Top Pop Cult Vehicles References Future GTA Online DLC Should Make

With recent DLCs adding a load of commemorative vehicles to Grand Theft Auto Online that reference some of our favorite pop culture icons from the time when the year began with 19 instead of 20, its logical to assume this easter egg trend will continue — and we have a few suggestions of our own.

Examples of such references being present in the game include the Vigilante being an obvious Batmobile, the Ruiner 2000 being a reference to K.I.T.T., multiple James Bond spycars, a DeLorean, and a whole lot more.

Of course, the ugly issue of copyright is present, so every reference must be tweaked just enough to skirt these laws and allow Rockstar to implement the vehicles in the game without having a murder of lawyers descend upon them like a flock of particularly bothered-yet-polite birds toting cease and desist letters.

So what is the criteria? Beyond the property being arguably popular, we didn't restrict ourselves too much — I considered limiting the timeframe to 1999 and earlier, but then the Vigilante has a good deal of the newer Tumbler from Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy in its DNA, so newer designs are also applicable.

ECTO-1

Few fictional vehicles that aren't referenced in GTA 5 already in some way can stake as big a claim to fame as the vehicle the Ghostbusters use to respond to all those calls they get. Because, you know, who you gonna call and... eugh.

GTA Online has its fair share of retro vehicles, however none quite fit the bill of the '59 Cadillac hearse on which the Ecto-1 is based and is a modified version of. To adapt in for GTA, some alterations would be required, like the removal of the very trademarked Ghostbusters symbol and the tweaking of a few smaller details. Of course, this is GTA we are speaking about, so why not toss some front facing machine guns in there? Alter the animation so it shoots glowing technicolor ammo and call them "proton guns" or something.

Helicarrier

GTA Online dropped any pretense of being grounded in any kind of reasonable reality over a year ago, and the recent The Doomsday Heist update only pushed us further down the rabbit hole. Since we already own bunkers, secret facilities and freaking orbital cannons, who is going to bat an eyelash at huge flying aircraft carriers straight out of the Marvel universe(es)?

I already have a fantastic suggestion for a name, right off the bat, changing just one letter — Hellcarrier. Boom, badass. Implement it like a mixture of a MOC, an Avenger (ha) and the bunker but on supersoldier-serum. Let players control it, unlike the yacht. Let them deck out the interior with all kinds of flashy tech. Straddle it with a disgustingly large price-tag. We're ready to assemble.

Blackbird

These past months, Rockstar has been filling up the game's roster of aircraft, especially in the wake of the Smuggler's Run DLC, but newer updates also brought some flying vehicles to the game. As such, the futuristic-looking stealth plane used by the X-Men would fit right in.

GTA Online has been getting futuristic vehicles for a while now, with the Khanjali tank being the latest addition which fits the bill. Since Marvel makes a billion iterations and versions of everything, there is a huge library of possible Blackbird designs to choose from. However, the most iconic version is the one based on the actual blackbird plane, but with forward angled wings. It's become a generic enough design over the years to not be one Rockstar would get sued over, so there's no danger there.

Transformers

Any of them, really. It doesn't even need to be based on an actual character from the franchise, since "red and blue truck turning into a robot" may be a tad risky. Just give us any odd vehicle that can turn into a bipedal robot. Just make sure the driver isn't crushed or torn apart when it transforms.

To make things fair-play, the base vehicle should be one that has weapons by default, like a tank, and the "robot mode" should have identical stats, meaning the whole transforming thing would only add a cool-factor instead of any practical advantage, beyond maybe allowing players to jump. Who cares if your stats don't change? You're a robot.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Shh, you know you want this. You've wanted this since GTA Online veered into the realm of odd vehicles. The titular vehicle of an old musical comedy where a banged up racecar gets outfitted with retractable vehicles, and can play some neat tunes.

Naturally, the GTA variant would need some minor adjustments to the iconic wing design, and will need to play different tunes, but we can already see a vehicle based on this becoming a community favorite. Just imagine annoying all the other clueless players in your session with the music this thing would make.

Mach 5

Not only does the Mach 5 from Speed Race look fantastic with its sleek curves and pristine white color scheme highlighted by the reserved use of red, it's also really really fast and packs a bunch of gadgets.

Between pneumatic jumping rods, extendable front-facing chainsaws, a periscope, deflectors, drones, and a bunch of other goodies, the Mach 5 would be a ton of fun to muck about with in GTA 5's open world. Of course, for the sake of balance, it would have to be neutered a bit — but I really want a car with front-facing chainsaws.

Black Beauty

I guess you can cobble together a bootleg version of the Green Hornet's iconic car, since many vehicles in GTA Online now feature dual machineguns as upgrades, however none of the rides that do happen to fit the design.

The stylish vintage muscle car with a few custom upgrades and two very prominent front-facing machine guns would instill fear into any street criminal — especially if its being driven by another criminal, instead of a hero who is usually morally prevented from actually killing their opponents. Now, since GTA Online offers customization on pretty much every vehicle in the game, the "black" part of the car's name can be dropped upfront, but then it probably would need to change anyways due to copyright.

Obviously we can't list every popular fictional vehicle that would fit GTA Online nicely since there are so many, but we've collected a pretty decent crop. What fictional rides would you like to see adapted to GTA Online in future DLC?