The two most commonly used abbreviations are VDM and RDM. VDM means Vehicle Death Match while RDM means Random Death Match.

If you are on this page, chances are you are already familiar with the concept of GTA RP and what it is. But, even if you’re not, let’s first discuss what exactly GTA roleplaying is. GTA 5 roleplaying is a user-created multiplayer mod for the PC version of the game that adds a whole new immersion level to the game.

If you are playing on one of these RP servers, you’ll find yourself in a much more civilized lobby instead of the regular chaotic “Oppressor Mark II griefing” lobbies. As the name suggests, you take on a fictional character’s role on these servers and play out that character. You can be anyone you want, such as a doctor, a cop, a thief, lawyer, judge, etc. The catch is, you must act like one in the game. Everything is realistic in GTA RP including the way you talk, walk, and even drive vehicles. There are speed limits for certain areas. Your vehicle has fuel and the engine can burn out.

In the more than three years since it went live, GTA Online has changed in some massive ways. The constant stream of DLC since then has added enough content to make up a whole other game on its own, with the number of activities available to players doubling and then some.

However, the weight of all this content is ever more apparent as the game lacks a sort of frame to structure it all. GTA Online is essentially an MMO-lite, lacking the form and organization that most such games have. You’ve got levels, quest-lines, zones within level boundaries and end-game content (note: we’re simplifying at an extreme magnitude here).

GTA Online only knows one restrictor: money. However, if you’ve bought the game with a Shark Card bundle, technically you can speed through the tutorial, buy a CEO office, and jump right into the latest content without even touching most of the vanilla stuff. Sure, lacking Rank unlocks, you’d suffer a whole lot, but the option is there.

No End-game Content

We’ve spoken about the ostensibly peculiar structure of GTA Online in comparison with its peers before, noting how the lack of an end-game is actually a strategic move by Rockstar. While this freeform approach to progression fits right in with the directive of player freedom the developers followed, they’ve also done much to make their own work obsolete with each consecutive DLC.

There is no linear quest progression here. The entire map is equally accessible to all players, regardless of rank or skill. There is no ideal roadmap laid out telling you that you should go from A, to B, to C. Most MMOs which have such a system still offer freedom – a low-level character can still walk into a high-level zone, but the enemies will tear them apart.

While this lawless approach seems to resonate well with the casual crowd, members of which are rarely what you’d call roleplayers or completionists, some players might want to follow a more traditional route of progression. This guide is aimed at these players, giving them a rough roadmap of what comes after what in an unofficial quest-line of sorts. Some players want to engage in roleplay, and travel a realistic path that an up and coming criminal would take in the underworld of Los Santos.

Character Creation

Once you’ve created your character and got through the tutorial, you’ll be plopped into a world full of high-ranking aggressors just waiting to blast your rear into oblivion with whatever overpowered weapon they feel like using at that moment. However, thanks to the beauty of instancing, when in an actual mission you’ll be undisturbed.

Tutorial

While the Tutorial is, for the most part, mandatory, it contains some optional activities that are key for learning new skills and earning a bit of starting RP and GTA$. Lamar, Gerald and Simeon walk you through the tutorial missions, introducing you in broad strokes to most of the activities you’ll encounter in GTA Online.

Contact Missions

The first thing you ought to immerse yourself into are contact missions. These form GTA Online’s admittedly thin narrative component, showing the path of your character from insignificant street thug to criminal mastermind. These are unlocked procedurally as you rank up through various activities, providing you with one of the rare instances of structured progression in GTA Online.

That said, in most cases, the various missions provided by each contact aren’t connected. One exception is Lamar’s contact missions, which you should be doing last of all, and play out a story of sorts about the character giving them. These were introduced in the Lowriders update, making them the most recent of the contact missions.

A good thing to break things up with in between the contact missions is doing versus missions for money, RP and unlocks. These make up the structured PvP aspect of the game alongside Adversary Modes, however these are newer additions best kept for later.

Heists

Once you’ve gone through all the contact missions and done some versus missions, you should have most of the meaningful rank unlocks and a solid grasp on the game mechanics. At this point you could try your hand at the heists present in the game. You shouldn’t mistake these for the pseudo-end-game, as we’d put the CEO stuff afterward. If you think about it, an up and coming criminal would likely pull off a heist first in order to fund their more high-profile endeavors later.

Keep in mind that communication in heists is key, and you should familiarize yourself with the mechanics of each heist. The set-ups and finales all have various phases that need to be done in specific ways, and while any literate human should be well off with the objective descriptions, there are some unorthodox methods that have become widespread that are handy to know beforehand.

Around this time you should also look to join a crew, as playing with randoms usually ends in disaster and a lot of wasted time. Heisting with a crew will ensure a higher rate of success, not to mention that your teammates will know what to do and won’t screw up at every turn – just make sure you don’t either.

There are five heists in total, and while you’re working your way through them, keep in mind that there is a one-time “criminal mastermind” challenge present which rewards you with GTA$ 10 million, give or take, for completing all of the heists in consecutive order, in one go.

Adversary Modes

If this goes up in smoke, however, you can always fill in the gaps between each heist with some Adversary Modes. Of course, the ideal thing here would be getting a good variety and trying out all of them, however, the sad reality is that most of the modes have no-one playing them, so you won’t be able to fill a lobby anytime soon. Usually, only the newest modes (and Deadline, which you should play to unlock the Shotaro) will be populated.

