Grand Theft Auto online (opens in new tab) players have an all-new way to shop for firepower: The Gun Van, a shop-on-wheels that offers discriminating consumers and purveyors of violence a rotating selection of premium weapons, armor and ammunition.
As you might expect, the Gun Van isn’t quite up to the local regulatory level, as it is in Los Santos. That lack of legal compliance means anything sold out of the back of the Gun Van is being sold at a discount, and you don’t have to worry about rank requirements: if you can afford it, you can have it.
The downside to not having all the required licenses and permits is that the Gun Van has to keep moving to avoid getting caught, so if you want to take advantage of what it has to offer you’ll have to go looking for it. It’s a bit like Xur in Destiny 2 (opens in new tab) that way, except that as far as I know Xur actually has all his paperwork in order.
It’s a hassle, but it can be worth it. In addition to all the usual sorts of fun hardware, the Gun Van also delivers the mighty Railgun to GTA Online. Unlike conventional guns, railguns use electromagnetism to fire projectiles at extremely high velocity. They have a very low rate of fire (i.e. in GTA Online, they don’t exist as an actual portable weapon in the real world) but hit like a fleet of trucks, making them very useful in the right situation.
Railguns are pretty standard in video games these days, but there was a time when they were new and very exotic. My first encounter with railguns (which I can at least remember) was in the mid-90s, first appearing in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Gum and then into the following year Earthquake 2– they were both very hot stuff.
This week’s Gun Van offerings also include:
- Rail gun
- battle rifle
- assault rifle
- SMG
- assault rifle
- Heavy sniper
- Compact EMP Launcher
- RPG
- Knife
- Baseball bat
- Molotovs
- Proximity mines
- Grenades
Basically, if they don’t have it, you don’t need it.
Also kicking off this week is a new First Dose Hard Mode event running through February 8, double GTA$ and RP rewards for the Community Series, new rides in Simeon’s Premium Deluxe Motorsport Showroom, 30% off all bunkers and bunker upgrades and mods and much more. The Gun Van is really what it’s all about (“Gun Van” – it’s just fun to say, isn’t it?) Rock Star News Wire (opens in new tab).