GTA Online removes over 180 cars, moves some behind a paywall

A newly released GTA Online update has seen hundreds of “lesser used” cars removed from the game, with some being moved behind a paywall.

Prior to the release of the popular online game’s new San Andreas Mercenaries update, Rockstar confirmed that it would be removing some cars from the game’s in-universe shop. What wasn’t clear was which cars would be removed, and what would happen to them.

Now, thanks to fan efforts to catalogue the list of missing cars, it’s emerged that nearly 200 vehicles have been removed from regular sale in GTA Online, a move Rockstar said would “streamline the shopping experience”.

While cars will “be occasionally available in other ways,” the news has led to backlash from the GTA Online community over Rockstar’s poorly communicated changes to the game, and its removal of content that, in some cases, has been in the game since it launched in 2013.

Adding to the backlash is the discovery that some of these cars can now only be purchased by members of the GTA Online+ subscription service, meaning content that was once easily accessible to all players via in-game currency is now only available to those who pay a monthly fee.

It should be noted that if a player was to buy a subscription and then purchase the cars, they would still have access to that content even if they allowed the subscription to elapse.

It’s now been around a decade since the last new single-player entry in the GTA franchise. In one of the games industry’s most high-profile data leaks, more than an hour of GTA 6 development footage was published online last September, giving players their first look at the sequel to one of the best-selling games of all time.

The leaked footage included open-world gameplay from an alpha build of GTA 6, and seemingly confirmed a previous report which claimed the game will take place in Vice City and feature a female protagonist.

During its earnings call last month, Take-Two said Grand Theft Auto 5 has now shipped over 180 million units since its original release in 2013.

Rockstar’s owner also forecast a sharp jump in sales during its next fiscal year beginning in April 2024, driven by the release of “several groundbreaking titles”, leading to speculation that GTA 6 could be released during this period.