Haberler
GTA Online is home to a whole sequel’s worth of cinematic stories
J
Jeremy Peel
“Tony,” Lazlow simpers. “I don’t think you can say Gay Tony anymore, it’s not PC, the internet will go crazy.”
It’s a quintessential GTA cutscene—delivered with a sprinkle of societal commentary, a provocative poke at changing sensibilities, and a lot of yelling. And its presence feels symbolic here in the live-service era. The Ballad of Gay Tony was the last piece of single-player DLC Rockstar North ever produced. It was an old-fashioned expansion pack that told a simultaneous side story, unfolding alongside the events of the GTA IV’s main campaign—the same way that classics like Blue Shift and Opposing Force expanded the world of the original Half-Life.
Then GTA Online took off, and everything changed. It didn’t matter that GTA V actor Steven Ogg had already shot scenes for a story expansion where Trevor would have become a secret agent. Rockstar threw its weight behind a perpetually-running multiplayer Los Santos. With GTA VI delayed into 2026, it’s been more than a decade since solo GTA players have got a taste of anything new, when they once could expect a full sequel every other year.
For a long while, I was among the fans missing out on GTA Online’s fun. To reach its acclaimed heists and story-driven missions, it seemed I’d have to interface with a chaotic Los Santos where players on flying motorbikes would drone-strike anyone attempting to scrape together enough cash from pizza deliveries to buy a miserable apartment.
But then I made a crucial discovery: invite-only servers. Turns out you can play GTA Online as a co-op game, unpunctuated by random explosive deaths, and dip into the PvP only when you want to dabble in racing or scrap over cargo. In this mode, the story missions can breathe amid the usual rhythms of Los Santos: the stop and start of civilian traffic, the urban birdsong of distant police sirens, and the overheard pedestrian phone calls about unexpected pregnancies.
A few months in, I feel I’m midway through a hidden sequel you might call "GTA 5.5." It’s not unusual to have Trevor growling in my earpiece like the devil on my shoulder, tempting me toward stealing from the wrong people. And downtown in Little Seoul, I share a brutalist office with Franklin. It’s a teetering concrete wedding cake of a building that houses our "celebrity solutions" agency—doing the dirty work that Dr. Dre doesn’t want to muddy his fader-sliding fingers with. Chop the dog, now peppered with grey hairs, has a bed upstairs. It’s tucked between the gold discs, golf gear, and wall-hung affirmations of Franklin’s new life (“YOU OWN LOS SANTOS”).
What a wistful pleasure it is to see the hungry young newcomer of GTA V’s campaign getting comfortable and just a little out of touch, the way Michael was when the whole story began 12 years ago. There’s some chuckling at the expense of Franklin’s childhood friend and comedy foil Lamar, while he struggles to get his head around NFTs, or “non-f***kable tokens," as he incorrectly calls them. The ongoing nature of GTA Online winds up becoming a storytelling strength, as familiar faces age and take on new, unexpected aspects.
Then there’s a cast of unfamiliar characters, like Vincent, the poetically verbose policeman who plots to rob both the cartel and the dirty cops in league with them, all while fetching coffee for his corrupt superiors. “As I’m sure you can appreciate, there’s certain transactions I can’t be party to as an officer of the law,” he says. “But if I’ve learned anything from my associates on the LSPD, it’s how to look the other way.” Many GTA Online players are equally intrigued by Agent 14, the mysterious man with the bloodshot eyes in smart-casual dress who studiously avoids ever telling you his name as he talks you through the business of arms dealing.
“You sell your weaponry to state-sanctioned actors on the global stage, make a tidy profit, and do the country proud,” he says. “I got medals for this, I promise you.” And then: “Ah Jesus, I gotta get out of here. We’re bombing someone tomorrow. I mean… I don’t know what I mean. Doesn’t matter.” It’s Agent 14, alongside series mainstay Lester, who pulls the strings in your earliest online heists. Those are every bit as spectacular as you’ve always been told, and worth the infuriating setbacks during multi-stage, highly choreographed missions, which riff on Michael Mann and Mission: Impossible in wildly fulfilling ways.
You just need to find it. Visiting the capital-letter character markers around that map, as you would in a traditional GTA, quickly launches you into a cycle of repeatable races and low-level gangbanging activities. Instead, most of the meat of the game comes with property ownership: the high-end apartments where heists are planned, the bail office from which you’ll launch non-lethal surgical strikes, and the submarine that’s a prerequisite to reaching the private island of Cayo Perico.
Rockstar is still making proper, story-driven GTA missions two decades on. Follow the sound of Gay Tony’s yelling, and you’ll find yourself getting pulled back into some classic GTA.
Check out GTA Online on Epic Games Store today!