GTA Online Hao's Special Works Guide: HSW Upgrades and the Prize Ride

Hao's Special Works (HSW) is the high-performance tuning shop at the LS Car Meet in GTA Online. It converts around 20 eligible cars into a faster, track-ready tier with deeper engine, transmission and suspension upgrades than Los Santos Customs offers, and it is also how you win a free "Prize Ride" every week.

The essentials:

• HSW upgrades are only available on the Enhanced version of GTA Online (PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Enhanced PC).
• You unlock Hao's Special Works by beating a time trial in one of Hao's own HSW cars, which also gives you one free conversion.
• Roughly 20 vehicles qualify for HSW conversion, split between the Super and Sports classes.
• A full HSW conversion costs between $500,000 and $1,900,000 depending on the car.
• The Prize Ride is a different, free vehicle offered every week at the Car Meet for completing a rotating challenge.
• You need the one-time $50,000 LS Car Meet membership before any of this is available.

What Is Hao's Special Works in GTA Online?

Hao's Special Works is a dedicated workshop tied to the Los Santos Car Meet, the hangout and tuning hub added with the GTA V Expanded and Enhanced update. It first launched on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on 15 March 2022, then reached PC players with GTA V Enhanced on 4 March 2025. Its job is simple: take a car that already has the best Los Santos Customs upgrades and push it into a faster, track-focused tier that nothing else in the game touches.

Converting a car at HSW is not the same as a normal LSC upgrade. It adds a second bar to the vehicle's acceleration stat on the stats screen, and Rockstar has described the gain as up to twice the acceleration of a maxed-out LSC build. That is the entire appeal of Hao's Special Works: turning a car you already own into the fastest version of itself the game allows.

How to Unlock HSW Upgrades

You need an LS Car Meet membership first, a one-time $50,000 purchase from Mimi at the counter. Once you are a member, Hao calls you and asks you to meet him at his garage to try one of his personal HSW builds.

The unlock challenge is a time trial: drive one of Hao's demo cars from a starting point near Vinewood to the LS Car Meet in Cypress Flats within a set time limit, usually around 8 minutes and 10 seconds. It is not a hard target on a first attempt, and finishing it does two things at once: it permanently unlocks Hao's Special Works as a workshop option, and it hands you one free HSW conversion on the car of your choice, worth well over a million dollars on the pricier vehicles.

After that first trial, Hao keeps a weekly rotating HSW Time Trial open, which pays out $250,000 for a clean run, plus a separate HSW Race Series you can join with other players.

What Do HSW Upgrades Actually Change?

An HSW conversion is not one upgrade, it is a full second tier of parts layered on top of a car's existing top-spec build. Once a vehicle is converted, its Hao's Special Works menu adds:

• A deeper engine tune with extra horsepower on top of the LSC maximum.
• An additional transmission gear for a higher top speed.
• Stronger brakes and reworked suspension tuned for the extra power.
• A three-stage turbo upgrade path.
• Forged carbon body parts on supported cars, which also shave weight.
• Drift mode or an EV power boost on the handful of cars built for it.
• Exclusive HSW liveries and badging you cannot get anywhere else.

Because the upgrades stack on top of an already-maxed LSC build, you cannot skip ahead: a car has to be fully upgraded at Los Santos Customs before Hao will even offer the HSW conversion.

Which Cars Can Get the HSW Upgrade?

Around 20 vehicles are eligible for HSW conversion, spread mostly across the Super and Sports classes. The list has grown gradually since 2022, so always check Hao's own menu for the current roster, but the core lineup includes:

Class	Examples
Super	Coil Cyclone II, Grotti Itali GTO Stinger TT, Pegassi Weaponized Ignus, Principe Deveste Eight
Sports	Benefactor Stirling GT, Grotti Brioso R/A, Karin S95, Pfister Astron Custom, Ubermacht Sentinel XS
Sports Classic / Muscle	Bravado Banshee GTS and other HSW-tuned classics

The Bravado Banshee GTS is currently the fastest car in the HSW roster, reaching a recorded top speed of around 172.5 mph (277 km/h) once fully converted, ahead of most of the Super class. If your priority is outright top speed rather than acceleration off the line, that is the car to chase first.

How Much Does an HSW Conversion Cost?

Once a car is eligible and already fully upgraded at Los Santos Customs, converting it at Hao's Special Works costs somewhere between $500,000 and $1,900,000, depending on the vehicle. Cheaper Sports-class cars sit at the low end; the Super-class HSW exclusives are the ones pushing close to two million.

That is on top of whatever you already spent buying and upgrading the base car, so treat an HSW conversion as an end-game purchase once your business income is steady. This is exactly why beating Hao's first time trial matters so much: that one free conversion can cover the most expensive car on the list, and it is worth saving for a Super-class HSW exclusive rather than a cheap Sports car you would have upgraded anyway. Heists like the Cayo Perico Heist are still the fastest legitimate way to build up the cash for the conversions you have to pay for yourself.

What Is the GTA Online Prize Ride, and How Do You Claim It?

The Prize Ride is a separate, free-car system at the LS Car Meet, unrelated to paying for an HSW conversion. Every week, a vehicle is displayed on the back of a Slamtruck inside the Car Meet, alongside a specific challenge, commonly something like placing in the top three to five of LS Car Meet Series races across several days.

Complete that week's challenge and the Prize Ride is yours for free. To claim it, open the Interaction Menu at the Car Meet, select the Prize Ride option, and choose which garage you want it delivered to. As with the casino's Lucky Wheel podium car, you need an empty garage slot to receive it, and you must claim it before the week ends. Once a new Prize Ride and challenge rotate in, the old one is gone for good, with no way to claim it retroactively.

HSW Time Trials, Races and the Premium Test Ride

Beyond the one-time unlock trial, Hao's Special Works keeps three ongoing activities running at the Car Meet:

• Weekly HSW Time Trial: a rotating solo course that pays $250,000 for a completed run.
• HSW Race Series: competitive races restricted to HSW-converted cars, so the playing field stays close.
• Premium Test Ride: a free trial of a featured HSW vehicle, useful for deciding whether a car is worth the conversion cost before you commit to buying and upgrading it yourself.

If you are building a garage of HSW cars over time, the Premium Test Ride is the cheapest way to compare handling before spending seven figures. Pair it with vehicle work from the Auto Shop and Los Santos Tuners or the Arena War combat vehicle roster if you want a full stable that covers racing, combat and Prize Ride freebies.

Is Hao's Special Works Worth It?

For anyone already deep into GTA Online's economy, yes. HSW conversions are the only way to push a maxed-out car past the standard Los Santos Customs ceiling, and the free conversion from the unlock trial pays for itself instantly on an expensive Super-class car. The Prize Ride, on the other hand, is worth doing every single week regardless of your bankroll: it costs nothing but time, and skipping a week means losing that car for good once the next challenge rotates in.

Fund the conversions with steady business income from a Bunker or another passive setup, keep the LS Car Meet membership active, and check in every week for the Prize Ride challenge. Between the two systems, Hao's Special Works quietly became one of the best long-term money sinks in GTA Online, right up there with the heists that fund it.