Having a GTA Online beginners guide on hand will help you ease into the gritty criminal underworld of Los Santos and Blaine County while you learn the fundamentals.
We’ve covered the first steps of your journey, including the most critical topics to prioritize first and the ones you may skip to avoid becoming bogged down. It might be frightening to be a new player in GTA Online, especially when there are other people out there with over a decade of experience and a massive amount of stuff to work through.
However, if you follow the advice given here on how to get started, you’ll be on the right track, with our GTA Online beginners guide providing a firm foundation upon which to construct your criminal enterprises.
Which lifestyle options should I select in the character creator?
When you initially start GTA Online, you’ll be confronted with the character builder, where you can select several lifestyle settings to define how your character spends a regular 24 hours.
These change your player stats and, to some extent, your appearance, but the effect is minimal and has little bearing on actual gameplay, so instead you should focus on the appearance section of the character creator – you’ll be spending a lot of time looking at your avatar, and once your overall look is locked in, making any further changes can be very expensive, so make sure you’re happy before proceeding to start the game.
You’ll also be able to try out the GTA Online Career Builder, which will give you an advantage financially.
Can you skip GTA Online’s tutorial?
After you’ve created your character, take a fly to Los Santos International Airport and begin the tutorial part.
You may notice a prompt with the option to bypass the GTA Online tutorial, but you should not because it provides an excellent introduction to the mechanics of the online world.
Lamar Davis will pick you up and walk you through the basics of racing, missions, shopping, and robberies, as well as introduce you to a few other useful contacts.
Players have previously reported troubles with receiving missions to complete if they skip the tutorial, so make sure you complete it because it isn’t that long.
What do I do next?
After completing the tutorial, you will have access to the whole world of GTA Online in Free Roam mode, allowing you to do anything you desire. This is an excellent opportunity to get out there and investigate, so you can see exactly what’s available to you.
Stealing vehicles and either bringing them to Simeon if they’re on his wish list or transporting them to Los Santos Customs for sale is an excellent way to get started.
Either will make you money, but there will be a time delay until you can fence another vehicle in the same way.
If you want a more structured activity, open your phone (up on the d-pad), then select Job List to see recent tasks you’ve been asked to, or Play Quick Job and select the type of mission you’d like to participate in.
You can also select a specific task by pausing and heading to Online -> Jobs -> Play Job, then perusing the available options.
Working through Jobs is a terrific method to expand the tale of what’s going on in the GTA Online universe, as well as introduce new and familiar characters while earning money and leveling up.
How do I stop other players from harassing me?
Many GTA Online gamers will be pleasant, however due to the nature of Free Roam, you will occasionally come across folks that are solely looking to create trouble.
This is especially unpleasant if you just want to cruise around and enjoy the Los Santos streets, but another player is continuously following you and shooting you, running you over, or blowing you up.
If you find yourself in this predicament, you have numerous options for improving matters.
To begin, enter the Interaction Menu (M on PC, or a long press of the PlayStation touchpad or Xbox view button) and scroll down to Enable Passive Mode.
This will prevent other players from engaging with you, but you will be unable to equip weapons or perform melee attacks.
If this interferes with your current activity, you can stop and then go to the Online -> Players menu, highlight the player in question, and pick Kick to request that they be removed from the session; if enough other players agree and do the same, they will be removed.
Finally, if you just want to get away from them, you can pause and pick Online -> Find New Session, or choose a Job to jump into and leave the bothersome player behind.
How can I recharge my health, armor, and ammunition?
As in GTA 5, your character’s status is determined by two factors: health and armor, which appear under your radar as green and blue bars, respectively.
To recover your health, you can eat snacks purchased from vending machines. Conveniently, you can buy and stockpile them by visiting convenience stores, then opening the Interaction menu and selecting Inventory then Snacks to eat them on the fly and replenish your health.
A shortcut to this action is available by accessing the weapon wheel and tapping up on the d-pad.
Body armor can be purchased at AmmuNation retailers and saved in your Inventory for use as needed.
The sort of body armor you choose impacts how much of your meter is replenished when you apply it, and you may choose whether or not to display it on your character if you prefer not to mess with your present costume – revealing or hiding your armor has no effect on its effectiveness.
While ammo is sold at AmmuNation, you can also purchase it through the Inventory menu. Although there is a convenience fee added to the cost, it is well worth it if you run out of bullets during a conflict.
Do I need to purchase a property?
There are several types of properties available for purchase, each of which provides you with unique benefits. Garages allow you to keep automobiles for personal use, so get one as soon as you can afford it.
To see what’s available, open the Internet on your phone, then select the Money and Services button at the top and navigate to Dynasty 8 Real Estate.
When you have a little more money, you should consider investing in a high-end apartment, which not only serves as a base of operations and a place to change your clothes, but also has adjoining garages for additional vehicle storage and a planning room where you may plot Heists.
In our guide on buying a house in GTA Online, we go over what you need to accomplish in greater detail.
Then there are business properties, which can unlock a whole new set of missions to perform. Offices (bought from Dynasty 8 Executive Realty) allow you to manage freight and vehicle missions, whereas Maze Bank Foreclosure sells anything from motorcycle clubhouses and nightclubs to massive subterranean bunkers.
All of these commercial activities take time and a lot of money to get started, so don’t worry too much about them at first.
What is the greatest strategy to make money and level up quickly?
Many of the exciting missions and weaponry in GTA Online are not available until you reach a particular rank, which you may acquire by completing objectives in the game.
If you want to understand how to level up quickly in GTA Online, check out our separate article on adversarial modes, cargo drops, working for organizations, and more.
Similarly, there is practically nothing accessible for free in GTA Online, so you’ll need to keep your virtual bank account stocked with GTA if you want to continue your illicit activities.
Of course, you could just buy a GTA Online Shark Card for a fast cash injection, but that will cost you real money and should not be your primary concern. In our other guide, we have plenty of advise on how to make money fast in GTA Online, so check it out if you need help pulling off daring Heists, cargo missions, VIP work, and other lucrative activities.
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