My bomber jacket sporting character glides down the highway in his neon green Emerus, blasting synthwave and basking in the 80s Vice City nostalgia of the palm tree lined avenues. I‘m headed to scope out the new races added in this week’s update, already plotting how to best grind them for max profits.
Another Thursday rolls around in GTA Online. And for me, a veteran player with over 5,000 hours since the PS3 days, that means one thing – time to analyze the money making potential!
I‘ve been creating GTA Online guides and commentary as a hobby for years now. Helping fellow fans optimize their gameplay and connect in this chaotic yet captivating world is my passion. I play on PC these days, but cut my teeth on PS3 and PS4 back when $200k felt like a major haul.
Let‘s dig into this week‘s update so I can share my expert take as usual!
My History of Grinding Profits in GTA Online
Before we get into the details, I want to establish my background with GTA Online‘s economics. I‘ve seen every business, meta, and exploit since the early days. Legendary missions like Coveted, Rooftop Rumble, Pacific Standard and more made up my daily grind for years.
I maxed out multiple characters worth of businesses – special cargo, vehicle cargo, bunker, nightclub, you name it. Even dabbled in cheating and using exploits occasionally when things got excessive!
What I’m getting at is I’ve seen all the ups and downs of GTA Online‘s broken economic landscape. And that gives me an experienced perspective when evaluating new updates like this.
While hypebeasts lose their mind on Twitter over meager bonuses, and YouTubers exaggerate with clickbait headlines, I try to take a measured approach.
Yes I love GTA Online, but I also understand its core issues and reluctance from Rockstar to fix them. Which is why I prioritize practical analysis – no hype, no hate, just a realistic economic outlook.
Now let’s see what we can actually make this week!
Street Race Series Brings Fast Cars and Faster Profits
The flashy tuner cars zooming around Los Santos herald the arrival of the new Street Race Series. This organized racing league comes with plenty of rewards for gearheads and grease monkeys looking to put high horsepower to good use.
You can win exclusive merchandise like racing jackets for finishing on the podium, trade race wins for GTA$ and RP, and even score mystery prizes. These surprise rewards include things like car customization, snippets of racing-inspired clothing, and even free vehicles from the LS Car Meet Prize Ride.
This new race series is a chance to take a break from tedious money grinders and do something exciting for big profits. Just be ready for aggressive driving! Things get spicy on these urban tracks.
In addition to the racing action, you can enjoy 40% off all LS Customs Add-Ons including mods, tire smoke, neon kits and more. It’s the perfect time for aspiring racers to trick out their favorite set of wheels to dominate the competition.
Expert Tip: Use this discount to max out upgrades on an Emerus or Krieger supercar for crushing these races. Top speed and traction matter more than acceleration or nimble handling.
Huge Executive Garage Discount – My Must-Have Base Upgrade
Now this is what I’ve been waiting for! The mammoth 50 car Executive Garage from the Los Santos Tuners DLC is now 40% off. As part of the weekly discounts, you can pick up this beast of a garage for only $1,050,000. That’s extremely cheap by GTA Online property standards.
This towering garage in Cypress Flats lets you store up to 50 (!) personal vehicles. For car collectors and rotation aficionados like myself, you literally can’t ask for more. It comes fully customizable too with mod shops, lounges to hang out in, and much more.
I cannot state enough how awesome this Executive Garage is, especially if you already own multiple properties around the map. Being able to shuttle cars around, always summon the perfect ride, and organize your collection has been an absolute game-changer.
50 cars may sound excessive, but you’ll cherish the extra room when R* eventually drops more weekly Prize Ride vehicles!
For context, I own everything in GTA Online – penthouses, the auto shop, agency, arcade, all MC businesses fully upgraded, the works.
Yet even for a grizzled vet like me, the Executive Garage stands out as one of the best purchases I‘ve ever made. In fact, it was the first thing I bought when getting back into GTA Online after a long break.
Here‘s a tip: take advantage of the easy telescope glitch to preview vehicles before buying!
Expert Tip: Use the telescope preview glitch to avoid buyers remorse when purchasing new vehicles
Off-Roaders Discounted for Country Cruising
Continuing the vehicular theme, this week you can save 30% on the tapered trio of off-road beasts added in the Cayo Perico update:
- Canis Seminole Frontier – $306,000
- Vapid Caracara 4×4 – $1,050,000
- Overflod Entity MT – $1,256,500
I’m especially hyped about the Entity MT discount because it’s one of the best rally cars in the game and rarely goes on-sale.
The speedy little bugger hits 127 mph (204 kmh) flat-out, handles great on dirt roads, and has raised suspension perfect for bounding over bumpy terrain. Honestly, it reminds me of an old school Colin McRae rally car with the huge centered exhaust.
Plus it usually costs a whopping $1,795,000 so getting 30% off saves over $500K.
The other two trucks aren’t nearly as quick but make solid choices for messing around off-road or roleplaying rural life.
The Entity MT is one of the most underrated rally cars in GTA Online thanks to great speed and handling
Adversary Mode Analysis – $100K+ Per Hour Potential
Now onto the money making opportunities. This event brings double rewards on one of my favorite new adversary modes added in the Contract DLC: Acquire Targets.
It works like an amped up team version of VIP/Executive work sites from GTA Online of old. Two teams with one target try to bring that target to their respective safe zone for big cash and RP, while the enemy team tries to steal their mark for even more rewards.
There is frantic capture-the-flag energy with cars blazing and pulses pounding. The dynamic spawning also keeps you right in the action instead of tedious respawn timers.
My crew and I can bag $60-80K/hour plus 15-20K RP through skilled play. Nothing crazy but solid, and this week will be even higher thanks to 2X rewards. The fast pace is a blast too compared to driving Post Op vans…
However, there is one catch: the horrible matchmaking. Since release, getting games going has been an utter nightmare even during peak times. Empty lobbies galore.
