The latest riff on the stunt race archetype, Transform Races, is now live in GTA Online. This new DLC adds a whole new kind of racing event to the already long list of things to do in this game. However, the trade-off is that this week we're not getting any new vehicles or Adversary Modes.
Transform Races was first teased a while ago with nary a paragraph prior to the launch of Smuggler's Run, then it later got a separate announcement and trailer. For a mid-sized DLC, Rockstar has actually tried to hype it up quite a bit prior to release.
Now that it's here, Transform Races packs 15 new Rockstar-made race courses featuring various checkpoints which instantly turn the player vehicle into an altogether different ride, morphing you from car to plane to boat.
This highly varied and somewhat chaotic manner of Transform Races is the appeal and draw of the new mode, which is less likely to attract hardcore racers and seems to be more of a "party game" like feature. We're sure GTA Online content creators are having a blast with this, for example.
Generally speaking, the courses are on average longer than most others. They're physically larger and take more time to complete, if only by a lick, to give the many vehicles crammed in any one course time to shine. That said, the transformations are fairly densely packed, so you'll need to be paying attention lest it catch you by surprise.
Then again, the sheer size of the transformation icons should prevent that from happening. The massive checkpoints share their circumference with the stunt pipe props. And yet, in spite of their size, a few courses have trick-jumps where simply going full throttle will see you overshoot the checkpoint and presumably fall to your untimely death. These "ah-ha!" jumps are not too frequent, but you should keep an eye out when to ease off.
The maps themselves are plenty varied in terms of the actual course itself, but almost all of them feature all vehicle types and the inclusion of aquatic vehicles somewhat limits placement. That and the physical spread of the courses results in many overlaps. While other racecourses differentiate themselves through setting, not just by street plan, the locales of these races are fairly similar with little by way of variety.
The 15 maps each feature their own vehicle selections:
Later this fall, more Rockstar made maps will be joining these 15, further buffing out the variations of Transform Races, and likely together with those new maps, Rockstar will also release the Transform Race Creator, allowing you to craft your own tracks. In the meantime, these should be plenty, and the double RP and GTA$ promo on them until the 26th should give you more than enough reasons to get familiar with each and every one of them.
Even though we're not getting a new vehicle this week, the DLC itself isn't the only thing Rockstar is blessing us with. A huge selection of discounts is joined by a second double reward promo, applied to Lamar's contact missions.
Once again the magic number is 25%. Discounted are the LF-22 Starling, the V-65 Molotok, the Buckingham Alpha Z-1, the Grotti Visione, the Ocelot XA-21, engine upgrades, turbo upgrades, suspension upgrades and handling upgrades.
Transform Races is thought to be the last of this year's proper DLCs, with only thematic events, vehicles and Adversary Modes to follow.
