20 Mind-Blowing Things You Didn't Know About Grand Theft Auto 3
19. There's An In-Game Reason Why Claude Can't Swim
One of the most annoying parts of both Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City was the fact that their protagonists were mass-murdering killing machines who could survive hundreds of bullets, but never bothered learning to swim and would drown when falling into any water.
In reality, this was probably done because Rockstar didn't implement any swimming mechanics into the game, and they wouldn't do so until San Andreas' release some years later.
However, there still exists an in-game reason why Claude apparently can't swim in GTA 3!
According to the newspaper The Liberty Tree, an oil spill in the Liberty City harbour caused all of the water around the city to become polluted. So what happens is that when Claude falls into the water, he's in-universe being poisoned by the oil spill that surrounds the state.