Rockstar Games is prepping GTA Online's next big DLC which will add significant gameplay content to the 4-year-old multiplayer title. While they haven't given a release date for any of the teased updates, Rockstar did reveal a whole lot more than just a new kind of race.
The main attraction of the reveal post is, as the name would suggest, the Transform Races DLC. While we'd love nothing more than have these races played in vehicles which can transform into huge robots for a punchout, unfortunately myriad licensing issues prevent anything of the sort, especially with such a closely resembling name (there are, however, mods for that).
What Transform Races are, on the other hand, are a new kind of game mode where players line up with the noble goal of reaching the finish line first while warping between various vehicles, racing on land, in the air and in water all in the course of a single race.
Transform Races are taking the stunt racing concept even further, making it the longest-running DLC subtheme in GTA Online. Joining Cunning Stunts and Special Vehicle Circuit, Transform Races is aiming to put yet another twist on the regular racing formula to keep things fresh.
While on its own, the concept of Transform Races would already be an entertaining and impressive new take on racing, it will be combined with the wacky level design and interesting props which were a staple of Cunning Stunts. Twisting and turning tubes, impossible jumps and deathtraps will all line the courses making for thrilling rounds.
Transform Races won't only switch between air, land and water races, but between vehicle classes in land races too. Not only will you go from car to plane to boat, but potentially from supercars to sports to classics.
Rockstar hasn't announced an official release date, but we do know Transform Races are coming this month with a creator update following later this year, as is customary. In the past, we had to wait a bit for the Stunt Creator.
GTA Online has cultivated a hardcore racing community and the amount of DLC attention this particular aspect of the game has been getting should make them plenty happy. Stunt races have gotten enough variations now that, between the creator content, there is plenty to play and master.
Rockstar has also announced two upcoming Adversary Modes, even though they've been releasing them every two weeks without any kind of fanfare beforehand. Of the upcoming modes, one is quite unique-sounding while the other is bog standard.
Condemned, presumably played on foot, slaps one player with a death-timer which they need to impart upon another to survive. How this will function from a game mechanic point of view is an interesting question, since the recipient logically doesn't die instantly, hence shooting is likely off the table.
Dogfight, on the other hand, is a pretty basic idea. The name says it all more or less, you should expect a standard team deathmatch mode played in the air with planes that have offensive capabilities. Whether any additional rules or modifiers will be applied to make it stand out is anyone's guess, but we'll see in the coming weeks once it has been released.
While we've known about what vehicles are coming up in GTA Online, Rockstar has now revealed which the next three in line are, possibly in order. The Hunter, Cyclone and Vigilante are on their way, once again adhering to the rule of cool-boring-cool when it comes to drop-fed vehicles.
The Hunter is a military helicopter based on the Apache, that actually made its debut in one of Grand Theft Auto 5's early trailers, but ended up being cut from the game. Rockstar is finally mending that particular issue by releasing it in a presumably suped up manner. You'll be able to customize the vehicle with visual changes and performance mods, and with all this anticipation we hope it's going to be one of the top vehicles in the game.
The Coil Cyclone is going to be a high-tech supercar, of which we haven't had enough of. Even when following some kind of theme, like bikes after Bikers or aircraft after Smuggler's Run, Rockstar always manages to sneak in new high-tech supercars somehow.
The Vigilante, on the other hand, is Rockstar continuing their "inspired" series of vehicles which they debuted with the Shotaro, a light cycle that is very obviously inspired by TRON. The Vigilante is a stylized and redecoed version of the '89 Batmobile. We don't yet know what kind of features it will have, but we're guessing the rocket boost is intact and works like it does on the Rocket Voltic.
To lesser detail, Rockstar has also outlined the DLC plans for the rest of the year. Beyond the weekly vehicle, we're going to be getting weaponized vehicles in the vein of Gunrunning, as well as new foreclosed properties. This could mean more bunkers, warehouses and possibly clubhouses, though we doubt Rockstar will reach that far back in the DLC timeline.
What is absent from the lineup however is another major update, which seems to reaffirm what could be interpreted as older comments made by Rockstar indicating that Smuggler's Run was the last major update, and that the last update with any gameplay aspect save for the Adversary Modes will be Transform Races. While this is a bit disappointing since we need to wait until 2018 for any truly big DLCs, and considering 2016 went out with a major update in the face of Import/Export, we did get some great updates over the course of 2017 so it's not like we've been content-starved.
In terms of what hasn't been announced but can be expected, we suspect some kind of Halloween event will drop this month, bringing back the spooky masks for sale, slapping a double reward promo on Slasher and releasing a new thematic vehicle. Two years ago, we got two, a Hearse and the Franken Stange, then last year we got a bike called the Sanctus, so special Halloween vehicles are hardly uncalled for.
A Holiday event will also likely roll around some time late December, which will bring with it fireworks ammo and snow for a day or two in the game world of GTA Online. These seem to wrap up just about everything we need to expect this year.
The remainder of 2017 isn't as busy DLC-wise as we might like, but there is still plenty of content to look forward to and the game is absolutely packed with things to do as-is. We're eager to see how Transform Races will turn out, and there are sill some thematic events to get excited about.