Presumably, over the course of your endeavors, you’ve bought a property or two, filled a garage with rides and have plenty of weapons to protect yourself with. You have everything you need to take on the heists, which will set you up nicely for what comes after.

Become A CEO

This is when we get to a major milestone: the purchase of your first CEO office. These things start at one million, so it might be the most expensive thing you buy at this point. However thanks to the heists you should have enough money – especially if you adhered to our buyer’s guide and didn’t blow your cash on something useless.

Once you’ve got the office, a few things pop onto your agenda. First of all, you’ll need a warehouse to begin shipping cargo and a few upgrades. Second, once you’ve done enough crate jobs, you ought to invest in a vehicle warehouse to begin import and export missions, which represent the most lucrative way to earn money in the game.

When you’ve hit that point, you’ve arrived at the not-actually-end-game-content-but-close-enough portion of the game where things open up and you’re welcome to do as you please. There is a whole motorcycle club feature to dive into, not to mention the freemode events and the stunt races which keep getting crazier and crazier with each update.

Soon, through profits from import and export missions, you’ll build a fortune large enough to buy just about anything you want, until the next update drops of course. Then, once it’s released, the content of the gunrunning update will be the next thing to move on to, whatever it may be.

To help you along your journey, refer to our host of other guides which focus on specific aspects of the game. The most useful of these will undoubtedly be the money and RP guides, but the others will help you along just as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are you going sort through it all and find the best things to buy in GTA Online?

As the number of vehicles, weapons, properties and additional items (customization, upgrades, yachts, offices, warehouses, businesses, clubhouses) continuously increases while the price of goods in GTA Online are pretty high (we cover the reason for that here), it is especially important to make sure you buy something you won’t regret later.

Those items that can be sold only return a small percentage of the purchase price, while there are many – especially among the particularly expensive purchases – that cannot be sold back at all. As such, unless they want to lose out on a lot of cash, the discerning player will do some research as to what should be bought while keeping in mind their GTA Online character’s bank balance.

Sometimes new players jump into GTA Online by purchasing a Shark Card Bundle, which immediately grants them a larger cash base from which to kick off their criminal career. At other times, players are only now returning to the game after a long hiatus, discovering that they had a lot of money on them when they stopped playing.

We’ve put together, with the help of online resources, a shopping list containing a number of must-have items, some low-priority but good to have items and finally some items to avoid. Some of these are not available from the get-go, in which case we’ll mark when they become unlocked, and we’ll list price as well.

Must-Haves

These items are crucial for success in GTA Online. You really ought to pick these up as soon as you can, as some missions and scenarios are made significantly more difficult without them. Many of these are unlocked later on as you progress or are rather expensive, but they’re definitely worth it.

• Assault Shotgun (Rank 37/$1500) – Possibly the best weapon in the game for close to mid range combat. Necessary if you plan on doing a lot of PvP such as Deathmatches, TDMs, LTSs and various Adversary Modes. This weapon is also a good friend in Freemode, though long-range weapons are preferable.
• Homing Launcher ($75,000) – In a perfect world, this weapon would be seldom used. However, unfortunately we live in a world full of Hydra griefers. While passive mode is a more effective weapon against these bastards, the Homing Launcher is a great choice if you decide to meet them head-on.
• Heavy Sniper (Rank 90/$9500) – In the hands of a moderately skilled player, this weapon becomes the cheese of GTA Online. Basically one-shotting everyone from the chest upwards, the Heavy Sniper will soon become your best friend in this game, especially in Freemode where aggressive self-defense is about as crucial for survival as water and oxygen.
• Special Carbine ($12,832)– The go-to all-rounder of GTA Online. You’ll be faced with few situations were this weapon doesn’t come in handy, and it really should be the default gun of choice for everyone.
• Armored Kuruma ($525,000)– The “Karuma” as countless players keep erroneously referring to it is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, owning one is handy if you want to succeed at heisting and they make most missions much easier than with any other car. On the other hand, it’s overused in Freemode by trolls and the like. You should definitely buy one for utility, but we urge you to consider it like alcohol – consume responsibly and with restraint.
• Insurgent Pickup ($1,350,000)– Armed and armored, the weaponized Insurgent will be a necessity in case you take to doing CEO work, or in case you and your buddies want to police your lobby. As the closest thing to a tank without being a tank (and also being better than the Rhino), the Insurgent is ideal for protecting yourself, your friends, your businesses and for hunting down rowdy players who think the K:D ratio means anything in this game (spoiler alert: it doesn’t).
• Savage Attack Helicopter ($1,950,000) – The savage is like combining the Kuruma and the Insurgent while adding the ability to fly. The Savage is great in missions where it is allowed, and it is also a prime tool of vigilante justice and asset protection. It also doubles as a troop transport, and three other characters fit in beyond the pilot. An absolute must-have for CEOs and associates.
• Heavy Combat Outfit – Don’t even think about Heisting without this. You’ll either be kicked right out by the host or you’ll just die constantly.
• Buzzard Attack Chopper ($1,750,000) – This mean vehicle unlocks at Rank 43 and is relatively cheap compared to its vast utility. It makes completing missions in our best money making method guide significantly faster.
• Pegassi Oppressor Mk II ($3,890,000; trade price $2,925,000) – The suped up big brother of the regular Oppressor, this flying jet-engine bike packed with homing missiles is a griefing nightmare, but also your best friend. Like the Buzzard, it significantly decreases the time needed to complete the best missions in the game.

