I’ve spent quite a few million on useful things in GTA Online. But also on things that I would rather undo. Here are my biggest buying mistakes.
What is it about? The online world of GTA 5 is regularly expanded with new content. Much of it looks really cool and initially gives the impression that you absolutely have to buy it.
But sometimes, after a while, it turns out that I could have saved the purchase.
The order of my buying mistakes that I present here is arbitrary and does not play a role in assessing how “much” I regret something.
Zhaba – Looks cool, but …
Why did I buy this? The Zhaba is a large, armored vehicle that found its way to GTA Online with the Casino Heist update. It has thick armor, space for a few passengers, and can drive on water.
For MeinMMO, I bought and tested the Zhaba. I quickly noticed that its usefulness is very limited. You can find my test of the Zhaba in GTA Online here.
The thing costs 1.8 million GTA-dollars in its normal state, as a purchase price without tuning. But I wanted to know: How cool is it to drive off-road and also over water?
That’s why I regret it: As it turns out, it’s not that cool. The first few minutes are fun. You can scare your unsuspecting passengers by driving the vehicle straight into the water and then floating instead of sinking.
But that gets old quickly. The Zhaba is really slow and offers hardly any justification for its price.
The only good thing is its thick armor, which can withstand up to 14 rockets from the annoying Oppressor MK 2. But in hindsight, I would have preferred to pass on this purchase.
Training stuff for the Casino Heist – WTF?
Why did I buy this? For the big Casino Heist in GTA Online, practice materials are available for purchase. There are exercises for the drill, for cracking doors with blinking codes, and a model of the casino showing all entrances.
I bought it because I thought: A new heist and things to practice with? You definitely need that. So, better invest before I can’t complete the heist. Nice, get all three practice devices at once. You never know what it’s good for.
All together, the practice equipment costs a whopping 1.4 million GTA-dollars.
That’s why I regret it: Was it worth the investment? Not at all. You can spot the casino entrances yourself and you only do the mission once. Great – already saved costs. Drilling isn’t a big deal. Just don’t let the drill overheat – done.
You save cracking door codes if you collect the keycards in a mission beforehand. And you feel like you complete this mission much faster than cracking the doors. And there’s good help for the fingerprints too. I could have saved that.
Arena Wars Update – (almost) all content
Why did I buy this? When the “Arena Wars” update came out, I thought: “This will be the next big thing in GTA Online.” And there was so much new content. The Arena Wars workshop, vehicles, and SO MANY UPGRADES for the vehicles.
Surely my car should stand out in the arena and be deadly. After all, it’s about defeating opponents. So I bought various cars and really upgraded them.
The problem is, the cars themselves are already extremely expensive. Plus, the incredibly costly tuning.
For example, let’s take a look at the Cerberus truck that stands in my garage. The thing costs a purchase price (with discount) of 2.9 million dollars. If you upgrade the vehicle with ramming, boost, spikes, and armor, you’re looking at another 2 million dollars. So you’re paying nearly 5 million to have a hefty Arena War truck in your garage.
I casually spent more than 15 or 20 million GTA-dollars on content from this DLC.
That’s why I regret it: When I drove the cars on the street and realized that they are neither particularly fast nor super useful, it quickly became clear to me that I wasted a lot of money. The truck with its huge front ram can’t even push traffic out of the way.
I expected effects like with the Ramp Buggy, where cars just fly over me when I rush into them at full speed. But no – my truck becomes terribly slow upon impact and the cars may roll aside if I’m lucky.
For me, the contents of the update were simply far too expensive, and I could only realize that afterward.
The purchase that I still do not regret from this update is the RC Bandito. With the remote-controlled car, I run a time trial every week and earn at least 100,000 GTA-dollars in just 1 to 3 minutes. Little by little, I’m earning back the millions I spent on this update…
The Alien Outfits – I was probably too impatient
Why did I buy this? I bought these cool alien outfits when a huge fight between aliens in GTA Online broke out at the end of April 2020. Suddenly, players were running around everywhere in green and purple alien bodysuits and fighting each other in the streets.
Of course, I wanted to be part of the fun. When I was writing my shopping guide for the alien outfits, I jumped right in myself.
- 358,000 GTA-dollars for the green outfit
- 330,000 GTA-dollars for the purple outfit
Of course, I bought both variants. That way, I could quickly run around the corner and change colors to quickly belong to the cool kids in a dumb situation. Like a football fan who quickly wears the jersey of the team whose fans dominate the subway after an emotional derby.
That’s why I regret it: I’m satisfied with the look of the outfits. They are also practical – I could participate in some fights. I only regret the purchase because of Rockstar Games. They decided to give away the cool alien outfits in GTA Online just three days after my purchase. They probably wanted to hype the players’ event.
YES, THANKS! If I had just waited a few days, I would have saved almost 700,000 GTA-dollars.
I should never have bought these vehicles
Why did I buy this? Here I summarize two vehicle purchases that I made.
I bought the Deluxo, which is based on the iconic DeLorean, out of nostalgia but also because of its touted usability. Because hey, the car can fly and shoot rockets. Basically, that’s what GTA Online is all about, combined.
I regret the purchase because the areas of use for the Deluxo are really limited. The car is not fast on the road and can hardly compete in the air with others. When do you really need a moderately fast flying car? I’d rather drive one of the fastest cars in GTA Online on the road or fly with turbojets through the air.
By the way, without a discount, the Deluxo costs 4.7 million GTA-dollars. Way too much for a vehicle that basically just sits in the corner and is only showcased when I want to trigger nostalgia for “Back to the Future” in people.
What can’t be missing in GTA Online? Jetpacks, of course. Naturally, I also bought the Mammoth Thruster Jetpack out of curiosity. Why? Well, because we’re in GTA and jetpacks should be … powerful?
I wanted it to travel quickly from point A to point B on the map. However, I can count the instances of using the aircraft in a year on one hand. Helicopters like the Volatus fly super fast from point A to point B. For my treasure hunts, I simply take the Buzzard attack helicopter. So? Money down the drain. Great. Bought for 3.6 million and for that, it handles really poorly and doesn’t look that cool either.
Why don’t I just sell it all? A question you might be asking. I’ve quickly parted ways with some buying mistakes and acted as if they never existed. But with things like the jetpack, I just hope that someday the time will come when it becomes relevant. And then I’ll be there with a big smile. One can always hope.
But there are also some purchases I would make again today. Here I show you 5 important purchases in GTA Online that I never regretted.
