GTA Online Guide for Beginners: Best Ways to Get Started

Unlike the single-player mode, which is easy to get accustomed to, GTA Online is among the least beginner-friendly games out there. Rockstar’s massive multiplayer title wastes no time in throwing players into an alternate version of Los Santos that is brimming with opportunities for mischief and profit. However, it spends little time helping new players get their bearings or pointing them in a specific direction. With this in mind, we’ve put together a handy GTA Online guide for beginners featuring the best tips you should know. So with that, let’s begin!

1. Pay Attention to the Tutorial

This may seem like an obvious point, but it’s worth reiterating since many players tend to breeze past the tutorial carelessly. While it’s not the most comprehensive introduction by any means, the GTA Online tutorial does provide a decent foundation to build on. It sees your custom character fly into Los Santos before being picked up by Lamar Davis at the airport.

The street hustler then gives players a basic rundown of starter jobs they can take on to earn some income. This is followed by a street race for which you can pick from a selection of cars. While these rides aren’t exactly speedsters, you’ll be sticking with one of them for a while, so choose carefully. The ones we recommend include: the Vapid Dominator, Bravado Gauntlet, or the Karin Sultan.

After crossing the finish line, you’ll soon be packing heat and fighting a bunch of enemies. This makes for a nice taste of combat and introduces you to another money-making activity. You’ll get a measly $500 reward when the mission wraps up, but more importantly, you’ll have a car to your name, a weapon in your inventory, and a selection of jobs on the mini map.

2. Sell Cars for Easy Cash

There’s a solid variety of activities to participate in once the world opens up, and you can access them through the Quick Jobs option in the pause menu. But in the downtime between those activities, you can make some incredibly easy money by flipping cars. Doing this is as simple as stealing an NPC’s vehicle and driving it to Los Santos Customs using the map.

Once there, you’ll see an option to sell your car. The payout you receive depends on the make and model, as well as the vehicle’s current condition. Cars with modifications applied fetch a higher amount, and you can expect a 60% return if you’re selling your own car. Regardless of the amount, it’s still a quick and easy method to scrounge up some cash. Keep in mind that a 20-minute cooldown kicks in after every sale, meaning you can’t keep spamming it like an infinite money hack.

3. Understand the Interaction Menu

The Interaction menu is essentially a one-stop control center that lets you manage your character’s status, inventory, vehicles, properties, and more. Naturally, understanding its layout and most important options is crucial to the experience. Chief among these options is the ability to enable or disable Passive Mode.

You’ll be introduced to the mode upon your first death and will also get access to its toggle. As the name suggests, Passive Mode renders the player invulnerable to getting killed. This means other players on the map can’t zap you with Rayguns or blow you to smithereens using homing missiles. If your lobby is populated with griefers, the mode is a lifesaver, as it lets you go about your business peacefully. With that being said, you’ll lose access to your weapons in the mode, and it automatically turns off once you enter a vehicle.

Another aspect to keep in mind is the Snacks section. These delectable delights can be purchased from convenience stores throughout the city, and aside from cigarettes and alcohol, they all help replenish your health. You can quickly consume them for a health boost using the Interaction menu. Considering their importance, I highly recommend stocking up on snacks before heading to work.

4. Best Early Game Activities

Grinding is central to the GTA Online experience. If you want to purchase lavish apartments and own sleek supercars, prepare for long sessions of grinding the same high-paying activities. This may seem daunting at first, but the jobs we’ve picked out are both relatively easy to complete and brief in duration.

First among them is the Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid, a beginner-friendly raid that requires no financial investment from your side. On top of this, it takes around an hour to complete while offering a base payout of $500,000.

Another highly-recommended activity are the Time Trials. These are freemode events that you can participate in once a week, with payouts starting at $100,000 and going up to $250,000 for HSW Time Trials. They involve the basic objective of racing from one location to another within a given time. You can also check out the best ways to make money in GTA Online for a complete set of tips.

5. Purchase a Safe House

After completing the activities mentioned above, your pockets will be lined with cash that you’re likely itching to part with. But before you blow all that green on a V12, you simply have to purchase a safe house. Not only are these properties your safe haven from the chaotic streets of Los Santos, but they also come with a garage to store your vehicles in.

For this, I recommend the relatively inexpensive Del Pierro Heights Apartment that costs just $200,000. Despite being on the cheaper side for a high-end apartment, it comes with a 10 car garage, which is ample space for all your cars and motorbikes.

Purchasing your first apartment also unlocks the best GTA Online Heists that can be completed in a party of four. So once done there, check out how to do heists in GTA Online to begin.

6. Best Early Game Weapons

You’ll need the right tools to increase the chances of success at any job, and that means securing a decent arsenal of weapons. While the most powerful guns are locked behind an RP level requirement, there are plenty of low-level weapons that are accessible after just a few hours of gameplay.

For starters, be sure to pick up a Micro SMG since it’s the best early game option for a drive-by weapon. Then there’s the Special Carbine, which is one of the best weapons in the game, period. And lastly, it’s important to pick a Homing Missile Launcher as soon as it’s unlocked, since it makes taking down helicopters and vehicles a cakewalk. Want a better list? Our stack of best GTA Online weapons will help out here.

7. Complete Treasure Hunts

Treasure Hunts are unique, self-contained missions that require players to track down the location of an object using a myriad of clues. There are three treasure hunts in the game, all of which have challenges linked to them for a bonus cash reward. The reason I recommend these activities is that they’re pretty straightforward, especially with a guide, and you can blow through each hunt in just 30 minutes.

As for the reward, you’re looking at no less than $825,000 for around two hours of easy work. Plus, they’re also engaging to progress through, and one of them is even a direct reference to Red Dead Redemption 2. However, if that seems too tedious, there are a lot of hidden packages in GTA 5 you can find to get a wad of cash.

8. Set up an Acid Lab

Once you have a decent chunk of disposable income, it’s time to set up your first business. These ventures help enlarge your criminal empire while also being a good source of passive income. And the business I suggest starting with is the Acid Lab. Besides being easy to establish, the narcotics lab requires minimal intervention from the player, as your involvement boils down to routine supply checks.

In terms of revenue, the Acid Lab can easily provide you $210,000 worth of product every two hours. On top of this, you can actually gather a majority of its capital requirement by completing the First Dose and Last Dose mission chains linked to it. Once things are up and running, you also get the excellent Ocelot Virtue as a reward, which ranks high among the best cars in the game.

9. Keep an Eye on the Weekly Update

Weekly Updates are a rotation of vehicles, properties, businesses, and activities that receive special bonuses throughout a given week. These include weekly discounts on exotic cars that can significantly bring down their price, alongside a decrease in the prices of highly desired weapons. But what you’re really looking out for each week are the 2x or 3x revenue multiples on specific businesses and activities.

These could range from 2x GTA$ on all weed farm missions to a 3x bonus on an OG Heist and everything in between. The updates serve as extra encouragement to grind certain parts of the game, purely for the enhanced monetary benefit. This alone makes it important for beginners to keep an eye on them. Additionally, the highlighted activities also offer bonus RP, so they’re your best bet to level up quickly.

That wraps up our beginner’s guide for GTA Online. If we missed out on any important tips, be sure to let us know in the comments.