GTA Online's Freemode Week Announced

It seems Rockstar is taking us on a trip down memory lane with their new string of week-long GTA Online events, looking at the big updates of the game's past. Recently we've been treated to an event focusing on the content of the recently released Cunning Stunts, after which the next event stepped back in time taking inspiration from Further Adventures in Finance and Felony as well as Executives and Other Criminals.

Now Rockstar is cranking the dial on their pseudo time-machine even further back to the days of Freemode Events, when random wacky missions, werewolves and lots of back-end tweaking were the name of the game. Freemode Events was a pretty notable GTA Online DLC, though not necessarily for its content. Sure, all of the new randomly triggered pastimes are pretty fun, but sometimes they don't quite go as planned and won't exactly make you rich.

The importance of Freemode Events stemmed from two factors. Firstly, this was the update that finally brought the Rockstar Editor to the Xbox One and Playstation 4, making the built-in gameplay recording and video editing suite a PC exclusive affair no longer. The other main contribution was a massive overhaul of GTA Online on a technical level. Much of the code related to the structuring, instancing and other juicy techy things was updated or replaced.

Now, this technical overhaul didn't show its benefits immediately. Players had to wait until Executives and Other Criminals was launched to fully understand what went down. Executives added he VIP and bodyguard system which was a dynamic the likes of which GTA Online has never before seen.

Either way, from yesterday through the 1st of September, Rockstar will be celebrating the goofy old update with a GTA Online event. This is the third consecutive such event to be hosted since the release of the latest content update. You can bet that Rockstar is busy brewing something in their DLC pot, but chances are it won't be announced before the summer is out, what with 4 days left.

If you haven't yet guessed from the theme of the event, the double GTA $ and RP promo this time around is for playing the titular Freemode Events. These randomly spawning optional missions crop up every now and then while messing around outside of jobs or other missions. They just appear wherever on the large open-world map of the game, enticing enterprising players to go over and try them out.

Fan favorites like Hunt the Beast, Penned In and Criminal Damage have remained popular to this day, while Dead Drop and Hot Property are often passed up by players. Either way, the promo offered by this new event will surely spur players to take advantage of these random missions more often as long as the bonus rewards last.

With many of the Freemode Events requiring a quick wheel which will race you to victory, the vehicle discount on offer this week is 25% off the Vapid FMJ. If you prefer looks over performance, but still want plenty of both, you can always grab a Sultan RS upgrade from Benny's with a 50% discount — which is welcome, considering how damn expensive lowriders are.

This event also wants to help GTA Online players accessorize while staying dangerously stylish. All pistols, which can be considered among the most elegant of firearms, are 50% off. If a stock pistol is too pedestrian for your fine tastes, the same discount applies to all luxury weapon finishes. You know, so the guy you're killing will know that he's not only dead, but he's poor too.

Naturally a man or woman of your fine tastes wouldn't want their perfectly tailored clothes to be besmirched with aesthetically damning smuts like bulletholes and blood. When you know you're going to take fire, you ought to wear some body armor over that suit or dress. Luckily for you, said armor is also just half-priced through the 1st.

If leaving your opponents eating dust just doesn't cut it, you can always invest in explosive vehicle mods, which are the last item on the list of goods enjoying a 50% discount due to the event. Other goods, such as trusty Assault Rifles, smaller but just as deadly SMGs and vehicle resprays are flaunting a 25% discount. All ammo for discounted weapons also enjoys the same markdown.

Announcing the new rotation of Premium Races whenever an event week begins has seemingly been added to the generic event checklist, seeing as all of the events since Cunning Stunts' release have done so. The newest track on which the finest and fastest racers of GTA Online may compete to nick the prize of 100k for first place is Rally, one of the official Stunt Races added to the game by Rockstar.

Which of these bonuses will you be cashing in on while playing GTA Online this week?