I’m modding GTA 5 every day in a quest to either transform it into a PC version of GTA 6 or break it entirely. Sometimes happiness isn’t a new thing, you know? Sometimes it’s about wringing novelty out of what you’ve already got, finding a new perspective on old things and enjoying them to their fullest.

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It is in this spirit that I have not installed a new mod in GTA 5 this week, but used an old one to set a constant and unstoppable momentum on every NPC car in the game. I also turned friction off, specifically using the Enhanced Native Trainer to spawn the anti-air truck from the very first mod I put into GTA 5. Turns out there’s a whole bunch of stuff in here!

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Los Santos has gone from a humdrum facsimile of Los Angeles to an unforeseeable carnival of movement. Vehicles, newly loosed from their obligations to the ground, now waft lazily through the air. Standing on the balcony of Franklin’s home, you can watch them gyrate on the skyline like lightning bugs.

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Sometimes you try to cross the road and get vaporised by a transit van travelling at a fraction of the speed of the light. That does also happen sometimes.

It’s great fun, though. But I have a confession: originally, I set every car to travel at maximum speed, a setting which was great laughs but made the game functionally unplayable. I have since set them to around 15. I don’t know 15 of what, but the setting is 15. The maximum setting was 100, so it’s quite a bit lower. It just means all the same chaos that was happening at max speed still happens, just in a way that you stand a hope in hell of navigating.

Welcome to Los Santos, the most airborne little city on Earth.

When I’m not modding GTA 5, I’m playing pretty much anything. My writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. I’ll play pretty much anything, and have written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin’s Creed. My most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget.

So, what’s next for GTA 5? Will I transform it into a PC version of GTA 6 or break it entirely? Come back tomorrow to find out what new horrible thing I’ve done to Rockstar’s baby.