Good to Haves

These items are not absolutely necessary in GTA Online, or they’re more intended for higher rank players who have some cash saved up to invest. You shouldn’t be running head over heels to buy these items, but you should definitely remember to grab them sooner rather than later.

• X80/Whatever the fastest car is at the moment – Sure, it’s pretty expensive for just one car, but if you plan on doing some races – which you should, as the racing scene in GTA Online is really lively – you’ll be needing it. Most racers will be rolling with the current fastest car anyway, and you’ll have a real hard time scoring wins with a disadvantaged ride.
• CEO Office/Warehouse( Starts at $1,000,000) – As described in our money making guide, running crates as a CEO is one of the best ways to secure a steady stream of income. The payouts are great and the jobs aren’t as finicky as running a Heist. While PacStan still has a bigger one-time payout, and setting up a CEO business takes a large investment, in the long run crates will be your best source of income.
• Pisces Yacht ($7,000,000)– I can already see the comments about how players regretted buying their yachts. Well, if you bought the most expensive model, the Aquarius, then I can absolutely understand your regret. That said, the Pisces, which is the mid-range yacht among the three, is actually superior to the Aquarius in spite of being cheaper. Plus, owning a yacht will unlock Piracy Prevention, which isn’t only a good source of cash and RP, but it’s genuinely fun. That’s why you’re playing, right?
• Clubhouse/Business – While the lower initial investment required for Businesses saved them the ire CEO offices and warehouses got back when Finance and Felony launched, players were still vocal about their disappointment at not turning an instant profit. However, if you know what you’re doing and handle businesses right, they’re a great way to generate passive income while you’re off running crates. As for the clubhouse, it also doubles as a 10-bike garage, so there’s that.
• Vehicles in every class – Some modes and races are locked to certain classes of vehicle, forcing players to use those. If you don’t have such a vehicle, you can rent one or you are barred from playing. It doesn’t hurt to stock up your garage with rides for every scenario. Being prepared pays off.

Not Bads

These items are less about being better in GTA Online and more about enjoying it more. These won’t make you more cash, they won’t help you dominate your opponents. However, they might help make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

• Character Customization Items – Though their purely cosmetic, things like clothes, tattoos, accessories and hairstyles will help you make your character truly your own. So much DLC has been released that at this point GTA Online offers more customization than the freaking Sims, so you’re guaranteed to find a (or more) outfit and style that you like.
• Preferred Personal Vehicle – Do yourself a favor and when you’re choosing which of GTA Online’s many cars will be your personal vehicle, don’t care about the stats. Try some cars out, get a feel for them, and pick one that drives, handles and looks to your liking. Customize it, upgrade it and cherish it. You’ll be a lot less eager to play if you force yourself to use a statistically better ride that you personally don’t like in Freemode roaming.

Avoid At All Costs

For the love of god, don’t buy these things. They’re expensive and you’ll be guaranteed to regret them, and you can’t sell them back. These items are cash thrown out the window. Just don’t.

• Luxor Deluxe – The gold plated jet that costs 10 million but doesn’t do anything. You can drink champagne, smoke cigars and access the internet while on-board, but that’s it. This is a waste, and a perfect representation of real-world decadence. At least it’s realistic in that regard.
• Pretty Much All Pegasus Vehicles – Other than those Pegasus vehicles we listed above, barely any are worth the massive amounts of cash needed to buy them. Some might seem cool on paper, but in practice most of them are pretty useless.
• Aquarius Yacht – As we mentioned above, the Pisces is a great choice, while the more expensive Aquarius is pretty much a waste. It costs 8 million, has fewer customization options than the Pisces and even seems less luxurious – and even the Pisces is a waste of money ultimately. There is no point in buying any Yacht unless you’re swimming in GTA$ with absolutely no idea what to do with your extra millions.

What in-game items would you add to this list?

Many GTA Online players make the mistake of discounting these character stats, assuming their actual impact is minimal. However, sometimes it is a high stat which gives you that tiny advantage, that minimal edge over your opponents which propels you to victory. These stats don’t really affect the immediate factors of the game such as health, or the amount of damage you can deal – which is why many overlook them – rather they alter the secondary, underlying abilities of your character. Some of these abilities won’t even become apparent to players not paying attention.

An extra second of sprinting could save you from a fatal shot. Jumping down a ledge so high that your opponent would die from the fall while you survive serves as the perfect ambush. Escaping into the water with superior lung capacity can win you an Adversary Mode. Players always assume that shooting and driving are the only factors influencing the game – and what weapon or car you have.

Each of the several player stats in GTA Online have different benefits and can be increased in different ways.

Strength – In typical RPGs, strength is often in direct relation to damage dealt. The higher your strength, the more hurt you can dish out. Since GTA V is primarily a shooter in terms of combat, this stat has a smaller impact. However, it is true that melee attacks are made more effective by increasing this stat. Other benefits include increasing climbing speed on ladders and the amount of damage your character can take. When you’re hunting down a bounty or enemy teammate, being quicker on ladders can put a drawn out chase to an end. We don’t need to explain why increased damage tolerance is crucial – if you’re in a full frontal conflict with an opponent and both of you are taking shots, strength may be the deciding factor.

