GTA Online Beginner's Guide

To new players, it can be confusing trying to learn how to play GTA Online. There's a lot of information, both true and false, out there on the internet. This guide is designed to consolidate the key information you, a new player, will need to get into GTA Online as fast as possible.

For more experienced players, this guide will probably cover stuff you already know, but you might find something you didn't.

Introduction

So, you've just bought Grand Theft Auto V. Great! Now that you've finished the Singleplayer tutorial you can play Online. Even better! Unfortunately, this game has been out since 2013, and like every large multiplayer game, has gone through dozens of major updates and minor patches. As such, it can be difficult to discern what information is accurate for the current version. This guide will attempt to clarify what courses of action are best for new players.

A Note on Hackers

GTA Online has a hacker/modder problem to say the least. They can range from benign, to friendly, to malicious. One of the most common ways of noticing there is a hacker in your game is by your account balance skyrocketing. Personally, I'd suggest you leave a game with a hacker in it as soon as possible, either by searching for a new session (PAUSE > ONLINE > FIND NEW SESSION) or simply by pressing ALT-F4. There has also been a significant amount of confusion in the GTA community as to whether you can be banned for receiving modded money. Let me help clarify this.

YOU WILL NOT BE BANNED FOR RECEIVING MODDED MONEY.[support.rockstargames.com]

The relevant section is as follows:

"Question: I heard GTA Online cheaters were causing large amounts of modded GTA$ to transfer to innocent players over the past few weeks. Is Rockstar Games aware of this, and what is being done?

Answer: [...] If you were the unwilling recipient of an impossibly large amount of GTA$, you do not need to worry about disciplinary action against your account. However, please be aware that we will be making community-wide automatic adjustments to players’ account balances to remove the modded money."

Basically, if you don't ask for modded money, you don't get banned. Although I'm sure in the comments someone will say they received money and were banned.

Getting Started

Welcome to Los Santos! You've just touched down on your flight here and are met by Lamar, who will be your in-game guide for a few hours. Finish the tutorial if you want (I'd reccomend it). Your next goal will be to reach level 5. You can do this quickly by either doing races either by yourself or with friends, or by robbing stores.

"How do I rob a store?" I hear you ask.

First, look for the following icon on your map.



Next, walk inside. After that, it's a simple matter of aiming your pistol at the owner and waiting for him to finish loading a bag with money. You can speed up this process by shooting around him, but not at him. Should you be carried away or he draws a weapon on you and you fire, you will need to fill the bag yourself. Walk behind the counter and press your interact key to do this. once you're done, you'll have the police after you. Steal the nearest car or bike and speed away. Be aware that if you steal a locked car, you'll need a few seconds to hotwire it.

Learning to evade police early in the game is key. The fastest way to do this is to hide in the tunnels around Los Santos. The best place to hide is the under-construction subway tunnel. To access this, drive into the tunnel on the main freeway below the Arcadius Busness Center.







Just drive into the tunnel and wait until the police call off their search. After that, simply head out and rob another store! Be aware that once you reach three stars (usually by attacking police), helicopters will come after you. They are much more difficult to evade than regular police cars, but the aforementioned tunnel will greatly assist you.

Once you reach level five, contact missions become available to you. These pay significantly better than robbing stores, and can easily be played with your friends. To start, open your phone (up arrow key), navigate to your contacts, then call either Lamar or Simeon.

Before you begin, stop by Ammu-Nation. At level 5, you'll have unlocked the Micro-SMG. It's good enough for low levels, but becomes outclassed in every way by the AP Pistol at level 32. For now, this is your primary weapon.

Simeon's missions revolve around retrieving cars that he 'rightfully' owns. There's little to no combat in these missions, but a lot of driving and evading police.

Lamar's missions are simple combat missions. Generally, you will drive to a location, fight a few enemies and pick up either a package or vehicle, which you need to return to a location.

Keep doing contact missions until you reach at least $20,000.

Home is Where the Car is

Do you like cars? Do you want a car or bike right now? If not, then skip this part. If you do, keep reading.

Once you have $25,000 open up your phone, and navigate to your internet browser. At the home page, click 'Money and Services'. Then, navigate to Dynasty 8. From there, click 'view property listings' and sort lowest to highest. You should see a building called Unit 124 Popular Street.



This is a two-car garage that you can use to store vehicles and spawn at when you log in. Sure, it's not the prettiest, or even the most functional. But it's cheap, and that's what matters.

