GTA Online: should you buy the new Progen T20 supercar?

The Osiris and T20 now challenge the Zentorno as the fastest supercars in GTA Online. But which offers the real value for money?

GTA Online's Ill-Gotten Gains DLC introduced a brand new supercar to the game, finally giving the favourite Pegassi Zentorno a run for its money. A lot of players had been saving up money from Heists and were happy to shell out for the new Pegassi Osiris. Damn, it's a good looking car, and fast to boot.

But then less than a month later the Progen T20 turned up in the second part of the Ill-Gotten Gains DLC, throwing a spanner in the works. It looked to be a little bit faster and it was certainly the most expensive car in the game. You wait for one supercar to challenge the dominance of the Zentorno and two come along at once. Did you just waste all that cash on the Osiris?

It's a good problem to have. If you're sitting on upwards of $10 million from Heists and other activities, it's a no brainer to buy both and stock that garage up. But if you're not a collector of supercars, you just want to buy the "fastest" vehicle, or you carefully consider your four-wheel budget, you're going to want to make a more considered decision. We're here to help.

Price

First up, let's look at the prices of the three main supercars in black and white:

• Progen T20 - $2.2 million
• Pegassi Osiris - $1.95 million
• Pegassi Zentorno - $725,000

There's a massive price difference between the Zentorno and the Osiris and T20. If you're on a budget, go for the Zentorno. It's a hell of a lot of car for the price. If you're on the fence between an Osiris and T20, you may as well go for the latter as there's hardly a difference between the two and it has that neat retractable spoiler.

Hidden extras

The other important factor to consider is these are the shop window prices. Once you get a supercar you're going to want to take it to Los Santos Customs and get some work done on the engine, spoiler, armour, theft prevention, transmission, turbo, and more. And to get the right paint job for you and your crew.

So when considering buying any new vehicle, put aside between $300,000 and $500,000 to spec it out. There's no point buying a supercar and letting it sit there all vanilla. Tart that s**t up, and make sure you've unlocked all the extra stuff you can by doing races.

Secondly, and this applies to the Progen T20 and Osiris, be aware of the insurance. Every time you destroy your Progen you're going to have to fork out $27,500 to reclaim it from Mors Mutual, or £24,000 for the Osiris. That's the same as what griefers will pay if they nuke your personal ride too. If nothing else, that's a nice extra deterrent to online clowns who bitterly take revenge on your ride after you've shown them who's boss a few times in a one-on-one deathmatch.

Best of the rest

Let's pause a little to look briefly at two of other choices of supercar here. Some swear by the cornering skills of the Truffade Adder, while others reckon you can win most races if you know how to handle the Grotti Turismo R.

The Adder costs a cool $1 million and although it's great at corners and it's slightly faster than the Zentorno on a staight, it lacks the acceleration. The Turismo is a great budget car at $500,000, but unless you're Mario Andretti it's not going to be good enough as an all-round racer. If you've got the cash, get a Turismo for fun, as you'll certainly have good times with it.

Test drive

With any big purchase in GTA Online it's best to test it out in the single player GTA 5 game first. If Trevor, Franklin or Michael has the cash in the bank, buy the supercar you're after and take it for a spin. You'll know within five minutes if you like the handling and speed, although there's no real substitute for racing against other humans.

Performance

The uncomfortable truth is that there's only marginal differences in performance between these three supercars. The Osiris suffers from understeer. The T20 is technically the quickest car in the game and has great handling, but can suffer on winding races and sharp corners. The Zentorno holds its own in the speed department but feels loose and is liable to swing out on corners. Some will say the Adder is the best car for cornering with control. But when it comes to top speed, the T20 does come out on top, followed by the Osiris then the Zentorno.

In reality it depends on multiple factors. You know your own driving skill, and a car will only handle as well as the person behind the wheel.

But in races (as opposed to free roam and specific missions) there are factors to consider that are out of your control. Other players are jerks and will try to smash you off the road - it's part of the game, you're going to have to deal with it. Lag is a common ballache in 30-player races. GTA Online's notoriously shite servers are temperamental at best. And then there's the the crazy traffic AI, which has a tendency to swing in to your path at the last minute.

Bottom line: should you buy the Progen T20?

If you have upwards of $5 million in your account by all means, go for it. You're probably collecting all the DLC cars anyway, and itching for Rockstar to grant a fourth apartment or garage. It's a great car, looks good, and there's nothing wrong with flossing with your new ride. It's what the Ill-Gotten Gains gear is all about.

But if you're not fussed about immediately owning the next new thing, there's a lot more you can do with $2 million. If, like me, you tend to spend your cash as it rolls in rather than horde it for the next DLC, $2 million goes a long way. You can buy a Zentorno and an Insurgent with turret cannon for that price. Even if you already have the Zentorno you can be more creative with that amount of money: if it's a handsome car you want take a look at the Invetero Coquette BlackFin or the Benefactor Stirling GT, both of which are new to the game and will leave you with change to spare. Or try something a little different like the Coil Brawler or Enus Windsor.

Unless you're rolling in cash, the Progen T20 isn't worth the money. It's very overpriced for the slight upgrade in speed. It's performance that won't mean squat if you're not a very skilled driver. You can spend $2 million better in GTA Online and have a lot of with it.

Main Snapmatic image by Shahid96