You can increase your strength stat with sports and fighting. The stat increases by a percent for every 20 punches you land, or for every cow you kill. The two sports which increase this skill are golf and tennis. Another tactic is to get a friend to sit in a car, and punch the car.

Stamina – This is the resource that your character consumes when sprinting, cycling and swimming. When you continue performing these actions after your stamina is depleted, your character is going to start using up health instead, simulating the pain caused by fatigue in real life. Sprinting is the most useful of these actions, often used in any kind of on-foot combat. In a firefight, staying on the move is crucial for survival and even an extra second spent sprinting may save your life. Grinding this stat is useful, as maxing it out will grant you infinite stamina, meaning you can sprint indefinitely without any penalty.

Like in real life, you can increase your stamina with a bit of cardio – performing the very actions which consume stamina assist in increasing it. Specifically, every 16 meters ran, and every minute of swimming will give 1 stamina point. Riding a bicycle is also a quick and easy way to farm stamina.

Flying – Not literally, unfortunately. This skill doesn’t denote your character’s affinity to throw themselves at the ground and missing, rather their proficiency with aerial vehicles. Controlling planes and helicopters in GTA V is notoriously hard – as it should be. Real life pilots need extensive training before they can fly independently. The riskier maneuvers such as landing and take-off, as well as turbulence management easier. They way the game handles this is by making control of the vehicle more sensitive, allowing players to make better course corrections. In the case of turbulence, the higher your skill, the lower the turbulence you will encounter. Several situations may require precise flight, or can simply prove to be an advantage.

The only way to practice flying is by flying. Performing flight school missions, flying around the world of GTA V and especially flying under bridges will help boosting this skill. 10 minutes of flight, as well as passing under bridges both give about 1% increase, while gold medals in flight school missions should yield around 3%-5%.

If you buy a Cuban 800 plane (GTA$ 240,000) you can farm flight skill by taking off, landing, waiting 3 seconds, and repeating the process.

Lung Capacity – Strangely enough this is a separate stat from Stamina, though in reality their effects are connected. While Stamina dictates how long you can swim without taking damage, Lung Capacity is what determines how long you can stay underwater with a single breath. This stat is essential for any escape-artist.

You can increase this skill by staying underwater (surprise surprise) and by practicing yoga. Every minute spent underwater increases this skill by 1%, and every 20% increase boosts your breath time by 5 seconds starting from 15 at zero skill.

Apparently it is also possible to simply get a dinghy or submarine, and jump overboard in scuba gear and stay submerged. Lung Capacity should then level up on its own until full.

Shooting – Shooting is pretty straight forward, right? You point the thing at whatever you want to not live anymore, you pull the trigger and done. Anyone who has actually shot a firearm in their life will know it’s a tad more complicated – not by much, but still more complicated. The Shooting skill in GTA V has some of the most effects on gameplay. This skill determines recoil, accuracy and ammo capacity. We need not tell you how crucial these factors are in a fierce gunfight.

You can increase your character’s shooting skill by, well, shooting. Headshots and skill challenges will increase the stat at a faster rate. Time spent at the shooting range is also a great way to boost your skill, with Gold Medals giving you 3%, Silver giving 2% and Bronze giving 1%.

Driving – Because, you know, Grand Theft Auto. This skill is somewhat restricted, as so much about driving is determined by the stats of the vehicle you’re in. However, your driving stat does affect the amount of control you have over your vehicle, including while mid-air. Jumping while in a car, especially in races and while off-roading can make or break the job.

Your driving skill can be increased by performing various stunts, getting air (granting 1% for every second) and driving in oncoming traffic without hitting anything. Stunt Jumps grant 2%-3%. It should go without saying that you should never try anything of the like outside virtual environments.

Stealth – Being sneaky is a great way of staying alive in GTA Online. The good enemy is the enemy that does not know you’re there. If they can’t aim at you, they can’t shoot you. Ambushing your prey, striking from the shadows will make you the perfect killer. While in stealth, your blip will disappear from the mini-map, allowing you to stalk your prey. Stealth takedowns are also an instant way of taking out enemy players.

The Stealth skill can be increased by sneaking around, thus gaining 1% for every 37 meters walked crouching and taking out players without being detected, granting 1,5% every 2 takedowns.

Increasing these stats is slow, grueling work, but if maxed out, they can make you a true juggernaut in pretty much every game-mode in GTA Online. On first glance, these factors may be less important than having the bigger gun and the faster car, however these stats may give you an edge against a seemingly superior rival. Much more depends on these than you may think.

The best GTA Online players and crews out there have learned the benefits of player stats and that’s what propelled them to the top of the leader boards. A single percent of difference in stats can decide an evenly matched fight. That one more second of sprinting, that minimal amount of damage you can still take, that one degree of direction while mid-air will decide whether or not you’re experiencing or merely observing an epic GTA Online moment. You might want to spend that time grinding cash for that new weapon keeping an eye out for your stats – remember, you can do both at the same time with most stats!

Which are your preferred methods of increasing GTA Online character stats?

Over the years, GTA Online has grown tremendously with the addition of numerous free DLCs, updates, and new content. This can be overwhelming for new and returning players alike. But don’t worry – this guide will break it all down for you in an easy-to-understand way.

