GTA Online expands next week with Transform Races

Grand Theft Auto Online [official site] has been growing steadily for a good long while now, adding new missions and competitive mini-games since launch. Only fitting, then, that the multiplayer crime-o-thon is sustained by shameless and continued thievery, with the most recent update - Smugglers Run - adding a Battlegrounds-esque Battle Royale playmode with an up-armored vehicular spin. Previous expansions have introduced Trackmania-esque improbable stunt racing on player-made tracks and Splatoon-y colourful competitions of turf control among other such delights.

Go on. Take a look at the trailer after the jump and tell me what game they've nicked the wing-mirrors off of this time.

Give up? Well, perhaps I'm being a little cynical, but that looks more than a little like the central gimmick of the excellent Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. While clearly not as charming due to its lack of Nights as a playable character, and definitely inferior for its shortage of Panzer Dragoon-themed tracks, it does look to have some appeal of its own.

Putting snark aside, GTA Online does boast a huge range of vehicles to ride, drive or fly, and the vast majority of them are surprisingly fun to use. This new mode looks to capitalise on that in the most direct way possible, and I can see some fun mental gymnastics involved in switching between air, land and sea control systems.

The Transform Races update will be rolling, flying and floating its way into Grand Theft Auto Online on October 17th.