The Rhino tank in GTA Vice City lives at Fort Baxter Air Base, the military installation in the southeast of the map. There are two reliable ways to get one: collect 90 of the hidden packages, which makes a Rhino spawn at the base for you, or provoke a six-star wanted level, at which point the military deploys Rhinos you can hijack in the street.
The Hidden Package Route
Vice City has 100 hidden packages scattered across the map, and they hand out rewards at intervals as you collect them. At 90 packages, a Rhino spawns at Fort Baxter.
This is the calmest method by a distance. The tank is simply there, and you are not fighting anyone for it. The cost is the collecting itself, which is a substantial side project.
The Six-Star Route
At six stars the army joins the pursuit, and Rhinos come with them. Once one is on the street you can approach and take it like any other vehicle.
The obvious problem is that you are at six stars while doing it, being shot at by everything Vice City has. It works, but it is not a gentle process, and you will want somewhere to run afterwards.
Walking Into Fort Baxter Instead
There is a third approach that gets you inside the base without the firefight. After the Cop Land mission, a police uniform becomes available at the Washington Beach police station. Wearing it, you can enter Fort Baxter without the soldiers immediately opening fire, walk to the Rhino, and drive out.
Our guide on how to change clothes covers picking up and swapping outfits, which is the same mechanic.
Players also report that starting the Rampage next to the base changes the soldiers into targets that ignore you, which makes the approach survivable. We have not been able to confirm that behaviour from an official source, so treat it as a community technique rather than a documented one.
Driving It
The Rhino is slow and nearly indestructible, and its turret rotates independently of the hull. It crushes traffic it drives over. What it is not is a getaway vehicle, so taking one while heavily wanted trades one problem for another.
If money rather than firepower is the goal, our guides on making money fast and progressing the story are the more direct routes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Fort Baxter Air Base? In the southeast of the Vice City map.
How many hidden packages for the Rhino? 90 of the 100.
Does the tank respawn? The hidden package reward spawn reappears at the base, so you can return for another.
Can you store a Rhino at a safehouse? Large military vehicles do not fit the standard safehouse garages, so plan to use it rather than keep it.