GTA Online welcomes us to a new island for a new heist

A whole new Caribbean island has arrived in GTA Online with the launch of The Cayo Perico Heist today, inviting us to completely rinse the drug lord El Rubio. Yes, sadly, his party island is only for the heist, not a place we can visit any time. It's an intriguing heist though, and one we can actually complete solo for once. And we get our own submarine. Also, Dr Dre pops up for like 30 seconds.

The Cayo Perico Heist takes place on a private Caribbean island, home to a drug lord who thinks he's a whole lot of fun and certainly not terrifying. We're sent to get some sensitive data, but we surely won't be leaving with just that. Some folks had hoped Rockstar would let everyone onto the island for regular open-world antics but nah, we can only go for the heist. I never expected it to become part of free roam but, well, I wouldn't have minded it as a surprise.

Lot of cutscenes in this one. I jacked in when the update hit this morn, to check out the setup. So! We're working with Miguel Madrazo, son of Martin (who we've worked for a lot) and Patricia (who Trevor fell in love with). He's the hip, cool, 2.0 face of organised crime, the sort of git who talks about hydration and diversifying brands. No, really, he tells his mum to go "hydrate":

To get his data off El Rubio, we're off to the island of Cayo Perico. Because Rockstar cannot add new crimes without making us buy something expensive, we'll be needing a submarine. It costs $2.2 million, which just about cleared me out. The submarine is a wee base in itself, but we can actually drive it around. It's not fast, but it is mobile. Has torpedoes too. And with the sonar upgrade, you can pootle around the sea looking for sunken suitcases of XP and cash (the one I found contained a paltry $7500). But why do we really need a submarine? Cos it'll be our crimebase for the heist, with help from this fella:

We don't take the submarine to get there, mind. We're going undercover on the party island as a tour manager, then take that opportunity to get a good look at everything we want to nick. So we'll hope on a plane t- wait, that's Dr. Dre. Dre just pops up in this GTA heist to say hi then pops off. What. How. Why. Okay!

The heist sounds really quite interesting. Rockstar's announcement explains that once again, we'll have lots of different approaches available, depending on how much recon we do. This can change how we get onto and off the island, and open up handy bonuses like air support too. And while we're after a big score, lots of other smaller stealables might be in random locations around the place. For once, we'll be able to do the entire host solo, if we want.

None of my crimepals play anymore and pubbies are a nightmare so I am keen to have a go. I didn't have time for a full heist, but did get as far as sneaking out the party then dodging guards around the island. I'll definitely be heading back to finish up.

The update adds loads more. New radio stations with new music! New music for some old stations (sadly not Non-Stop Pop)! New missions for new DJs in a new nightclub! New clothes! New guns! New boats! New aircraft! New cars! And a free go-kart if you log on this weekend. Gotta go check out these new looks after the fashion disasters of Cyberpunk 2077.

Disclosure: I have pals who work at Rockstar, which is a near-inevitability for Edinburgh residents.