Very Important Player

With the Executives and Other Criminals DLC, the VIP system was introduced. As a VIP, you and up to three other players have access to a variety of abilities, from spawning vehicles nearby, to starting extremely well-paying missions. We're here for the latter. Until you upgrade to CEO status, you will only have 4 hours of VIP time, so use it wisely. After your time expires, you must wait 12 real hours to start again. Luckily, this time ticks down even when you're not playing, so feel free to end your contract once you're done playing for the day.

Please note that passive mode is disabled while a VIP, CEO or MC President.

To commence your contract, you need $50,000 (changed from $1,000,000 in the Gunrunning DLC) in your account. Don't worry, you don't need to spend this money. You just need it in your account.



The company SecuroServ will handle your protection contract. If you complete jobs for them, they will pay you well. Very well. $20,000 for one mission well. Once you're ready, start up the mission by the name of 'Sightseer'. To complete this mission, you need to complete three minigames, and find three briefcases. They can be anywhere in the state of San Andreas, but the VIP will have an objective marker on them.

The minigames are relatively easy, with only the number finding minigame being somewhat difficult. To complete it, you need to find a series of four two-digit numbers in a sea of duds. Take your time, don't panic and establish a pattern.

Once you've finished the minigame, drive to the package. Then, complete the next minigame, and repeat. After you have all three packages, you'll earn over $20,000. The mission will then have a 10 minute cooldown before you can attempt it again. Other missions will have a 5 minute cooldown, so feel free to try those in the meantime.

Before long, you'll be rolling in cash! Well, maybe not, but it's a start.

Heisting Your Way to Success

I would recommend you be at least level 32 and own the AP Pistol before starting heists.

You've probably heard about heists at this point. If you have three friends or don't mind spending hours frustrated by braindead randoms (or good randoms, if you're lucky), you can start heists. To begin, you need a high-end apartment, the cheapest of which is Del Perro Heights, Apartment 7 (Apartment 20 is $5,000 more for a slightly better view).





From inside your apartment you can access your heist planning room. While its location differs from apartment to apartment, its functionality is the same.



The heist planning room allows you to commence one of five heists. The first heist, the Fleeca Bank Job, is by far the easiest, and only requires two people. The remaining four heists all require four people.

If you want to know how to complete the heists, I recommend the excellent YouTube channel GTA Series Videos. While their guides are tailored to higher level players, you and your friends can definitely complete the heists with a bit of trial and error.

Just don't try Criminal Mastermind yet. Please.

Keep in mind that the person who starts a heist pays an upfront fee, and those who join the heist gain about $20,000 for each completed setup they are a part of. As such, in the finale, the leader should receive about 40% of the cut, with 20% for each other player.

Before actually playing past the Fleeca Job, you and your friends should buy the Heavy Utility Vest from a clothes store. This vest, when worn in a heist, slows you to a jog but massively increases your defense. To equip it, save it as part of an outfit and make sure the heist leader selects 'Player Saved Outfits' in the heist setup screen.



After completing the Fleeca heist, you'll have unlocked a discount for the Karin Kuruma (Armored) from Warstock Cache and Carry. Buy it as soon as possible. This thing is heavy, turns poorly and almost completely bulletproof. By sitting in it with your friends and firing AP Pistols, you can trivialise most heists and contact missions. Keep in mind that the Kuruma is extremely weak to explosives, a weakness which other players will exploit.



As for weapons, any sort of automatic weapon will serve you fine. Personally, I find the Special Carbine (G36C) to be the most useful at lower levels, until you unlock the Combat MG at level 80.

Direct Rule from your Office

You've broken a guy out of prison, raided a government facility, helped sell some drugs and done a classic bank job. Or not. Either way, for the next part of this master plan, you need an office. To get an office, you need one million dollars. By buying an office, you upgrade your VIP status into CEO, which is permanent, and can be activated and deactivated at will. Don't worry if you resign, you keep your office. The cheapest office is located at Maze Bank West. You can access the office buying website through Dynasty 8 Executive.



The only difference in the offices is their location. Their functionality and interiors do not vary.



In addition, if you bought an apartment at Del Perro Heights, your office is right across the road! Isn't that convenient?



Once you own an office, you can more consistently gain money through Sightseer and other missions, such as Headhunter. By this point you should have plenty of money to do as you see fit, and ways of earning more.