We’ll cover all the essential tips and information you need to know as a beginner, including:

• Getting started with your first cars and properties
• Making money early on through jobs and businesses
• Understanding the importance of RP (Reputation Points)
• Finding your way around the huge amount of content
• An overview of key DLCs and updates over the years

GTA Online in 2024 is a massive playground filled with possibilities and whether you want to be a CEO kingpin, biker club president, nightclub owner, or professional heist crew leader, this guide will set you on the right path. We’ll help you make smart choices with your hard-earned cash and avoid common pitfalls.

Content Explosion

The very first thing you’ll notice is that there is a lot of content right from the get-go. The minimap will be filled with icons new to you, the interaction menu will look like a clusterf… uh I mean mess and people will be riding around on vehicles you’ve never seen before.

Hop down to a clothing store and see that there will be a multitude of new outfits to choose from, with some of the most apparent being various new pieces of business attire, racing gear and all-leather, all-spikes biker gear. You’ll also note that the already bloated Tattoos tab will have spiraled out of control – and all of this is just the tip of the iceberg.

GTA Online has enjoyed constant content support in the form of free DLC packs adding tons of new content to the game since launch. Today, Online looks and plays a whole lot different than it did back when it first launched in 2013. As the game recently celebrated its third anniversary, all that new content has been adding up, greatly expanding Online beyond its original scope.

This really isn’t an issue for long-time players, since they’re learned the ropes quite a while ago, meaning that with each new DLC, they just need to get a hang of the new content. On the other hand, new or returning players have a lot to catch up on. But don’t worry – nothing you can do will cause any permanent issues with your character, so feel free to familiarize yourself with the world in your own way and at your own pace.

Getting Started

When you’re taking your first few steps and committing your first few crimes in Los Santos, the game does a decent job of railroading you for the first bit. Once the training wheels come off and you’re set loose in the world however, much is left unexplained. That’s where we come in.

Your First Cars

The first two rides you should get into your garage are the free Elegy, which is a great starting vehicle and a solid all-rounder in terms of role, as well as an Armored Kuruma as soon as you can afford it. You need to finish the Fleeca Job heist at least once to unlock it, and it costs GTA$ 525,000, meaning this will be your first major milestone to strive towards.

Before you get the Kuruma, the Elegy will do nicely, however the armored car is essential for soloing missions later on effectively and efficiently. Kurumas are quick, good off-road and the armored variant will keep you alive in pretty much all PvE encounters. This thing is a workhorse, and we suggest treating it as such. Using it in freemode will likely draw some unwanted attention, as the vehicle has a reputation for being a “douche mobile” due to the unruly behavior of many who use it outside of missions.

Beyond these two cars, it’s highly recommended to get a Zentorno, especially if you go racing. This is another frequently used vehicle, and with good reason. It’s pretty great all around in terms of performance, and in the hands of a good driver, can be used to win races even against statistically superior cars. That said, for the love of god, please don’t paint it chrome.

Neither of these vehicles will be something you use forever due to better options being available for their roles later on, but initially they are solid choices.

Get a Job

In GTA Online, money is everything. It’s also notoriously hard to make, and pretty time-consuming in relation to most other MMOs. Of course, the easy way out is to buy Shark Cards, but not everyone can afford them, or maybe some players are conceptually opposed to the practice. In this case, you’ll do yourself a favor if you play smart from day one.

Many people tell horror stories about the dreaded “grind” in GTA Online, however if done right, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by getting an early start. While the more recent DLCs might seem “off limits” to new players since they’re new and presumably end-game content, there is no need to fall into this trap.

In fact, we highly suggest getting in on the businesses from Bikers as soon as possible. Stealing supplies means they have low upkeep, however they are a great source of semi-passive income. So long as you keep the supplies stocked, the business will continue to generate cash on its own.

If you kick off your business early on, by the time you reach the point where it makes sense to start doing CEO activities such as running crates and exporting cars, you’ll have enough cash accumulated that the initial investments won’t be an issue.

Don’t Neglect Smaller Missions

You might think that since Heists and businesses and CEO work is where the big money’s at that nothing else is worth doing, but you’d be wrong. Contact missions especially help to collect some starting capital, as well as teach you the finer intricacies of the gameplay.

Adversary Modes shouldn’t be ignored either. While they didn’t use to be popular, nor particularly rewarding, recent additions to the lineup tick both of those boxes. They’re fun, there are plenty of players and they pay damn well. Good examples are Deadline and Vehicle Vendetta.

You should always keep an eye out for whatever jobs are part of each week’s on-going double RP and Cash promotion to maximize your gains. For more money making tips, refer to our extensive in-depth guide on the matter.

Daily Objectives are also a great way to earn larger amounts of RP and GTA$ with less effort and time, and are ideally suited to newer players. If you go through your laundry list of tasks, you’ll be awarded GTA$ 30,000 and 5000 RP, but the real focus is on the consecutive bonuses. Completing your daily objectives 7 days in a row will earn you a bonus of GTA$ 150,000 and 20,000 RP, while keeping it up for a month will give you a GTA$ 750,000 and 50,000 RP payout.

On top of this, consecutive completion of individual objectives also adds up. 10 done in sequence grant you GTA$ 10,000, 20 grant GTA$ 20,000, 50 grant GTA$ 50,000 and finally, completing 100 objectives consecutively awards you with GTA$ 100,000.

Don’t Forget RP

It’s easy to think that money is all that matters in GTA Online, but this assumption would be wrong. Until you hit the soft-cap for rank, you’ll constantly be unlocking new items or perks. You might have noted how, in spite of mentioning weapons in the opening, we didn’t touch on the matter yet.