Here‘s a snapshot I took trying to find a match last night:
Even on a Thursday night, matchmaking was totally broken
So while the raw rewards are awesome, actually finding people to play might be tougher.
I’d recommend rounding up 5-6 friends in an invite-only lobby to grind this out together. You should net around $120-150K and 30-40K RP per hour with some effort.
Expert Tip: Use an armored vehicle like the Nightshark or Insurgent Pickup Custom when attacking. The defenses help you play more aggressively to steal targets
Luxury Autos – Prime for Flexing, Not Functionality
Over at the luxury dealership rotation, we have the classy Lampadati Tigon and brazen Coil Cyclone representing.
The Tigon is a gorgeous grand tourer packing refined power at 332 hp (248 kW). Meanwhile the Cyclone seemingly teleports to 60 mph in under 3 seconds according to legendary test driver Tracy (no dyno needed).
Of course, these are mainly for clout and aesthetics because the damage will make you weep if you glance at a pole wrong. Plus the multi-million price tags. But at least you can get peacocking rights blowing rivals off the line while sipping cappuccinos!
Jokes aside, I only recommend these for hardcore collectors at the moment. Let‘s move onto more practical options.
Special Mission Rewards – Light on Value
Besides straight cash bonuses, R* also sprinkled in some special clothing and accessory rewards:
- Jeans & Cardigan Set – Finish the Unusual Suspects story mission from Patrick McReary. It unlocks these hipster duds that won‘t help in combat, but might help you argue about rare IPAs and 18th century poetry.
- Flektarn Weapon Camo – This actually awesome German camo pattern unlocks from completing the Last Dose finale on hard. That mission is pure pain with randoms though, so I‘d skip personally or grind with friends.
- White Graphics Smoking Jacket – Deliver all the party collectibles in the Checking In mission to don this…unique robe. Given the collectibles are obnoxiously scattered, I‘d pass on this one too.
Personally, I lean towards skipping these types of shallow rewards that require obscure grinding. But everyone has their own style in GTA Online, so decide what prizes speak to you. Optimizing profits is great, but so is just messing around and looking fresh I suppose!
More Updates Coming? I‘ll Believe it When I See It
Beyond the weekly specials, Rockstar put out another opaque Newswire post promising even more ‘updates’ to GTA Online in the coming months. Stuff like ‘adjustments to matchmaking’ and ‘quality of life improvements across jobs’.
- Promising better matchmaking since 2013…
Don’t put too much stock in announcements like these if you‘ve followed GTA Online as long as I have. I‘ve seen countless updates come and go over the years, but little ever changes under the hood.
Any actual evolution trickles out over months and years, usually disappointing hopeful fans anticipating big fixes.
Stuff like properly balancing businesses for solo players, removing orb spamming, fixing loading and transaction errors, or upgrading the dated engine would truly shift the needle.
But Rockstar tends to stick to surface level cosmetics instead of improving core systems. So I’d temper hopes unfortunately. Prove me wrong R*!
At least we did get a nice list of vehicle price changes this week to help curb insane inflation lately. I whipped up a quick data table to summarize the adjustments:
| Vehicle | Old Price | New Price | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil Cyclone | $1,880,000 | $1,380,000 | -27% |
| Truffade Nero | $1,440,000 | $1,225,000 | -15% |
| Overflod Entity XXR | $2,305,000 | $1,973,000 | -14% |
| Runier 2000 | $5,745,600 | $2,925,000 | -49% |
| Scramjet | $4,628,400 | $2,870,000 | -38% |
I wouldn‘t expect more broad pricing fixes anytime soon though. Rockstar is likely worried about angering whales who buy Shark Cards for everything.
On that note, don‘t buy Shark Cards! I have many guides for making millions in GTA Online legitimately. Let me know if you need any advice – happy to help out.
Developing My Optimal Grind Plan
Let‘s wrap up with some tactical advice. To maximize profits, I plan on:
- Grinding LS Car Meet rep via the street scene races to unlock cosmetic rewards
- Completing the prize ride challenges for free vehicles to add to my collection
- Upgrading the Executive Garage while the 40% discount lasts
- Buying the Entity MT rally car while it‘s cheap this week
- Playing Acquire Targets with my crew in an invite only lobby for $100K+ per hour
That should net me around $750K+ per week with some dedicated grinding. Plus plenty of new cars and clothing along the way!
I may skip the lackluster mission rewards, but will likely source some easy contraband to keep the nightclub warehouse ticking over. $750K per week will still let me have fun while profiting handsomely.
For new players without businesses, I‘d suggest focusing on the double money modes along with whatever is most enjoyable. Optimizing the grind will come in time!
Veterans like me should definitely buy the Executive Garage on sale even if you own other properties. And research the newest meta vehicles so you can compete in the Street Races.
Cashing Out This Month‘s Haul
As the sun sets over the Del Perro pier, I decide to bank my latest tuner car theft haul and relax for the night, reflecting on this week’s GTA Online update.
While it‘s no After Hours or Further Adventures in Finance and Felony in terms of content drops, I’m happy overall. Some decent bonus money, a phenomenal garage discount, and fun new races will keep me logging plenty of Los Santos hours.
My nostalgia for Vice City’s neon aesthetic helps me look past the failures in GTA Online’s foundations too. One can dream they’ll overhaul the dated engine and gameplay loops someday…but I’m not holding my breath!
For now, hitting lucky wheels spins before bed helps me focus on moments of joy while slowly building up my criminal empire. Wake up tomorrow, rinse, repeat!
Let me know what exciting adventures you all have planned this week in Los Santos down below!