Post-CEO Purchases

Congratulations, you're in the big leagues now. Unfortunately, this also means that purchases come much slower, as they're often over a million dollars each. Here I'll give my recommendations as to what to buy next.

Vehicle Warehouse



The vehicle warehouse is your key to loads of money. You can purchase it via the computer in your office. Of extreme importance is the fact that the Import/Export missions can only be done in Public sessions. If you want to play solo but still do these missions, you can force a solo public session through the following steps:

1. Alt-Tab
2. Open Task Manager
3. Click 'More Details'
4. Click 'Perfomance'
5. Click 'Open Resource Monitor'
6. Under the CPU tab, find GTA5.exe
7. Right click GTA5.exe
8. Click 'Suspend Process'
9. Wait about 7 seconds
10. Click 'Resume Process'
11. Alt-Tab back into GTA Online

Once these steps are completed, you should see a barrage of 'Player left' notifications. If not, try suspending the process for a few seconds longer.

The Vehicle Warehouse has two components: Import and Export. Import missions are started from your office terminal, and require you to retrieve a car in a number of missions. You will need to pay money if you damage the car, depending on the damage. Export missions are started from the Ad-Hawk Autos terminal in your warehouse, allowing you to export as many cars as there are people in your CEO Organisation. I recommend the third option for exports, which costs $20,000 per high-end car, but gains you $100,000 per high-end car.

If you want to make even more money this way, do not export low or medium tier cars. Your assistant will not source duplicate cars for you to steal if they are already in your garage.

By purchasing a vehicle warehouse, you also gain the ability to purchase Special Vehicles. You can try these out in Special Vehicle Missions launched from your office computer, but in general, these vehicles are far too overpriced.

If you have further questions about the Vehicle Garage System, leave a message in the comments.

Buzzard



The Buzzard is arguably the most effective vehicle in the game. It's fast, agile, well-armed, decently armoured and can carry up to three passengers. At $1.75 million it isn't cheap, but can pay for itself rather quickly. The best feature of this helicopter is the fact that it can be instantly summoned nearby from the CEO Vehicles menu whilst you are a CEO. If you do not own a Buzzard, this has a price tag, but if you own one, it's free every time. The helicopter makes contact missions and CEO missions a breeze.

Insurgent



The Insurgent is a heavily armoured vehicle capable of carrying a number of friends in safety. Unlike the Kuruma, this vehicle is heavily resistant to explosive weapons, such as RPGs, tanks and the dreaded Hydra. Keep in mind that its windows are not bulletproof, and as such players and NPCs can easily shoot you there. The Insurgent costs $675,000 after completing the Humane Labs Raid heist.

Hydra



The almost undisputed king of the skies. If you've played in a public session you have almost certainly seen one of these. Prior to the Gunrunning update there was almost no way of defeating these, but unlocking explosive rounds for the Heavy Sniper will take you a very, very long time. If you see one, either run and hide or enter passive mode.

If you want to buy one, it will cost you $3,000,000 after completing the Humane Labs Raid heist. The Hydra is VTOL (vertical take-off and landing), so can go pretty much anywhere and spawn at helipads. It is equipped with an explosive cannon (effective against everything) and homing missiles (effective against stationary targets). Just please don't go and grief, or you might find yourself on the receiving end of a .50 explosive round.

User-Submitted Tips

After a number of people in the comments have posted extra tips, I've decided to put this section here with their information.

• The best vehicle warehouse is in La Mesa, being the cheapest at $1,500,000. Be aware that since most people own this one, there will be a higher concentration of people around it, some of who may want your cars.
  
• If you complete all Flight School missions at Los Santos International Airport with a golf medal, you will receive $200,000 (thanks Viks).
  
• If you create a second character, you will get a high-end apartment on that character in addition to being able to copy your rank of your first character (thanks nijinsky)
  
  The following are all courtesy of SUPER-TANK:
  
  
• Buying the garage has an important usage: The mechanic. He can deliver you your personal vehicle in a matter of seconds if you are too far away from him. Also, every time you spawn, you will appear in your garage if it's set as a spawning point, with your vehicle/s in pristine condition. The mechanic must be paid $50 per day but that's pretty a small amount.
  