The simple reason for this is that they aren’t something you should worry about for a while. It’s pretty simple, if a new gun has better stats, get it. There really isn’t too much difference between gun and gun in GTA Online, however there are two you will definitely need to grab the moment they become available: the heavy sniper and homing launcher.

Both of these weapons are unlocked upon reaching a certain level, with the heavy sniper having a pretty high rank requirement. You’ll be gaining quite a bit of RP from regular gameplay, and if you lean on earning lots of cash, the RP will flow as well, however nonetheless, you ought to look through our RP guide as well while you’re at it.

Where’s My Stuff?

GTA Online is absolutely filled to the brim with content, as we’ve repeatedly mentioned above. Various DLCs include various types of vehicles and items that are only visible or accessible in certain locations or menus, and it’s easy to get lost in a UI weighed down by 6 years of constant DLC. If you bought one of GTA Online’s starter packs and you’re dumped into the game without a clue and a large amount of items from the get-go, things will be even more confusing.

Not all vehicles are stored in your garage. Certain vehicles will be stored in properties specifically designed for them. You’ll find most of your aircraft in your Hangar, if you have one, while the vehicles you use in Arena War will be in your Arena Workshop.

GTA Online has a large selection of specialty vehicles sold by Pegasus. Even after you buy these vehicles, they won’t be ‘stored’ anywhere. There isn’t a location where you can enter and physically view the vehicles. You’ll need to call the Pegasus number on your in-game phone to have the ride of your choice delivered to you.

Certain upgrades are only accessible in certain locations. Not all properties have weapons lockers, for example. If you want MK.II weapon upgrades, you need a Bunker. All properties have upgrades and customizations specific to them, which you logically cannot manage from other properties.

DLC Content

With all the DLC that has been added to the game, you might get a second wave of content creep once you’re done getting a hang of things. We’ve got you covered with brief run-downs of all the fancy content GTA Online has accumulated over the years.

Freemode Events

The thing you’ll likely encounter first while messing around in Freemode in GTA Online will be the very update named after it: Freemode Events. The main thing this update brought to the table was a selection of various activities that randomly spawn while in Freemode that anyone can instantly join.

These include rampages of destruction, racing while trying to stay within an ever-shrinking circle and collecting packages across the map. There is a wide variety of events and many offer quite a bit of entertainment, however don’t expect to get rich off them or rack up a whole lot of RP. These are designed to help you screw time away between cooldowns or waiting for other activities to unlock. We’ve produced a guide regarding Freemode Events for your enjoyment.

Lowriders

Next up was likely the most-leaked and most-fake-leaked update in GTA Online history, Lowriders. Seriously, by the time this thing was released, people were already tired of it. The update added a new contact, Lamar, who returns from the story mode, and a handful of new vehicles. The twist this time around was that the new rides could be taken to a new auto-shop, Benny’s Original Motorworks, for extensive and flashy modification and customization work do be done that LSC will never do.

Lowriders was more about spending than earning, as the titular vehicles chewed up cash like nobody’s business. That said, the Benny’s thing became something of a staple, with cars being added to its roster even now, allowing for extensive customization. Over the months, this was extended to various non-lowrider cars as well, if that’s not your style.

CEO Part I

The first truly game-changing update that hit GTA Online after content support for the old-gen was ditched was Executives and Other Criminals, which kicked off the whole CEO theme that has carried on with the game ever since. Beyond adding a whole lot of new content like weapons and vehicles, the update also introduced the Yachts and the whole CEO/Associate system, but back then it was called VIP/Bodyguard.

Some of the missions from Executives still make up part of the perfected money-making method in GTA Online today. Beyond this, the update set the stage for the future of the game. Fair warning though, even if you have the cash on hand, don’t buy the most expensive yacht – get the mid-range one, here’s why.

CEO Part II

Following Executives was a litany of largely unimportant updates, such as the rather fun if forgettable Be My Valentine DLC and the rather underwhelming Custom Classics update. However, once these were done with, Rockstar dropped the next big bomb in the CEO series of updates, with an even longer name this time around: Further Adventures in Finance and Felony.

The new update took the CEO thing to the next level, giving players lavish corporate offices to buy and warehouses to stock full of illegal goods. For months after this update was released, the crate-selling mechanic reigned supreme as the number one money making method in GTA Online, and some players swear by it even today.

The biggest draw of the update was the black market mechanic. Players had to buy offices and at least one warehouse for this. Then, they would do Buy missions where they needed to collect goods and deliver them to the warehouse. Here, they could select buyers, and then initiate a Sell mission where they made profit on their investment, provided they succeeded.

This took the rivalry between the well-mannered players and the griefers to a whole new level, as the latter now had a relatively easy means of swiftly erasing millions in in-game currency by destroying the investment of the former. The shit-flinging persists even today.

Cunning Stunts

After Finance and Felony, Rockstar decided to throw the status quo in many ways. Cunning Stunts was unlike any DLC GTA Online had seen before, and it was also among the most loved. The focus this time was on racing, but a new kind of racing. The new stunt tracks would be whacky death-traps in race course form, filled with furnaces, massive jumps, loops and entire sections floating above skyscrapers. Not exactly rooted in reality, but hey, it was fun as hell.

