Booting up GTA V in 2026 can feel a bit weird: the city's still massive, the missions still hit, but the aircraft up in the sky can look like they're from another era. If you're the type who spends half your session chasing jets, landing on rooftops, or running air-to-ground chaos with friends, you'll notice it fast. That's why the new Air Supremacy Collection from modder UltimativeGraphicsGTA has people talking, right alongside the usual grind for GTA 5 Money and upgrades that keep your hangar busy.

What Air Supremacy actually changes

This isn't one of those "here's a paint job, enjoy" packs. The Collection drops in a big lineup of aircraft built around crisp 4K textures, better surface detail, and materials that react to light in a way the base game just doesn't. You'll see it when you bank over downtown at sunset, or when a helicopter swings past a streetlight and the bodywork catches the glow. It makes air combat feel more like a scene than a game system, and it nudges you into flying more often just because it looks good.

Performance, and the big version problem

Usually, 4K assets are where your frames go to die. Here, the surprise is that it's pretty well tuned. You can still push speed over the city and not feel like everything's turning into syrup, assuming your setup isn't ancient. There is a catch, though: it's made for the Legacy version of GTA V only. If you've moved to Enhanced Edition, you're out of luck for now. A lot of players are stuck in that annoying split where the best mod toys don't all live in the same place.

If you want the whole game to feel newer

Visuals are only half the story. Once you've got cleaner aircraft, the old AI and floaty driving start to stand out more. Plenty of folks pair a graphics refresh with a combat overhaul that makes NPC fights less samey—more movement, more surprises, less "stand still and trade bullets." Then there's handling. A physics mod like Drive V can make every car feel like its own thing, so you're not driving the same vehicle with different skins. Toss in higher-quality character models and a big car add-on pack, and suddenly the map feels busier, sharper, and just more alive.

Making it worth your time

The best part is how these changes feed into each other: nicer aircraft make you fly more, tougher NPC behavior makes you plan more, and better driving makes the travel in between feel like gameplay instead of dead time. If you're building a fresh modded setup, it's smart to decide early whether you're staying on Legacy for packs like Air Supremacy, or committing to Enhanced and leaning on alternatives like NaturalVision Enhanced, RealityV, or ChromatiX. Either way, once you're done tweaking and you're ready to stock up for the next stretch of chaos, a lot of players still choose to buy GTA 5 Money so the fun starts immediately instead of after another long grind.