Today’s Grand Theft Auto Online update, The Los Santos Summer Special, adds new missions, clothes, and 15 new cars, and also some small changes that might excite longtime players. While not the biggest or flashiest update, it’s a solid one that adds more to the ever-growing monster that is GTA Online.
The biggest addition with the Summer Special update is six co-op missions. These new missions, which can also be played alone, can only be activated if you own a yacht. These massive boats have been in the game for years, but a lot of players might have forgotten about them, considering they haven’t been very relevant to recent GTA Online activities or updates. Now, if you own one of these yachts or buy one while they are on sale this week, they have a new area where you can meet the captain and get missions.
These new missions are...fine. I’m always happy to see Rockstar adding more PvE co-op and solo missions to the game, especially ones that aren’t tied into a business. Unfortunately, a lot of these missions involve you heading to shore to deal with rival yacht owners or gangs. One mission had me shooting air conditioning units and stealing a truck, and I forgot I was even working with a sea captain during it. There are some missions that feel more appropriate for the nautical theme, like a mission involving enemies hijacking your yacht and taking your captain hostage, or another that has you using a coast guard fire plane to help put out fires. (Though this is still GTA Online: you are only helping because the fires are destroying rich people’s cars.) GTA Online has never had a lot of ocean content, and these yacht missions highlight that fact.
The best part of the new yacht missions is the captain. He references how you have been ignoring your yacht (which is accurate for most players), how he and the nameless bartender work all the time, and how he’s happy you are finally deciding to help out. I’m sorry, captain! I just didn’t have much to do with my big expensive yacht until now.
For fans of open-wheel racing, which was added earlier this year, Rockstar has added a few new tracks. The Open Wheel track creator is also now in the game, and I’m excited to see what wacky courses people start making. A few minor changes to open-wheel racing should make the racing experience better: You can now change your tire type during pit stops, and players who go the opposite way on the track will turn into transparent ghosts who can’t disrupt the race.
In smaller but still exciting changes, Rockstar added a few new video game and novelty cabinets for players to buy and install in their personal arcades. I love my arcade, and I’m excited to add these new machines to my large collection.
There are also some small quality of life changes. The update adds the ability to send your personal vehicle back into storage via a new option in the menu. It also adds a timer that lets players know when they can spin the prize wheel in the casino again.
I doubt this update will bring back players or bring in new ones, but it feels like a good chunk of small improvements, tweaks, and additions that will keep current players happy (or as happy as GTA Online players can be). And I’m all for Rockstar adding more content to some of the expensive and underused things we’ve all bought over the years, such as our yachts. I hope this trend continues; I’d love more nightclub content or new missions out of my expensive bunker next.