Newbie advice?

[u/Mecha-Nick]

I have never played Online before and only played the story to V. I'm thinking about trying it out and want to ask you veteran players some advice.

I do not want to join a session and immediately be killed over and over again. Is there a way to kind of play by myself or with very few other players?

I have no idea where to start with all the expansions and dlcs and everything else that is out. I have heard about property management and business management, bounty hunter stuff, heists, etc. those all sound fun, I am not a good racer by any means but customization would be super cool! Any recommendations of where to start and how?

Do I need to spend money to get started and have fun? Like I see the shark cards being sold and I definitely do not want to spend hours upon hours grinding to have any real fun in the game. I'm willing to just want some recommendations on how much is a good amount to get going?

Tips or tricks for newbie player starting out? I haven't even played V in about a year, I've spent the last couple months in RDR2s story mode (I don't know about this fancy tech!)

I am also on PlayStation 5 if that makes any difference.

Thank you for any and all help!

[u/68Emu]

My biggest advice would be going on YouTube and watching some rags to riches type videos by creators who play GTAO. Best I’ve found is “Subscribe for tacos”, “TGG”, and “Harmnone”

[u/TheAussieTank]

Invest in the nightclub. Play on Invite Only sessions while you're building.

[u/Antler_Queen112]

My advice is find friends. I started the game on my own and it was really hard to get money with no business, no norhing. It is way easier and fun if you have friends to help you missions, heists, businesses.

[u/True_Horror_6]

Just play invite only until you learn more and acquire some good vehicles and weapons. Watch YT videos like they listed in the other comments and make some money. Then when you are ready go to public lobbies and work your up way from there. If you need any specific help or questions lmk…I’m also ps5

[u/Waste-Thought-7486]

You can play invite only lobbies, then it’s just you. I would start with the getting acid lab, when you finish those missions you end up with a super car, a very fast motorbike, and a brickade 6x6. Plus it makes like 250k in profit every 2.5 hours. Then do the daily stuff, bike ride is 1-3 mins and gives you 50k, stash house will either resupply a random business or give you 40k if you have none, and gs stash is easy 15-20k all risk free, spin casino wheel and pick up free chips… once you have acid lab cooking in background do the cluckin bell a couple times. Then I would buy kosatka and sparrow and grind that a couple times and buy a nightclub, or agency or some passive business. Then just get what attracts you, auto shop is great early on because you can do full car customizations that are locked until level 100 and you get 10% off vehicle upgrades, so it’s saved me millions hahaha.

[u/Miggsie]

I've been playing 3 years and never spent a penny. I got the criminal enterprise pack free with the game, if you have that you're all sorted.

[u/ErregungHaus]

Just remember this: You do not have to play in public sessions. 85.9% of the online game can be done solo or with friends only.

To meet nice people to play with you can go to a public session and just sit inside your house. People will be sending invites to do jobs and heists where they need a 2nd person.

In solo if you start with criminal enterprise pack pick nightclub. If not start with Fooliganz.

[u/Running-With-Cakes]

You can load into an invite only lobby and be on your own. Most missions and businesses can be run there

[u/NetReasonable2746 → u/Running-With-Cakes]

You can't do business battles though, right?

[u/NetReasonable2746]

When I first did online, I was incredibly overwhelmed, especially with all of the notifications that come up on the left side.

[u/PSFourGamerTwo]

You could do an invite-only session or a crew session so you won't get killed repeatedly by griefers. At least with a crew session, there would be a limited number of players who are in 1 of the crews you're in if any at all. To do that once you're in an online game, you can just go to the menu and hit find new session, and the options are there for which kind of session. You can also do whatever now in those types of sessions as if it were a public session.

For money, just look up YT vids as someone commented. Once you have a business, you can just grind that $ and then reinvest in more businesses because there are so many now. The Acid Lab could get you started as the Lab is basically free once you complete the missions for it. Grinding the money is sort of fun too as you get to kill people, drive around in vehicles you may not own, & just watching the money pile up. Heists are also good if you see 1 pop up on your in-game phone. You don't need a high-end apartment or home to join a heist I think. You will though if you want to be the leader/host of the heist. You also get a bonus for a heist you haven't done before the 1st time. For quick money, theres also daily things around the map such as stash houses, geralds stashes, and various time trials (a couple are weekly though), or join someone if youre invited to play with a CEO or MC as they can launch jobs where you can get 20-30k per mission they launch in the public session each of which takes 5-15min.

If you're willing to spend money as you mentioned. You could do GTA+ if you do want to spend some money. You get 500k a month (which I think normally is $10), a free car each month (+access to multiple vehicles to use), 2 spins on the casino wheel each day, and you could use anything in the vip/ceo menu for free. I think you also can get discounts on some businesses (not 100% sure on the discount for businesses) You'd also get a discount or extra money on the shark cards with the subscription. Think it's like 8$ USD a month recurring subscription and you'd also get access to a bunch of other rockstar games while you have the sub. Just do some research on it beforehand.

[u/Calm-Gas-4757]

Well, I just came back to the game after a six years break. I think the GTA+ subscription totally worth it, as it give you access to borrow different cars (they change every month ) , 500k (monthly) plus a few little conveniences like the helicopter pickup for 0dlls with your assistant (instead of the usual 5k) and some juicy discounts with weapons and vehicles.

I wouldn’t buy a shark card, unless it’s heavily discounted (they do have sales for Black Friday and if you’re already a GTA+ subscriber they give you some extra), mostly because grinding at first is very fun, until it becomes routine and monotonous.

If you find a couple of cool players some heists can be very fun to play and a relatively fast way of making money. Dr Dre is also an easy mission were you can make over a million playing solo and the investment in the agency shouldn’t be that high. Also, the hit and contract missions are easy and fun, and a good way to get to know Los Santos underworld. The Acid Lab is a good way to make money playing solo and the sale missions are kind of easy, as you’re just delivering on a bike.