The Mallard is great for racing (pic: Rockstar Games)

If you’re struggling to work out how to do air races in GTA Online it’s actually a lot easier, and rewarding, than you think.

There are a lot of different races types in GTA Online and not all of them need a road, or even the ground. Air races are an often-overlooked part of the game and yet they’re a lot of fun and can bring their own unique rewards.

There are two types of air race in GTA Online, depending on whether you want to use helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft.

To start an air race just go to the Online tab, pick Jobs, and choose Play Job. If this is your first air race it’s probably best to then pick Rockstar Created, so you get a race you know is set up to be fair and reasonable. From there just choose Races and look for anything that’s listed as an Air Race.

As with any other kind of race it’s important to know what kind of terrain you’re dealing with, even if you are flying.

If the course goes through downtown, you’ll want to make sure your plane is manoeuvrable enough to get through all the skyscrapers and obstacles. The Mallard is a good pick as it’s not too expensive but has good handling and braking.

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One big different between racing in the air and on the ground is what happens if you crash, which is a lot harder to recover from in a plane and will usually end up in it being destroyed.

Mid-air collisions with other racers aren’t always fatal but if you do hit someone else, and your plane is damaged, then it may be worth crashing into the ground anyway, just to get a new one. Otherwise you’ll be left with a slow or busted up plane that has no chance of winning whatever you do.

Air Races are often part of daily or weekly challenges, when it’s usually very easy to find enough people to play against, but at other times it can be hard to find enough opponents as it’s only really the winner that gets a major reward. But that’s all the more reason to practice and get good at it!

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