You can use this mod to ride your own bike in Grand Theft Auto V

If you've got the room in your gaming space as well as your own bike, you can get it rigged up for some indoor cycling -- in one of the most interesting mods I've seen for Grand Theft Auto V.

The new GTBikeV mod lets you use your real bike to ride around the virtual streets of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto V. Not just that, but you can also do some drive by shootings and cause general havoc in the game, all while getting fit in your living room.

Makinolo, the creator of the mod, explains GTBikeV: "GTBikeV is a mod for GTA V that turns a smart bike trainer, or turbo trainer, into the game controller, making your game time actual training time. You'll have a cycling workout inmersed (sic.) in the GTA V world environment".

The mod automatically generates a .FIT file, so you can upload your ride details -- with both fake and real-world GPS coordinates, similar to Zwift. Zwift is a massively muiltiplayer online cycling and running physical training program (if you didn't already know).

There are some options at your disposal for riding around, too. Cycling Tips broke it down:

• Follow a course: The mod comes with three pre-made courses which you can load up and just start riding. There's the Tour of Los Santos, a rolling route of around 30 km; Los Santos Hills, roughly 16 km of hilly terrain; and the Alamo Sea route, which is around 10 km and mostly flat, but does feature some gravel. Turn on the "Auto Drive" feature and you can forget about having to navigate or steer - just pedal and, like in Zwift, your avatar will follow the predetermined path.
• Manual waypoints: Another option is to set waypoints via the in-game GPS, turn on Auto Drive, and let the game navigate to your destination while you focus on pedalling.
• Free roam, no steering: If you don't select a course, but you have Auto Drive turned on, your character will "roam freely around the map" as you pedal. Makinolo offers a warning about this mode though: "Other [drivers use] the best driving skill level available in the game so you're not likely to hit anything, but you still can be run over when riding the freeways with heavy traffic. Be safe out there!" Good advice indeed.
• Full freedom: If you don't select a course and you have Auto Drive turned off, well, the virtual world is your oyster. Using the computer keyboard or a controller you can steer your avatar as you would in the game normally, riding anywhere that you'd like in Los Santos and its surrounds.

As for controls, you can also use your mouse and keyboard to ride around the game -- if you wanted to aim and shoot, then it's going to be a bit tricky while you're riding around on the bike (in the real-world).

The mod isn't perfect by any means, but it sure as hell is one of the funniest, most interesting (and also very practical) mods that I've seen for Grand Theft Auto V.

What you will need: You will need to start with a copy of Grand Theft Auto V on the PC, the GTBikeV mod (download that here), an ANT+ FC-C-compatible smart trainer -- and well, a bike to ride on.