Bikers DLC

Following Cunning Stunts was a long awaited answer to the longest requested update by the community. Bikers put motorcycle clubs in the spotlight. The DLC added a host of new bikes and clothes to GTA Online, as well as an MC mechanic where you could found your own club.

A new gameplay mechanic in the shape of Businesses was introduced, which brought the first instance of semi-passive income to GTA Online. You can read all about how to use the system most effectively here. A number of other neat missions, like Clubhouse Contracts, were also added.

Import / Export

Later, Rockstar graced the community with an update that was somewhat derided at first, but once the players learned how to properly use the system, it arose as the single most effective and efficient way to make cash in the game: Import/Export. A new chapter in the on-going CEO saga, Import/Export once again placed the focus on the stealing of cars – like, you know, the name of the entire franchise suggests.

Basically, you’d do source missions where you steal a specific car, take it to your vehicle garage, fix it up, repaint it, and then deliver to the seller. Naturally, your objective was to sustain as little damage as possible, however the NPCs – and even the PEDs – would make that difficult. That said, there are some neat ways to do import missions in order to maximize profits.

Import/Export also introduced special vehicles, such as a ramp-buggy, a semi-truck with a massive car-plow welded to its front, amphibious quads, sports cars with jet engines strapped to their rear and literally KITT from Knight Rider. Incidentally, these vehicles will be featured in an upcoming update that will mix them with Cunning Stunt’s courses.

Gunrunning

Settling into the comfort of the successful business-based DLC model, where each major update introduced a new property needed to unlock the missions, a new type of illicit product and new sell missions. Gunrunning moved the action from the office to a bunker where your character develops new weapons and sells them on the black market.

The introduction of Mk.II weapons kicked up the previous PvP balance with new, powerful guns entering the fray, and weaponized vehicles made free-roaming even more chaotic. These powerful new rides all have associated missions, allowing you to earn a discount on their purchase price.

Mobile Operations Centers are another big addition, allowing you to take your business on the road with a huge armored trailer housing your secret base. The MOC also has its own missions as well as a huge selection of upgrades and customization options.

Speaking of customization options, your dreams of turning your character into a military cosplayer could be realized with all the new “tacticool” clothing items.

Smuggler’s Run

Another take on the now-standard business gameplay loop, Smuggler’s Run let Rockstar popularize aerial vehicles and renew a trademark all in one fell swoop. Bunkers are Hangars, guns are miscellaneous illegal items, and the featured vehicles are all planes.

Flying was previously mostly happening in the background, unless you count the incessant Hydra griefers. This DLC… sort of succeeded in bringing it more to the forefront but that wasn’t very long-lived. Hangar Sell Missions are still among the more lucrative activities in the game, though, and plenty of slick planes were added to the game thanks to this update.

Transform Races

How about Cunning Stunts, but even crazier? The basic mentality of Transform Races sums it up nicely. It’s stunt races all over again, but this time with vehicles being swapped out mid-race. You’d drive a car, a plane and a bike all in one lap. Like other racing modes, it eventually received its own Creator. Also like other racing modes, it didn’t really leave a mark.

The Doomsday Heist

It only took 2 years, but to close off 2017 Rockstar added new Heists to GTA Online. The Doomsday Heist sought to solve the game’s endgame problem in so far as it didn’t have one. By this time, the original Heists weren’t too hot anymore and players were hungry for more. In this update, you’d take up residence in a secret mountain fortress and save the world.

GTA Online protagonists may not be your typical hero, but global annihilation isn’t profitable. After you bought your Facility, you’d gain access to some proper narrative content in Online. Other additions included the Avenger, which is basically a flying MOC, 10 additional outfit slots and a massive hoard of vehicles.

The Doomsday Heist briefly became the most profitable activity in the game and has effectively deposed the original Heists among more advanced players. It also introduced a ridiculously expensive orbital laser which lets you shoot an insta-kill beam anywhere on the map. Fun times.

Also, Jetpacks!

Southern San Andreas Super Sport Series

Another racing-oriented update, SSASSS makes up for its extravagant title by having relatively tame content. There are no stunts or transformations here, only classic circuit racing with a bunch of new cars.

After Hours

After Hours was a huge deal when it came out, and still exerts lasting effects on how the game is played. You can buy your own Nightclub – with a cameo from fan-favorite Gay Tony – which is both a passive source of income and a new centralized base of operations for all of your businesses. Previously you could only manage your CEO, Import/Export, Gunrunning, Smuggler’s Run and Bikers businesses from each respective property.

Now, you still need to own these, but can access all of your systems from the nightclub. Additionally, the nightclub warehouse boosts your profits massively thanks to technicians who create product for your warehouse of choice automatically and for free. If you kept your club popular, it would grant you some free pocket money too.

A bunch of new vehicles were added as well, including the extremely useful and extremely annoying Oppressor Mk.II, which replaced the Hydra as the go-to griefer vehicle. However, it also became an essential tool for making the most cash in the least amount of time, so we’ll forgive it.

Arena War

Arena War is all about spectacle, inviting players to the Maze Bank Arena for gratuitous carnage. Across 7 game modes, players have to compete with each other to complete arena-based objectives while destroying each other and causing mayhem in general.

The career progression system lets you track how you’re doing, and 12 vehicles that somehow manage to be even more over the top than anything before let you bring some of that arena violence out into Freemode.

The RC Bandito was also added to the game with this update. A small remote-controlled vehicle, the Bandito can be used to deliver explosives right to the feet of your enemies or to compete with in special races.

