bars when the UI shows them.
Gold medal strategy
Gold medal checklist for Gauntlet:
- 1. All three delivered clean
- 2. Test lap under time
- 3. No totalled cars
Strategy: run a learning attempt to memorize routes, spawn points, and fail triggers. Then replay specifically for medals with cutscenes skipped and a pre-staged loadout.
If a criterion conflicts with another (speed vs stealth, for example), prioritize the harder one on a dedicated replay - many players unlock gold across two focused attempts rather than one perfect run.
After gold pops, you can freely replay for fun or collectibles without worrying about medal state.
Gold medal criteria
- All three delivered clean
- Test lap under time
- No totalled cars
Tips & tricks
- Replay from the last checkpoint if a gold criterion fails late - Gauntlet evaluates medals per attempt, not across combined sessions.
- Stock snacks, armor, and ammo before accepting the mission; Vice City does not always expose a shop once the script locks the area.
- Open the pause map during the opening drive and pin a hospital plus a garage. Gauntlet rarely gives you time to browse mid-chase.
- Gold timers usually start after the opening cutscene ends - skip dialogue on medal attempts only once you know every trigger point.
- Before the score cutscene, mark a secondary escape on the map. Primary routes clog with scripted traffic the moment the alarm hits.
- If your stolen ride is smoking, swap to Lucia's nearby default vehicle - story spawns are usually undamaged and untraceable.
- Death during the final delivery drive can void payouts on heist-tier missions even after objectives show complete. Survive until the mission-passed banner.
Aftermath
When Gauntlet completes, the game grants Obvious Big Score cars. Cash, gear, and contacts listed under Getaway fleet · $8,000 apply after the mission-passed state - not merely after the last shootout.
Narrative aftermath depends on cleanliness and any mid-mission choices (spare/kill, approach, loyalty). First-completion flags usually stick even if you replay for gold later.
Suggested follow-up: open the missions catalog and queue other Act III entries in Heists, restock in or near Vice City, and check the phone for new texts from characters this mission advanced.
If this was heist prep, return to the planning board before starting unrelated side content - some assets despawn or require re-acquire if you wait too long in certain designs. Chain prep while the board is hot.
Rewards & unlocks
- Rewards
- Getaway fleet · $8,000
- Unlocks
- Obvious Big Score cars
Trivia
- Gauntlet adapts classic GTA mission pacing into Leonida's Vice City geography - compare its beat list to similarly themed heists missions from earlier mainline games.
- This dossier's lead image is sourced from leonida-keys-04.jpg in the site media library.
- Tracked objectives: 4. Gold criteria: 3. Act placement: Act III.
- Heist-tier entries typically contribute more to late-game bank balance than story errands, but they also raise federal heat flags used by later missions.
- Playable cast label: Lucia. Primary setting pin: Vice City.
- Short summary retained for cards and SEO: “Steal and modify Gauntlet muscle cars for the Obvious getaway fleet.”
