Grand Theft Auto Online's latest update, "San Andreas Mercenaries," was released yesterday, adding new types of missions, various cosmetic content, and quality-of-life changes. But what has angered fans is what has happened to hundreds of vehicles.

Rockstar gave them this free update, but they also did a great job of taking about 200 cars and bikes from the in-game store. To push it even further, many of them are now available to subscribers to the game's premium service, GTA+, through the Vinewood Car Club (accessible only to GTA+ players).

This is a 10-year-old game. Rockstar had announced prior to the update that some cars would be removed, and players assumed this meant getting rid of old cars that no one would use anymore. But it wasn't.

Rockstar, for its part, said, "To streamline the shopping experience, many lesser-used cars were removed from the dealership website ...... These will occasionally be made available in other ways, including the Lucky Wheel at Diamond Casino & Resort."

On the GTA forums, players keep a catalog of vehicles that have been removed from the game's website (which is how they are purchased), and the list is extensive. Particularly contentious among players is Rockstar's insistence that "lesser-used" vehicles be removed.

"They say fewer cars, but delete damn everything," said SparkySyndicate, which is not strictly accurate but probably captures the sentiment.

"It would have been mostly fine for cars to be removed from the website that could have been stolen off the street and stored in a garage, but they absolutely went nuclear and removed a bunch of cars that, let's be honest, definitely don't fit the description of "little-used." ImAddictedToGaming said." So you're saying that a pair of great cars in a very affordable price range, like the Jester and the Massacro, are less used than the Virgo and Baller LE LWB from Ill-Gotten Gains?

"I try to see a little logic in everything they do, whether I agree or disagree, but I don't see any in this, I know they are trying to promote GTA+ subscriptions and increase the number of players, and that's because they are a business I get it, but I'm sick of removing access to old content, some of which has been available to everyone since 2013, and locking it behind a paywall (or at least a FOMO model through the event week)."

Yeah, the kicker for PC players is pretty much the same. Take my beloved Sterling GT for example, it's one of the cars affected, and it's currently only available to GTA+ subscribers; you can't subscribe to GTA+ on PC. Only PS5 and Xbox Series S/X players can join.

As a further note, players who already own these cars will not lose them. However, for those who do not, there is hard cheese. They must be playing on a console, be subscribed to GTA+, or wait for the "occasional" prize wheel car to appear on a weekly basis, which may appear "once in a while.

"Most of these vehicles are simply not very common or spawn cars on the street," said Thrasher9294.

"Some, like the Sterling GT, are the most competitive vehicles in their particular class. Among them is the Sterling GT, which is available exclusively to GTA+ members in the new Vinewood Car Club."

"Trying to introduce FOMO into a 10-year-old game at this point is a rather puzzling example, and the community is understandably quite angry."