Decals and wraps form a cornerstone of personal expression in Grand Theft Auto Online, allowing players to transform stock factory vehicles into individualised statements of identity, allegiance, and craft. Although Rockstar Games has never formally branded the system under a single banner, the combined functionality of liveries, vinyls, sponsor decals, custom plates, paintwork, racing stripes, primary and secondary colours, pearlescent finishes, and full body wraps has produced one of the longest-running cosmetic ecosystems in any live-service game. The tradition is rooted in Rockstar North's Pay 'n' Spray heritage but matured rapidly after the 2013 launch into a layered customisation pipeline accessible chiefly through Los Santos Customs and, from October 2015 onwards, the specialised lowrider workshop Benny's Original Motor Works (Rockstar Games, 2013; GTA Wiki, 2024a).
The earliest GTA titles offered only respray functionality, with the Pay 'n' Spray garage serving primarily as a wanted-level eraser rather than a creative space (GTA Wiki, 2024a). When Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online launched on 1 October 2013, Rockstar replaced this minimalist system with Los Santos Customs, a parody of the real Los Angeles tuning house West Coast Customs popularised by MTV's Pimp My Ride (GTA Wiki, 2024a). Los Santos Customs introduced a deep menu of cosmetic options including primary and secondary paint categories (classic, metallic, matte, metals, chrome and pearlescent), wheel rim colours, window tints, neon underglow, license plates, smoke colour for tyres, and crucially the Liveries section, which applies pre-set wraps to applicable vehicles. Many supercars, motorcycles and military vehicles support full racing or camouflage liveries unlocked through specific updates such as Cunning Stunts (July 2016) and Gunrunning (June 2017), embedding the wrap tradition into nearly every major content drop (Plante, 2013; GTA Wiki, 2024b).
The Lowriders update of 20 October 2015 represented a watershed moment for decals and wraps in GTA Online. Rockstar introduced Benny's Original Motor Works on Alta Street in Strawberry, a dedicated shop offering hydraulic suspensions, interior trim, engine bay detailing, and most pertinently, lowrider-specific vinyls and roof artwork referencing Chicano car culture (GTA Wiki, 2024b). Vehicles first had to undergo a "custom" conversion before unlocking exclusive Benny's-only decal sheets, including ornate gold trim, mariachi-style mural roofs, and patterned vinyl wraps unavailable at standard Los Santos Customs branches. Subsequent updates including Lowriders: Custom Classics (March 2016), Import/Export (December 2016), Los Santos Summer Special (August 2020) and The Criminal Enterprises (July 2022) expanded the roster of Benny's-eligible vehicles to 31, each with bespoke decal libraries (GTA Wiki, 2024b; Plante, 2013).
Beyond the prescribed in-game options, a strong community tradition emerged around using decals to broadcast crew affiliation. Rockstar Games Social Club crews, inherited from Max Payne 3, allow players to upload a custom crew emblem which then appears as a decal slot on most vehicles and clothing (Wikipedia, 2024). This feature transformed wraps into a social currency: stunt racing crews adopted brand-consistent liveries across their Itali GTBs and Krieger supercars, while roleplay communities used decal placement to denote in-fiction businesses, police units, or gang colours. Sponsor-style decals referencing in-game brands such as Sprunk, eCola, Redwood and Pißwasser further reinforce the satirical capitalist tone of Los Santos (Rockstar Games, 2013). The Los Santos Tuners update of July 2021, centred on the LS Car Meet, deepened this tradition by introducing the Auto Shop with prep-board commissions and additional tuner-specific vinyl packs, alongside the test track where wrap showcases became a de facto social ritual (Wikipedia, 2024).
Decals in GTA Online operate as a layered texture system: a base coat, a secondary panel colour, optional pearlescent overlay, wheel colour, then livery decals applied as a separate decal sheet over the painted base. Most vehicles support a single livery slot only, which has long been a community grievance, as players cannot stack multiple decals or position custom artwork freely. The Arena War update of December 2018 partially addressed this by adding modular plating and weaponised body kits with their own decal channels, while the Arena Workshop introduced trade-price discounts on cosmetic conversions (Wikipedia, 2024). Despite ongoing requests, Rockstar has never shipped a freeform decal editor analogous to Forza Horizon's vinyl group system, meaning all wraps remain artist-authored rather than user-generated.
The decals and wraps tradition established across thirteen years of GTA Online sets a clear baseline expectation for Grand Theft Auto VI. Player demand for a Forza-style livery editor, expanded crew emblem placement, and persistent wrap saves across vehicles is well documented across community discussions. Rockstar's pattern of expanding cosmetic depth with each major update, from Los Santos Customs through Benny's to the LS Car Meet, suggests continued investment in vehicle personalisation as a retention mechanic in the next title.
GTA Wiki (2024a) Los Santos Customs. Available at: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Los_Santos_Customs (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
GTA Wiki (2024b) Benny's Original Motor Works. Available at: https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Benny%27s_Original_Motor_Works (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Plante, C. (2013) 'Grand Theft Auto Online launches into chaos', Polygon, 1 October. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Rockstar Games (2013) Grand Theft Auto V / Grand Theft Auto Online: Los Santos Customs Description. New York: Rockstar Games.
Wikipedia (2024) Grand Theft Auto Online. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_Online (Accessed: 14 May 2026).