With GTA 6 Online, Rockstar has a chance to free players from its greatest vehicular mistake

Date:
Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:00:00 +0000

Description:
For several years now, GTA Online players have been watching the skies with fear. Its time for that to end.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter You hear it rather than see it: a hiss, quickly upgraded to a whoosh. Then a boom, as your custom supercar is engulfed in flame - triggering the trademark snapshot sound that arrives whenever youre wasted in Grand Theft Auto Online .

You rarely even catch a glimpse of your assailant, since they dont typically come in to land. Why would they? The Oppressors rule the skies. They dont
ever need to come down. Oppressor is not a melodramatic label Ive invented
for anybody who blows me up while Im having a nice drive through Los Santos. It is, in fact, Rockstars own name for the flying motorbike that has plagued its servers for several years now. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

In its first iteration, the Oppressor was a rocket-propelled bike with wings and a front-mounted machine gun. This, I regret to say, was as low-key and demure as Pegassis line of murder machines was going to get.

Next off the production line was the Oppressor MK II, a hoverbike with space for two homing missile launchers. Space that every griefer with access to a Shark Card has since filled. You may like GTA 6 is almost here here are 7 features Im desperately hoping for Rockstar Games could maximize GTA 6's
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Log onto any Rockstar-run GTA server today, bring up the map, and youll see their tell-tale icons zipping back and forth across the city like Uber drivers, their cool bags filled to the brim with death.

Well, you might be thinking, what do you expect? Youre playing Grand Theft Auto , the home of the smash and grab. You can hardly expect an adherence to the UNs rules of engagement from players weaned on five-star crime sprees. To which I would answer: youre absolutely right. But its on Rockstar to design weapons and vehicles that support its criminal ecosystem, rather than undermine it. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me
with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Cargo bane (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Much of GTA Online s endgame is rooted in the gathering and transportation of illegal goods: weed grown on farms, cash printed at counterfeit factories, meth manufactured in labs.

Players oversee their own property empires and, when the time comes, guide their product safely to buyers around Los Santos. Once theyre on the road
with their stock, Rockstar sends out an alert to all other players on a server, giving rivals a chance to disrupt the sale and make a quick, nasty buck.

Its a unique mechanic that Im quite fond of placing you in a state of paranoia, knowing you have something to lose. If youre part of a co-op gang making a delivery, one player is incentivised to put pedal to the metal,
while a partner-in-crime keeps an eye on the map like a rally co-driver calling out sudden changes to the route in order to avoid clashes with fellow cons. What to read next Take-Two CEO seems to take shot at MindsEye studio, says 'the folks at Rockstar seem to be able to make these massive hits' while former Rockstar employees 'havent been able to do it' 'There will be things
in GTA 5 that they will have in GTA 6 that you look at and go, "I should have seen that coming'' Former Rockstar developer suggests the upcoming game will feature mechanics from previous titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 September will make the GTA 6 wait much easier, with three huge releases (Image credit: Rockstar Games) But the whole exercise is rendered farcical once the
Oppressor gets involved. Only a handful of high-level vehicles in the game
can be upgraded with a lock-on jammer to counter homing missiles. And during most cargo deliveries, the vehicle you drive is picked by Rockstar, who hand you the keys to a specific van, seaplane, or occasionally, bin lorry, which means that in many instances, youre an easy victim for whichever airborne psychopath decides to soar across your path and unleash a salvo.

Seconds later, youre watching a product that took days or weeks to gather
and which could have made you rich smoulder on the tarmac.

Its an outcome that feels cruel, and worse, arbitrary. Evading the Oppressor while driving isnt an option and even pulling over to mount a full-scale defence feels like a Hail Mary. The flying bike moves like a wasp, buzzing up and down, left and right.

Now and then Ive managed to pop one out of the air with the railgun a magnet-powered rifle that also sits at the science fiction end of GTA s armoury and I cant deny it feels fantastic. But more often than not, theres little you can do. The picnic is prematurely finished, and the wasps have
won. It only remains to pack up the Tupperware and trudge sullenly home. New hope (Image credit: Rockstar Games) Against this backdrop, a potential Grand Theft Auto 6 Online could offer a reset: a chance to scrap with other players on something resembling an even playing field, even if that field is a Floridian swamp.

Of course, over time, a similar escalation of outlandish and overpowered gear is likely to occur. Rockstar will want to dangle silly, shiny things in front of the whales who buy those Shark Cards. But I hope that when that happens, the studio makes wiser decisions about the vehicles it sets free in its PvP ecosystem.

The last time an Oppressor rider blew up my stuff and flew away into the night, I followed them. I tracked them down to a barren slope north of Vinewood Hills and watched as they went to mount their beloved grief-mobile. The explosion, as I set fire to the bike with a single railgun shot from
afar, knocked their avatar backwards and sent them rag-dolling across the screen.

A message informed me that the bike was insured, and Id be paying out thousands of in-game dollars to replace it. I laughed a bitter, cathartic laugh. But the truth is, Id already lost. Id lost the moment the Oppressor came off the production line. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! The best gaming consoles All the best consoles of this generation

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/with-gta-6-online-rockstar-has-a-chance-to-fr ee-players-from-its-greatest-vehicular-mistake


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