Rockstar Games has officially released their $500,000 stimulus package for Grand Theft Auto Online to compensate players for the issues that followed the game’s release. The issues were numerous and the most severe issue cost many players their online characters.
I heard last week that the stimulus package was releasing soon and I actually signed into GTA Online this morning to see if the money had been released yet. As soon as I signed online, I was greeted with a message that said that Rockstar has deposited $500,001 to my in-game bank account. After a quick “woot woot,” I immediately began planning how to best spend my newly acquired wealth.
I would like to take a quick second to clarify something about how Rockstar delivers the stimulus money to players. In my first article about the stimulus package, I had read that Rockstar would be splitting the $500,000 into two equal payments of $250,000 but that was not how it worked after all. To keep players from killing others for their money, Rockstar automatically deposits the money into your bank account as soon as you sign in.
This system of giving players their money works much better as it gets handled all at once, and players cannot get another player’s money by killing them which helps support Rockstar’s “bad sport” system. I was shocked that Rockstar took this route but it is safer and it is more convenient for players, so Rockstar gets a thumbs up with this move.
Properties
I heard from several teachers in my life that the best investment you can make is purchasing property because the value tends to only increase. Well, I do not know if that is always true but I took that little bit of knowledge and looked at buying a condo in Los Santos. Let me tell you, you could easily spend almost all of your stimulus package in an expensive condo so I picked one of the less expensive ones to save some cash.
The property I decided on was Del Perro Heights, Apt 20 because it featured a ten-car Garage and only cost $205,000. The good news is that you can only own one Property at a time, and the game sells your old Property for you and deducts the price from the cost of the new Property.
My best bit of advice is to pick a good apartment but not to spend all your money on it like some of the $400,000 ones. Just because you have $500,000 does not mean you have to splurge it all away on one item, because there are plenty of fun ways to spend your stimulus money!
Expensive Cars, Yo!
Having only spent $170,000-ish dollars on my new Apartment, I still have over $300,000 in my Bank Account for later spending. I would be lying to you if I said I was thinking about holding on to the money for some intelligent endeavour…because I am definitely going to buy an over-priced sports car!
Nothing says reasonable, intelligent investment like an exotic sports car, amirite?!
In my Guide to Vehicle Selection, I discussed how sports cars are capable of high speeds and handle well, so they make ideal cars for making quick getaways. The only downside is that they tend to not do well when going off-road so keeping the tires on the road is a necessity.
Even though I want to buy an expensive sports car, I am still thinking about not spending too much money on one though. I have written before that I own an Annis Elegy RH8 and that is one of my main cars, but I am now looking for something a little more exotic. Two cars that I am considering are the Benefactor Feltzer and the Pfister Comet, and it is not an easy choice between the two of them!
The Benefactor Feltzer is one of my favorite cars in Grand Theft Auto V and Online.
The Benefactor Feltzer in GTA V/Online is roughly based off of the Mercedes SL65, and the car drives as good as it looks. The car has some serious upgrades that can be made in terms of cosmetics and performance as well, but even stock the car is one of my favorite from the GTA universe. The car is capable of doing 0 to 60 miles per hour in around 3.9 seconds and the speed tops out at 199 mph!
Not a great picture of the Pfister Comet but it is another of my favorite cars.
The Pfister Comet is based off the legendary Porsche 911 and it is hard to not want to own one in Grand Theft Auto Online. The Comet accelerates a little slower than the Feltzer because it takes it 4.7 seconds to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour, but the car has a similar top-end speed to the Feltzer. The Comet can also be upgraded with several cosmetic and performance upgrades, so each player can make their Comet have their own distinct look.
Overall
The stimulus package released by Rockstar features enough money for players to have some fun with the extra cash without completely unbalancing the game. There are plenty of exotic cars that cost too much money to be purchased with the stimulus money alone. Also, most of the military vehicles like the Rhino Tank cost considerably more than what Rockstar has offered players, so players still have plenty to play for.
I advise against spending all of the stimulus money at once though. There are features that Rockstar has not released yet and having some extra cash could come in handy later on. There are plenty of things you could spend money on in Grand Theft Auto Online but saving some of the stimulus money could help you out down the road.