Diamond Casino & Casino Heist

After all these years, all the rumors and fake leaks, the Casino is finally open in GTA Online. First launched as the Diamond Casino & Resort DLC, players could buy penthouses at the Casino, gamble, spin the lucky wheel and engage in an all-new storyline where you’d work with the management to prevent a hostile company from taking over.

Why So Many Griefers?

Now, there are two things we need to consider here. First of all, there is a reason for this effect, and second of all, it’s actually really easy to avoid. So it’s not like this is reason enough to give up on GTA Online.

We know the griefers can be more than just frustrating by causing actual, real monetary damage, but there are ways to get together with amicable players and have a good time. This is, after all, a game where saying hello will get you shot.

Before we get into this, let’s remember for a moment that no multiplayer game is free of asshats. Everywhere you go, there will be a few players who get their kicks out of messing with others incessantly, going out of their way to piss on your parade. Depending on game, there will be fewer or more of them around, since not all environments lend themselves to low-effort trolling. Some games actually require you to put some work into being a dick.

Countless terms for the undesirables of gaming have cropped up across genres. Campers, griefers, trolls, and many game-specific terms are floating around out there, but they all come down to the same meaning. GTA Online is no different in this regard. However it stands out from the ground by virtue of the perceived ratio of griefers to legitimate players. Many players will say that Online has an unusually large amount of assholes running around. Some even claim it has the worst community in gaming.

Now, there are a handful of reasons for this. While there are exceptions to every rule, it’s true more often than not that hardcore players have a lower tendency to grief than casuals, and the latter group makes up the vast majority of GTA Online’s playerbase. Hence the generally larger chunk of players who tend to grief.

The immense popularity of the game is also to blame for this phenomenon. With this many players in the game, every kind of personality will be encountered more times. There are more people sharing stories about their experiences on various community boards and sites, and if we actually take the time to tally things up, the stories about negative player interactions aren’t present in such overwhelming numbers comparatively. It’s just that these are the ones we notice, the ones we remember, and thus we feel there are more of them.

Don’t get us wrong, this doesn’t mean that the GTA Online community isn’t actually as dangerous as it’s made out to be, because it is. Pretty much every public lobby will have at least one griefer in it, and that’s if you’re lucky. With the recent update removing completion restrictions from heist vehicles, people can buy a Hydra without completing the EMP set-up mission of the Humane Labs heist, so a hell of a lot more of them are in the air.

Griefers will be killing you when you’re driving around, when you try to deliver vehicles or crates, when you’re standing around on a corner somewhere, when you’re doing your dailies, when you’re mucking about on your phone, when you AFK to take a piss or the exact moment that you spawn. They will abuse the passive system to get away and prevent you from retaliating. They will ruin your gaming session.

There isn’t much use trying to go after them and get revenge, since if you succeed, they’ll just switch lobbies and continue doing the same thing to some other schmuck. You can’t ignore them and move on since they’ll just continue doing it until they provoke a reaction. If you jump lobbies, you’ll just encounter another griefer. If you keep jumping lobbies, you’ll get a fine helping of GTA Online’s loading screen art but not much else.

The Solutions

We did lead into this article say that there is an effective method to avoid these kinds of players. The straightforward methods most of you likely thought about are using passive mode or playing in private lobbies, however both of these methods present issues of their own. There are a number of activities in GTA Online, notably the most lucrative ones such as CEO work, which cannot be done in private lobbies, and doing them disables passive mode as well, leaving you easy pickings for a griefer.

Public Lobby Alone

One method which doesn’t have these downsides is getting into a public lobby alone. Depending on how stable – or unstable – your internet connection is, this might be happening anyway on its own. There is a way to induce it, though, which is described in this handy guide. The end result is a public lobby where you’re the only player, meaning none of the private restrictions, but you’re free of any griefers.

When it comes to Import/Export, purposefully lagging yourself into a public lobby where you’re the only player isn’t that big a help either, since that means that there will be significantly larger NPC opposition – a lesson Rockstar learned after so many players used the method to deliver crates undisturbed. This way the repair cost on the cars you source and deliver will be significantly higher, cutting you out of a lot of profits – not to mention some people play GTA Online for the “online” component, thus playing solo kinda defeats the purpose.

Join a Crew

In this case, the best thing you can do is join a crew of friendly players who enforce strict rules in their lobbies preventing griefing. Many such communities have sprung up among GTA Online’s players, but comparatively few people go looking for them. Here, the players usually help each other out and only engage in PvP when it’s organized on common terms. They have members dedicated to the role of law enforcement, hunting down any stray griefer that finds their way into a public lobby dominated by the crew in question. Crewmembers will invite you to specific lobbies where they make up the majority of the population to make this work.

Find Friendly Lobbies

Depending on platform, you have various communities to help you out. PC players can go check GTA Cartel, Xbox players are welcome at Peaceful CEO while PS4 players can join CEO Friendly. There are alternatives on all platforms, but these are the three largest and most active of the crews which promote friendly, co-op play and enforce lobby rules.

GTA Online’s open public lobbies are lawless, and while that seems to fit the subject of the game quite well, the various systems in place can make it an oppressive kind of lawless instead of the wacky fun kind of lawless that we’ve all come to expect from the GTA franchise. Sure, we want crime, weapons, explosions, murder, fighter jets, theft and more, but we want to have fun while engaging in all of this too.