Low Rider, High Spender
GTA V has been out for a while, but luckily Rockstar decides to update the game once in a while with new content and challenges to make you visit Los Santos again. This time, a new FREE DLC has been released with a strong focus on vehicles.
Before we look at the DLC, a warning might be in the right place here for those who play on Xbox 360 or PS3. Rockstar already announced a while ago that they would eventually stop bringing new content to those two consoles because of their hardware capacity. Well, that time has come. From this DLC onwards, you’ll need the PC, Xbox One or PS4 version to play with the new content.
Enough about limits, back to possibilities. Enter Strawberry, a lower-class industrial and residential area in Los Santos. Few people live here though, industry rules most of the property here and whoever does live here most likely had no choice.
But we’re not interested in Franklin, or whoever lives here, we’re interested in somebody who bought a big building so he could spray the front of it with bright colors, fancy letters and weird characters. His name is Benny, and he is the new customizer in town.
You will be introduced to Benny and his shop by Lamar. He will call you to do a mission which starts and ends at Benny’s Original Motor Works. After that introduction, there will be more missions Lamar will have ready for you to invest in ammo for.
Benny’s Original Motor Works is a new shop that specializes in low-riders. Don’t look for racing kits or off-road enhancements, this is not Los Santos Customs. What you can buy from Benny looks special and sounds special.
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Meet Benny, the new customizer in Los Santos[/caption]
Benny likes to keep his work exclusive though, and you can reach exclusivity easily through two factors: availability and pricing. Yep, it’s not available for every car. Benny's first principle of exclusivity teaches that he only works on 6 cars of which 2 are new: the Declasse Moonbeam (with sliding doors!) and the Willard Faction (Buick Regal GNX). The 4 existing ones you can customize are the Vapid Chino, Albany Primo and Buccaneer and Declasse Voodoo. The cars can be bought through Benny’s own website for prices from $5500 to $225,000.
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All 6 cars you can customize in Benny's shop.[/caption]
Then comes the fun and slightly awkward bit. You can’t just drive in and upgrade. Nope, Benny needs a custom vehicle base to start with, hence why you have to upgrade the car to a 'Custom' version. This is where you meet Benny’s second principle of exclusivity: prices that make you pull your hair out. Although in all honesty, Benny prefers cash or credit cards rather than hair.
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Yep, you have to spend this money before customizing a car.[/caption]
After upgrading your car to a Custom version, which adds stuff like new wheels and a base hydraulics system, you can start customizing the car. The DLC has added over 30 new wheels which are only available through Benny’s shop, as well as a lot of new ways to change your ride. Liveries with pin-striping and complex graphics, improved sound systems, various interior options, bobbleheads, hydraulics and even a set of wheels the LNER Mallard engineers could only dream of. You don’t have to choose Benny’s low-rider wheels though, all the other wheels in the game are also available to choose, including custom tires (several types of whitewalls!) and the big color choice for the rims.
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Steam engines would be happy to get those[/caption]
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You can change interior designs and colors.[/caption]
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One of the optional hydraulic systems[/caption]
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Engines can be fitted with valvecovers, turbochargers and airfilter housings.[/caption]
Thankfully the DLC is not just pure low-rider parts, but a combination of new content, fixes and new features. The Interaction menu has been expanded and now allows for instant purchase of ammo. No body armor though, that you will still have to buy at your authorized Ammunation retailer.
There are 2 more new features in the interaction menu, both vehicle related. You can now get out of the car, turn the engine on, turn the headlights on and even choose the radio channel that should be played. All of that as a bit more immersion for the low-rider show-off. You can also open doors, trunks and bonnets, all at a time or independently from each other. That way you can actually show those engraved air filter housings, or that neon-illuminated sound setup. And for a change, these features are not just exclusive to the 6 low-rider cars…
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An example of a custom Primo[/caption]
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Opening cars remotely works on all vehicles you own.[/caption]
In addition, the DLC now allows you to own a fourth property. Don’t mix this up with an actual new mansion or something being added, you can just buy a fourth apartment or garage from the ones already available.
In my opinion this is a neat DLC but at the same time perhaps a frustrating one. At least let’s put it this way: you have reasons to spend in-game money again. The available options for the 6 cars Benny will work on come in huge numbers so there’s always a combination you’ll like. It’s nice to own four properties now and the Inventory allowing you to buy ammo directly is a useful support in those tight situations.
At the same time though, I wonder why Rockstar went so far with all those customization options only to limit it to 6 cars. They also chose a weird combination of those 6 vehicles since there is a van in Benny’s list but not a Tornado or Peyote. I’m also sure a lot of owners of sports cars and luxury cars would like to change the interior colors or add some new engine parts. Maybe this is something that will be added later, if the Banshee, Peyote and Cheetah in the shop are anything to go by.
Happy Halloween!
The Low-rider DLC also prepared GTA Online for the just-released Halloween update. This adds 2 more vehicles: the Franken Stange hotrod and the Lurcher Hearse. Note that these two are cars for Los Santos Customs, so don’t expect Benny to do his magic on these. The update also adds dozens of new masks and facepaints as well as a flashlight which can be bought from Ammunation. Yes, it’s a weapon too, one strike to the head takes half your health away. [Ed - guess you could say it makes you light-headed!]
The Low-rider DLC and the Halloween DLC are free updates for GTA Online only and is for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
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