GTA Online Los Santos Drug Wars update: Gameplay improvements and new features revealed in detail

Los Santos Drug Wars is GTA Online's newest major update, containing several notable gameplay improvements worth highlighting. Stuff like quality-of-life changes to new mechanics has made this DLC quite solid, especially considering the drip-feed content.

However, this brief overview of the new changes will primarily highlight the content found on the day one patch. There are datamine leaks on future features, but that's always subject to change.

The Los Santos Drug Wars update was launched on December 13, 2022. If you need a refresher on what's new, then this is the article for you.

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List of important changes in GTA Online Los Santos Drug Wars update

The full patch notes can be visible on the Rockstar Support Twitter account. Here is a quick list of everything that's important for GTA Online's newest patch:

• New Story and Freemode missions associated with the Los Santos Drug Wars update
• Acid Lab business
• Eight new vehicles, including the free Tahoma Coupe from December 16 to December 18
• Several new cosmetic articles of clothing and tattoos
• The ability to hide certain iFruit Contacts
• Ms. Baker Casino Story Missions can now be done solo
• It takes less time for bought vehicles to arrive at a garage
• Fidelity Mode now has ray-traced reflections
• Tripled cash and RP on all Smuggler's Run Sell Missions
• High-Demand Bonus applies to Vehicle Cargo Sell Missions now
• New GTA+ benefits
• Several Creator updates
• Several bug fixes

That's plenty of noteworthy changes to highlight, so let's start with the main draw of the Los Santos Drug Wars DLC.

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New Los Santos Drug Wars content in GTA Online

The new content largely revolves around the drug trade (Image via Rockstar Games)

Ron calls the player to help him out with the Fooligans. This leads to the latter:

• Completing Six unique First Dose Story Missions (all of which are available to solo players)
• Having access to optional Fooligan Jobs, which are done in Freemode
• Getting started with the Acid Lab business

After you complete First Dose 1 - Welcome to the Troupe, you will get access to the Fooligan Jobs. Likewise, completing all six First Dose missions gives you access to the Brickade 6x6, used in the Acid Lab business.

The Brickade 6x6 is similar to the Terrorbyte and the Kosatka in that it's a special vehicle you can spawn anytime. You can enter it from the side to access the Acid Lab. This business is unlocked after you do the setup mission and pay $750,000 (or $0 for GTA+ members).

A full inventory of acid sells for $237,600 by default. You could raise that to $335,200 if you got the equipment upgrade for the Acid Lab. To get that equipment upgrade, you must complete ten Fooligan Jobs, which you can access by calling Dax on your phone.

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Quality-of-life changes in GTA Online

The ability to hide unnecessary contacts is incredibly nice (Image via Rockstar Games)

The most noteworthy quality-of-life change introduced in GTA Online's Los Santos Drug Wars update was the ability to hide unwanted contacts on your phone. To do so, do the following:

1. Bring up the Interaction Menu.
2. Select 'Inventory.'
3. Select 'Phone Contact Favorites.'
4. Deselect any undesirable contacts.

The buffs to Smuggler's Run and Vehicle Cargo Sell Missions put those businesses closer to others in terms of pure profit. The former was desperately needed since Hangars were constantly considered the worst business involving Sell Missions from a moneymaking standpoint before the Los Santos Drug Wars update.

Agatha Baker's Casino Story Missions becoming available to solo players is another nice change. There wasn't much of a point in locking regular missions to two or more players, so allowing somebody to do them independently gives them more content at no cost.

More drip-feed content is planned for the upcoming months. Rockstar Games hasn't formally announced them yet, but readers can always check out GTA Online leaks to see more of the latest news.