Rockstar Games recently revealed Los Santos Tuners, the upcoming major summer DLC for Grand Theft Auto Online. The car meet update focuses on giving players a calm space to roll up in their fanciest rides without having to worry about NPC enemies or griefers. However, there are also some features that will be exclusive to the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 port coming later this year.
Los Santos Tuners is launching today, but you'll have to wait a bit - and shell out some extra cash - for the full experience. Launching in November is GTA 5's native next-gen port, which will reportedly feature a huge swath of technical improvements and gameplay extensions compared to the current version that is playable on new consoles via backwards compatibility.
Announced alongside the Los Santos Tuners update were some in-game upgrades for vehicles that will only be available in the new version. So far we only know about speed improvements specifically, but Rockstar did state "[...] and more", so other exclusive upgrades will also be on the menu.
When GTA Online launches on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S later this year, select vehicles will be upgradable with all new speed improvements and more.
These special upgrades will be available only on PS5 and Series X|S versions of GTAV — stay tuned for more details. pic.twitter.com/R9SS2miSC8
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) July 18, 2021
Since the next-gen port of GTA 5 will feature major technical overhauling, we don't expect there to be cross-generation play between the current versions of the game and the one launching in November, so the exclusive speed upgrades shouldn't cause any kind of imbalance in races - all the people with access to them will only be playing against each other.
Nonetheless, gating content that does not technically need the improved hardware of the new consoles has caused a bit of controversy - you don't need a next-gen port to have a car go faster. Some players are expressing a feeling of being cheated by this form of content exclusivity, and considering all the other changes Rockstar has in store for the port which would market it plenty, it is an odd choice.
It remains to be seen just how many upgrades will be exclusive to the port, and what other features will force players to buy the new version (and a new console if they haven't already). It also isn't clear whether the PC version will automatically get the upgrade, or if the improvements will be available on this platform at all.
Los Santos Tuners launches on July 20, with the next-gen port coming in November.
