GTA Online: the week of August 13, 2026 guide — Brand Wars, quadruple Hotring pay, and 2,000,000 GTA$ in Twitch Drops

GTA Online's weekly update dropped this August 13, 2026, at 5 a.m. Eastern time, that's 11 a.m. in Paris, and it kicks off the Brand Wars event — a brand war between Team Sprunk and Team eCola.

Two calendars coexist this week, and mixing them up is the best way to miss out on something. The weekly bonuses run from August 13 to 19. The event Twitch Drops, on the other hand, span two weeks, from August 13 to 26. In other words: what earns you money while playing expires in six days, while what earns you clothing and GTA$ from watching streams gets twice as much time.

The free stuff, to grab first

Three things only require logging in, and it would be a shame to miss them:

• A free Declasse Hotring Sabre at Southern San Andreas Super Autos. That's a full vehicle, not a skin.
• The Sprunk and eCola jumpsuits, free at all clothing stores.
• By logging in: the Sprunk × eCola livery for the Hotring Sabre, plus custom Sprunk and eCola license plates, to apply at a vehicle workshop.

The order makes sense: grab the car, put the livery and plate on it, then go run the errands. It's the only time of year where the free vehicle matches exactly the overpaid activity of the week.

The multipliers: where to spend your time

Rockstar has put the best multipliers on the shortest activities, which is unusual and rather welcome:

• Quadruple rewards on Hotring Circuit series races and on Freemode events.
• Triple rewards on side missions and on the Community series.

The x4 on Freemode events is the more underrated of the two. They trigger on their own while you're busy doing something else, and at this multiplier, they stop being a nuisance and become the best reason to stay in a public session.

The x4 on Hotring Circuit, meanwhile, pairs perfectly with the free car: you get the vehicle dedicated to the format, and the format pays out four times its normal rate, the same week.

The detail that's worth real money: reset weekly bonuses

This is the line most players will skim past, and it's probably the most profitable of the whole update. Rockstar has reset the weekly completion bonuses on a whole range of heists and missions, granting a boosted first payout.

In practical terms: if you'd already "used up" your first-completion bonus on certain heists, it's available again. A heist you'd been replaying with no financial upside becomes worthwhile again this week. This is exactly the kind of thing to do before August 19, since it's the weekly bonuses that expire, not the event ones.

Twitch Drops: up to 2,000,000 GTA$

This is the cornerstone of the event, and it works outside the game. You need to link your Twitch account to your Rockstar Games account, then watch participating streams — those marked Drops Enabled — between August 13 and 26.

The principle is a choice of sides: depending on whether you support Team Sprunk or Team eCola, you get the Sprunk tracksuit or the eCola tracksuit, plus GTA$ up to a cap of 2,000,000.

Two tips: link your accounts before you start watching, otherwise the viewing hours won't count — that's the classic mistake. And spread your viewing out over the period rather than doing it all on the last day; the Drops tiers unlock in time increments, not all at once.

The new vehicle

A Gallivanter Warden — an SUV — joins the catalogue. GTA+ members get early access to it, ahead of its general release. Nothing unusual: this has been the standard pattern for vehicle releases for several seasons now, and it simply means non-subscribers will wait a few extra days.

This week's plan, in practice

1. Log in first to trigger the livery and plates, then head to Southern San Andreas Super Autos and a clothing store. Ten minutes.
2. Link Twitch and Rockstar Games right after that, and pick your side. The timer runs for two weeks: it might as well start today.
3. Do the heists whose bonus has just been reset, because that's the category expiring on the 19th.
4. Stay in a public session to pick up Freemode Events at quadruple rewards, and chain Hotring Races whenever a lobby fills up.
5. Save side missions and the Community Series for later in the evening: at x3, they stay worthwhile even in a short session.

A note on terminology

We keep Brand Wars, Team Sprunk, and Team eCola as they are, along with vehicle names — Declasse Hotring Sabre, Gallivanter Warden. Rockstar never translates vehicle names in the French client, and the French-language feed had not yet published an official label for the event at the time of writing. Terms that do have an established English equivalent are used as such: Freemode Events, side missions, Community Series, vehicle workshop, podium vehicle.