GTA 5 Online Beginner's Guide: Tips & Tricks & How ToMake Money & Rep

A lot of GTA V and GTA Online players will be seasoned veterans of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions,but if you're just starting fresh on next-gen (Xbox One and PS4) or hotly anticipating the PC releasein January then you may be a total GTA Online noob in need of some advice.

Being a fledgling criminal in a world teeming with seasoned gangsters might seem a bitintimidating, but fortunately there are a few things you can do to make the learning curve a biteasier. We will start though by saying that bad things are an inevitability; at some point you WILLget shot for no good reason, someone WILL steal or blow up your car, and you WILL get your hard-earned cash stolen by some douchebag. These are things you just need to accept, but with a bit ofknowledge and effort you can keep this stuff to a minimum.

Death and Taxes

Despite the mad online arena nature of GTA Online you're not actually doomed into an eternal loopof mutually assured destruction. There are a couple of things you can do to nullify aggression fromother players.

Firstly, you're able to go into the multiplayer component without any other players, simply by optingfor "Invite Only" from the Online menu; the only downside here is that you earn rep and moneyfaster when co-operating with other players, so being on your lonesome may slow down yourprogression (as well as potentially being rather dull).

That said, this is also the mode to pick if you want to take the sensible route and just play with aselect group of trusted friends who you can invite to your session.

An alternative is that you can join a public session and jump into the in-game menu to activatePassive Mode - however, you can only select this mode following your first death (which will includea sequence where you meet "God"), it costs $100 in-game to activate and it lasts 15 minutes. WithPassive Mode activated you're immune to damage from other players if they're shooting you orattempting to hurt you with fists, knives and the like - you also can't damage them back, of course.But be warned as you can still take damage when in a vehicle or be hurt by getting run over while onfoot.

As always, the safest method is to play with friends only.

Another thing to bear in mind is that when you have cash you need to deposit it in your bank account- you can either do this at ATM machines or via your phone (get on the internet, hit the 'money' tab,then select Maze Bank). If you die while carrying cash a proportion of it will be dropped and anyonecan walk over to pick it up.

However, something very important to remember is that even if you bank money it will still beutilised automatically for certain services - and one of these services is being revived at a hospital

every time you die; so essentially, even if your killer doesn't steal your money from your corpse, thesurgeon who revived you will take a chunk anyway. In other words you do want to avoid death whenstarting out because it'll stop you getting rich.

Another thing to note is you can lock your car to only be accessible by yourself or friends, or you canset it to "anyone" if you feel like getting carjacked.

Be Aware Of Your Surroundings

The minimap is your friend for a number of reasons, but the main one initially is that it shows youwhere other players are, which means if you keep an eye on it you can avoid getting jumpedunexpectedly. Players appear as white dots, so keep an eye out for ones heading in your direction,particularly if they're coming in fast.

Of course, not all players are going to be out to kill you, and the minimap can therefore be useful forlocating other players to hang out with, or if you're looking to do a group activity such as robbing astore or undertaking a mission - more on this later.

Also remember to watch out for griefers at key areas, such as outside hospitals, player houses,weapon stores, and other places people will typically visit regularly; these are all hotspots forgriefers to rack up loads of kills. On a similar tack always be wary of suspicious looking vehicles - ifit seems too good to be true that someone just left an Adder (Bugatti Veyron) just sitting aroundunlocked then it's probably got C4 strapped to it or something.

Get Some Wheels

When you start off in GTA Online the first car you steal will become your permanent ride, at leastuntil you've got a bit more cash to throw at buying and storing cars, so it pays to choose wisely.

Initially though, you won't be able to find anything too fancy but there will be a selection ofreasonable sedans, saloons, and the odd muscle car - it's a good move to do a bit of online researchto figure out what you might like and then look around in-game until you find it. Once you've got acar you like drive it to Los Santos Customs and fit it with a tracker for $2,000. This makes the caryours. It's also advisable to purchase some insurance for loss/theft so if someone pinches it from youor gets trigger happy with an RPG, you can get a replacement.

If you want more cars though, you're going to need a garage, so start saving for one of those!

Another good idea is to sign up to Rockstar's Social Club, for one thing this lets you socialise withother players inside and outside the game, store and share pictures snapped on your phone, andkeep track of your achievements. But the other important thing is you'll get access to a free Elegy

RH8 car from Legendary Motorsports (check the in-game website from your phone or a computer).