Plane customisation has evolved into one of the defining sandbox features of the modern Grand Theft Auto series, growing from the limited cosmetic options of Grand Theft Auto V into a full mechanical and tactical system through Grand Theft Auto Online's post-launch updates. With Grand Theft Auto VI set in the fictional state of Leonida, a region modelled on Florida and including the Leonida Keys, Mount Kalaga National Park and the swampy Grassrivers area (Wikipedia, 2026), aviation is expected to play a significant role in both story progression and freemode activities. Given Rockstar's stated ambition to deliver "a significant online mode" comparable in scope to Grand Theft Auto Online (Wikipedia, 2026), the precedents established by the Smuggler's Run update form the most reliable baseline for anticipating plane customisation in the upcoming title.
Released on 29 August 2017 as part of Grand Theft Auto Online's post-launch content roadmap, Smuggler's Run introduced air-freight contraband operations centred on purchasable Hangars at Los Santos International Airport, Fort Zancudo, McKenzie Airfield and the Sandy Shores Airfield (Wikipedia, 2025). The update bundled thirteen new or revised aircraft with a deep modification suite anchored in the Hangar's onboard workshop, which functioned as the aerial equivalent of the Mobile Operations Centre introduced during Gunrunning earlier the same year.
Customisation options included weapon loadouts (machine guns, missiles, bombs and explosive cannons), countermeasures (chaff, flares and smoke), liveries themed around military, civilian and narco-aesthetic palettes, and performance upgrades affecting handling, armour and resistance to homing missiles (Rockstar Games, 2017, cited in Wikipedia, 2025). Aircraft such as the Mammoth Tula (a tilt-rotor amphibious transport), the LF-22 Starling and the V-65 Molotok offered distinct customisation trees, allowing players to specialise vehicles for dogfighting, ground attack or supply delivery. The Hangar interior itself was customisable, with floor styles, lighting, wall graphics and living quarters configurable by the player, extending the personalisation framework that Bikers (2016) and Further Adventures in Finance and Felony (2016) had established for ground-based businesses (Wikipedia, 2025).
The update integrated customisation with gameplay loops: sourcing and selling missions required appropriately armed aircraft, while Free Mode dogfights and Adversary Modes such as "Aerial Cat and Mouse" rewarded investment in defensive countermeasures. This tight coupling between modification and economic incentive transformed plane customisation from a cosmetic exercise into a strategic decision.
Subsequent updates expanded the aviation customisation paradigm. The Doomsday Heist (December 2017) added the Avenger, a four-rotor VTOL gunship featuring an interior personal workshop for vehicle modification mid-flight (Wikipedia, 2025). San Andreas Mercenaries (2023) introduced the Los Santos Angels squadron, providing additional combat-aircraft customisation through the Mammoth Avenger and the Raiju stealth fighter, while the 2025 Money Fronts update once again positioned the McKenzie Field Hangar as a hub for arms trafficking and aircraft theft contracts (Wikipedia, 2026). Across these updates Rockstar has progressively unified plane customisation with property ownership, mission availability and persistent character progression.
While Rockstar has not publicly detailed plane customisation for Grand Theft Auto VI, several inferences can be drawn from the announced setting and from leaked development materials. The second official trailer, released on 6 May 2025, depicted seaplanes, small civilian aircraft and helicopters operating across the Leonida Keys and Vice City coastline (Wikipedia, 2026), echoing the smuggling milieu of Smuggler's Run. Jason Duval's pre-game backstory as a worker for "local drugrunners in the Leonida Keys after serving in the Army" (Wikipedia, 2026) directly evokes narco-aviation themes, suggesting that contraband flight will form a structural pillar of the campaign rather than a post-launch addition.
The September 2022 leak, which Rockstar formally acknowledged as a "network intrusion" (Wikipedia, 2026), included references to interior workshop spaces and modular vehicle states that several journalists interpreted as evidence of expanded customisation systems. Combined with industry expectations that GTA VI will support a long-tail online ecosystem akin to its predecessor (Schreier, cited in Wikipedia, 2026), plane customisation is widely expected to include:
Plane customisation in Grand Theft Auto VI is best understood as a continuation and refinement of the systems pioneered in Smuggler's Run and extended through subsequent GTA Online updates. With Leonida's geography lending itself naturally to maritime and aerial smuggling, and with Rockstar's commercial incentive to sustain another decade-long online platform, the depth of plane customisation is likely to exceed any prior series entry, embedding aircraft modification into both the narrative and the live-service economy.
Rockstar Games (2017) GTA Online: Smuggler's Run Now Available. Available at: https://www.rockstargames.com/newswire (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Wikipedia (2025) Grand Theft Auto Online. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_Online (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Wikipedia (2026) Grand Theft Auto VI. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_VI (Accessed: 14 May 2026).