• If you have two available friends hired as bodyguards or simply offering help, Haulage is best to be done at any time, due to the Technical provided. Just remember that after delivery you are gonna have a long way back to downtown so call out the mechanic for your personnel vehicle. The other two friends can do the same if they also own a garage, or they may consider sharing a car with you.
  
• For new players, buy a Homing Launcher. As a DLC Weapon like the Special Carbine, it's unlocked from Rank 1. This weapon makes the VIP Work Airfreight a breeze, as the enemy Buzzard that will respond to prevent you from fetching the container is really the only problem you need to care and can be resolved with the Homing Launcher. It costs $75,000 but it will pay for itself rather quickly. For that VIP Work just don't damage the container, otherwise the value drops. Max initial value is $20,000.
  
• It's the best you do Flight School first to gain the required funds in order to register as VIP, it also increases RP to rank up.
  
• After Rank 7 Mavericks will appear at various locations, ready for your uses. May appear at LSIA or Trevor's Sandy Shores Airfield. This can make Sightseer a breeze as long as you are doing it without opposition or have friends welding powerful weapons on the side. If you have friends as bodyguards, tell them to fly the chopper while you hack, then place a waypoint (Bodyguards can see it too). Commandeering a vehicle around with your VIP inside gains the Bodyguards extra RP too.
  
• It's really highly recommended to purchase either of the two cheapest high-end apartments at Del Perro Heights, as the base price for Maze Bank West is $1,000,000, but the accommodation does not worth it due to the whopping price of almost $800,000 even though purchasing it grants you a place to spawn when entering GTA Online. The apartment is near that it can be set as spawn point, as even walking brings you to the office pretty soon.
  
• If you don't have the Sniper Rifle that unlocks at level 21, then try the Marksman Rifle. It's a DLC content, thus can be purchased without a rank requirement. It costs about $15,000 and does not have an Advanced Scope as well as lower damage and higher fire rate. Use it in Hostile Takeover to out-range enemies while staying in cover.
  
• Important point: Vehicle discounts unlocked through Heists will only be applied if you complete the corresponding Setup/Finale as the Heist Leader. E.G. If you are playing with some friends and successfully completed The Prison Break (I mean the Finale) and you are the Heist Leader, then you are the only one to get those discounts. (Those vehicles discounted through this missile isn't worth buying either for combat purposes).

Resources

There are plenty of resources available online for you to learn more about GTA Online.

• GTA Series Videos
  
• The Grand Theft Auto Wiki[gta.wikia.com]
  
• The GTA Online Subreddit
  
• Steam Community Guides
  
• Broughy1322

The End

I hope you've learned something new while reading this! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, leave them down below.

[Chips Dubbo]

Yup, you want all the high-value MC businesses before you touch Nightclubs.

[SUPER-TANK]

Nightclubs aren’t worth it if you don’t have enough MC businesses

[JJAUME]

What use are the newer things like nightclubs? is it worth saving for one then sitting back and earning or whats the deal? This is if you're still updating this which i doubt

[YeetYeetSilverbeet]

thank u so much bro

[SUPER-TANK]

XD I have too many problems. Thanks for trying to help me, but it doesn’t really work out the expected way

[AlconburyBlues]

@T-65B, thank you for backing up my point. I did use the Cargobob previously on some deliveries, as suggested by a friend at work. But when I realized how long it was taking to do so, and I found out about how to avoid NPCs altogether by having someone in the room, I started doing that as it was more efficient IMHO.

@SUPER-TANK, Yes, in your own words, everyone has their own opinions. But you are commenting on every one of them, as if you MUST have the final word. This is the very definition of an egomaniac. "people that do this are only doing it because they feel insecure, competitive, hardheaded and lack confidence often in their own intellect." Maybe read up here [www.marketingeye.com] on why you may feel this way. Perhaps getting out of the house and becoming more social will help you overcome this problem.

[Chips Dubbo]

Quickly looking through it, it's pretty good.

Link for anyone curious.

[SUPER-TANK]

On yeah and X-Wing, bother checking my guide? Of course u r credited, or u knew it from the start

[Chips Dubbo]

Alright you two, play nice.

But yes, if you do have a friendly person not in your organisation in a public lobby it can be easier to just drive the car there. A Cargobob mostly helps with avoiding enemy NPCs.

[SUPER-TANK]

There you go again, this time starting an argument for real. I have my own guide, but u can't see it. If you want to start an argument, don't.
Everyone has their own opinions, so I guess we don't get along then.