After nearly a decade, GTA 5 will no longer make you wreck your thumb to sprint as Rockstar has added an alternate control option as part of the GTA Online Summer update.
GTA fans might have their attention fully focused on the eventual official reveal of GTA 6, but that doesn't mean that GTA 5 has nothing more to offer. In fact, Rockstar recently shared the details of its upcoming Summer update, San Andreas Mercenaries, which have a few interesting additions that should make GTA Online a lot easier to play for long-time fans.
The biggest of these is the addition of an alternate control option for sprinting. The Rockstar Games Newswire post reveals that the update will include an option that now lets players hold down the run button to sprint instead of tapping it like no tomorrow and doing untold damage to their thumbs.
I can't count the times in GTA Online when a friend has dropped me in the middle of nowhere and my ride has been sent to me halfway across the map, leaving me to sprint around the map like an idiot and making my thumb and X button beg for mercy in the process. That's not going to be an issue anymore when the update drops on June 13 - farewell thumb pain, I'll almost miss you.
That's not the only quality of life change that's coming to GTA Online. The update will also finally let players choose to claim all of their destroyed vehicles from Mors Mutual Insurance at once, instead of slowly having to do them one by one as we have for the past ten years. It's a small change but one that's been requested for... well, ten years, so props to Rockstar for finally implementing it into the game.
Some of the other player-requested improvements that are noted in the newswire post include custom description tags inside garages to be able to find vehicles easier, the Willard Eudora and Albany Classique Broadway being useable for taxi work now, and different weather effects all being added to the Rockstar Creator, including the highly-requested ability to have snow. These changes don't quite match up to no longer ruining your thumb or having to make a ton of calls, but they're appreciated regardless.
It might have taken a whole decade, but it's clear from this update that Rockstar is aware of how frustrating these two features are, which hopefully indicates that it's going to take some of these lessons into GTA 6. Why would it update GTA Online so late into its lifecycle with such an option if it wasn't thinking about carrying it forward?