At long last, Rockstar has revealed more concrete details about what they have in store for GTA Online's future, and it's quite a bit. They've seemingly settled for two recurring DLC themes now, with both Cunning Stunts and the CEO theme continuing into 2017. The recently added new set of Stunt Races will be joined by further updates in that vein, and enterprising business owners will have a new way to make black market fortunes come summer.
Overall, the Newswire post which describes all of this is little more than a tease, but its good to have some kind of idea what to expect and when. 2017's first truly major DLC will be released sometime this month, possibly on the 14th, since the current Stunt Race Event lasts until the 13th, and the 14th happens to fall on a Tuesday which is traditionally DLC release day for GTA Online.
The new update will be called Cunning Stunts: Special Vehicle Circuit, and will introduce special stunt tracks designed with three of the special vehicles in mind that were added to the game with last year's final DLC, Import/Export. The fan favorite Rocket Voltic, fan favorite runner-up Ruiner 2000 and the (my personal favorite) Blazer Aqua will all get a host of special stunt races.
Players will use the jet engine strapped to the rear of the Rocket Voltic to clear jumps of previously insurmountable distances, switch between land and sea with the Blazer Aqua and use the various gadgets hidden in the Ruiner 2000 to tackle new courses unlike anything we've raced on before.
Back when Cunning Stunts initially launched, players had to wait a whole year before gaining access to the Stunt Race Creator. This time, the creatively wired among you won't have to wait so long, as the new props introduced with Special Vehicle Circuit will instantly be available in the creator for you to mess around with.
As exciting this new take on Stunt Races sounds, Rockstar provided some info on their longer reaching plans as well. The devs have proven time and again that their love of Adversary Modes knows no bounds, and we here have defended the PvP modes before, even if they're not all that popular with the community.
Or are they? The Newswire post claims they are among the most played feature in GTA Online. Well.
Then again, with recent successes like Deadline and Power Play, that doesn't ring as surprising as it would have about half a year ago. Nonetheless, players can expect an influx of even more Adversary Modes in the coming weeks, alongside standalone vehicles that are not part of any larger update.
We suspect this means soon the practice of dropping a new car into the game every week will resume, with the occasional Adversary Mode tossed in as well every 2-3 weeks in between the major updates. While these minor additions weren't exactly game changing, we got some of the game's best cars through these mini-DLCs and hey, it's better than nothing, right?
Fans will be treated to some of the most frequently requested cars from the community. Among others, the Infernus Classic and Turismo Classic, which debuted way back in GTA 3 will be added to the game, as well as an all-new supercar, the Progen GP1. Rockstar didn't reveal the nature of what other vehicles to expect beyond these, but rest assured, we'll be well supplied.
However, players have a lot more to look forward to than mere Adversary Modes and cars. Mirroring last year's major summer release, Further Adventures in Finance and Felony, Rockstar has the next big chapter in what seems like a veritable saga of CEO themed updates. Your bid to build a criminal empire that began with Executives and Other Criminals, continued with Finance and Felony and Import/Export will now possibly culminate in gunrunning.
Lauding the incoming DLC as another massive update, Rockstar teased new mechanics including the smuggling of weapons and fighting against new NPC factions in the face of new militias operating across the GTA Online map. Likely you'll need to raid their bases to collect the weapons shipments which you will then need to sell in a manner similar to the imported vehicles or crates of previous CEO updates.
While new weapons are more or less a given based on the theme, new weaponized vehicles will also be added to the game. It's likely that beyond entirely new models, we'll see some familiar vehicles outfitted with new bells and whistles to aid you in your quest to dominate the illegal arms trade in the state of San Andreas.
Rockstar also issued a kind reminder that character transfers will be ceasing on the 6th of March, meaning players still with a previous-generation console will need to act quick — you only have 3 days. While the article only brings attention to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it was recently discovered in the fine print that all character transfers will cease on the deadline, so if you have a current-gen console but want to continue your game on PC in the future, now is the time to take the leap.
To aid players in the transition, Rockstar has discounted the Enhanced Editions of GTA 5 bundled with a Great White Shark Card over at the Rockstar Warehouse, allowing you to grab the game and some crispy $GTA at a markdown now that there's an emergency and all that.
With the new DLC inbound, we're quite eager to see where the game will evolve to. With the Special Vehicle Circuit, we've taken one step closer to the concept of adding special stunt races for both aerial and aquatic vehicles, with the Rocker Voltic tracks featuring a lot of airtime and the Blazer Aqua tracks partially taking place on the water.
As for the gunrunning, it's the logical next step for the whole illegal CEO shtick. After black market goods and vehicles (and drugs in Bikers) weapons are more or less the final main subject of smuggling to add to our rapport of illegal dealings. The promise of fighting with various militias sounds like Rockstar might be planning some kind of territory control system akin to San Andreas's turf war, the system that was at one point considered for GTA Online before being scrapped during development.
It would be interesting to see a system where different CEOs can back different militias while opposing others. If you throw in your support with one group, rival CEOs doing jobs in their territory will face more opposition from the NPC enemies, while doing work in a region under the control of a friendly faction will yield benefits. CEOs will fight proxy wars between their prospective militias for control and benefits, while their associates either sabotage the rivals or act as field commanders for the NPC footsoldiers. Either way, we're interested to see some measure of strategy being introduced to GTA Online with these new updates.
2017 is shaping up to be quite the year for GTA Online with these new DLCs on the way, taking two of the game's most successful concepts in new directions. We'll be covering any new information as it arrives.
