Grand Theft Auto Online players have a whole new way to go shopping for firepower: The Gun Van, a store-on-wheels that offers discriminating consumers and purveyors of violence a rotating selection of top-of-the-line weaponry, armor, and ammunition.
As you might expect, the Gun Van is not entirely on the level with local regulations, such as they are in Los Santos. That lack of legal compliance means everything sold out of the back of the Gun Van comes at a discount, and there's no worry about Rank requirements: If you can afford it, you can have it.
The downside of not having all the requisite licenses and permits is that the Gun Van has to stay on the move in order to avoid getting busted, so if you want to take advantage of what it offers, you're going to have to go looking for it. It's a bit like Xur in Destiny 2 in that way, except that as far as I know Xur actually has all his paperwork in order.
It’s a hassle, but it might be worth the effort. Along with 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 (in GTA Online, that is—they don't exist as an actual man-portable weapon in the real world) but hit like a fleet of trucks, making them very handy in the right situation.
Railguns are fairly standard fare in videogames these days, but there was a time when they were new and very exotic. My first encounter with railguns (that I can recall, anyway) came in the mid-'90s, first in the Arnold Schwarzenegger flick Eraser and then the following year in Quake 2—they were both very hot stuff.
This week's Gun Van offerings also include:
- Railgun
- Combat Shotgun
- Assault Shotgun
- 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.
This week will also see the kickoff of a new First Dose Hard Mode event that runs 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 a whole bunch more. The Gun Van is really what it's all about ("Gun Van"—it's just fun to say, isn't it?) but you can get the full lowdown on everything else from the Rockstar News Wire.
