This thread is essentially a copy and paste from my original thread here [ Register or Signin to view external links. ]

This thread is all about informing everybody on these forums the best way to go about things, some things that are helpful to know and everything in between or helpful in general. I put about 100 hours into single player getting %100 completion before online was released and now here I am. I'm a die hard GTA fan since GTA 3 and I'm always trying to find the best ways to go about things, making money or finding a helicopter so instead I decided to be the one to bring a more upbeat post relating to GTA Online by compiling all of the Tips and Tricks I've learned, come across, or that were left in the comments on this thread itself. Thanks to everybody who contributed and Thanks to my crew members. I'm also always looking for friendly people to play with on Xbox Live. If you're interested send me a message or join my crew from my signature.

Reading through there may be some information you know or have heard before but I highly suggest at least skimming through all of it. There's a lot of useful information in this thread. Play smarter not harder and thanks to everybody who has contributed! I've left some things in quotes of the information I've gathered from comments.

Change Log:
- 10/2 -
introduced table of contents
added change log
- 10/3 -
-added info to 3 (cars for cash, text) ; update list
-edited a lot of the categories rewording them and adding info.
-removed the quotes as they were taking up too much space making the thread clunky
-changed colors, italics, font sizes, making the thread smoother, easier to follow, read
-added 9) saving/earning money
-changed names of the topics
-edited misc tips
-added misc tip. Prison.
-added 10) Vehicle Locations and a misc tip, also more ways to make money!
-added title and introductory paragraph
-10/4 -
-Changed the change log.
-revamped 9) saving and earning money, added info, changed it around, added sections and more tips including free guns, free vehicle repairs, depositing your money, how to remove stars after store robberies
-added a special thanks/contributions section with names
-moved/added some misc tips into sections that make more sense
-useful links section
- 10/5 -
-face lift to the entire thread
-added felon gt for $9,500 to los santos cutoms in (2
-renamed (2 from $9,000 to $9,500
-added TONS of misc tips!
-edited earning money/rp for replaying missions in 9) for a work around after the recent patch
- 10/7 -
-added a note to 3) about snacks
- 10/8 -
-added 11) preventing character loss
-added recommended missions to 9) earning money


Table of Contents:
1) Getting a good starting car after the "tutorial"
2) Making $9,500 every 48 minutes
3) Mmmm Snacks
4) Joining a crew. The benefits.
5) Earning RP (xp) Solo
6) Making a car yours. For free. / The Elegy RH8
7) Quick leveling your skills online
8) Bounties
9) Saving and Earning money
10) Vehicle Locations
11) Preventing Character Loss
- Miscellaneous Tips
- Useful links


This one includes a spoiler right after the first couple missions.
[spoiler]After you get through the first race, buy some clothes and rob the store, the mission where it tells you to go put a tracker and insurance on your car, [/spoiler] then grab any car from the road (as long as it isn't too high end like the infernus, coquette etc, I got a Schyster Fusilade) and it'll be free to make yours during this mission. Go through every option category and any upgrades and paint will also be available for free.

[/u]
Running around Los Santos, waiting to get your next job or in between robbing convenient stores you will occasionally be able to sell a car in the Los Santos Customs shop. You can do this once every 24 in game hours, which converts to 48 minutes of real life time, if anybody even keeps track of that anymore. What you do is steal any car and drive it into a Customs shop. There will be an option to sell it (you can also sell your own). Obviously the less damaged, the more cash you'll get. Also, if you have a free garage slot or don't mind driving around, for example a felon or baller, you will very frequently see those types of cars making stealing and selling them that much easier. Below is a few cars I remember the prices for to give you an Idea and selling cars with mods, or anything altered on them will fetch higher prices giving you a slight return on the money invested into it.

- Felon GT: $9,500
- Gallivanteer baller: $9,000
- Lampadati felon: $9,000
- Ubermacht Oracle: $8,000
- Ocelot F620: $8,000
- Escalade (not sure of in game name) $7,000

ALSO. Occasionally playing you'll get a text from Simeon with a couple cars listed in it. I highly suggest finding one of those cars. The mission will only activate when you get inside of one. It isn't confirmed as I've only gotten it twice but I do believe, just like Los Santos Customs, the type of car determines the pay out for bringing it to the docks for Simeon to ship out. So I suggest trying to find the nicer car in the text.

3) Mmmm. Buying snacks.

This one is very straight forward. If you're low on health, go to a store you can walk in to (I usually use ammunations) and there will more than likely be a vending machine. For $1 it heals you completely from half health. You must have it in cash though or you'll get an Insufficient funds message. There's no where to swipe your card on hookers or a soda machine. You can also buy snacks to carry around on you from gas stations to heal yourself in between your random acts of violence. To do this just open your inventory and scroll down and by your cigarettes you'll see your junk food to magically heal yourself with.

Note: Eating a snack while in cover or zooming in will instantly restore the health without the animation. You can also not eat snacks in vehicles, even as a passenger. Wouldn't want a dirty car now would we?


This is highly advised and you can even join more than one crew earning RP (XP) bonuses to rank up much faster. Being in a crew gives you a %10 bonus and you can have people to play with. Not trying to advertise but if you need a crew and want to join mine there's a link in my signature to my crew page


Some people prefer to play alone and here will be some ways of earning RP (xp) while doing so. First off replaying an easier job over and over seems to be one of the most effective. After a few levels be sure to find a higher level mission to replay as the rewards won't be as effective. Next you could play some of the events that only require 1 person such as races and parachuting. How could you lose by yourself? Other random activities will give you bonuses to RP. Losing cops, the more stars the higher the reward. Killing gang members and cops also award with small bonuses that can really add up. Successfully completing stump jumps gives bonuses to RP. Even if you play alone being in a crew awards bonuses to RP! In fact, %10 more! Join a friends crew or If you need a crew to join you can always pick mine, the link is in the signature.

6) Making a car yours. For free. / The Elegy RH8

Once you buy your first apartment (not sure if garages work the same way, I'm assuming they do) you can store cars in its garage. Having one car out at a time and the other(s) in storage. You're able to call your mechanic and have him deliver one of your vehicles if you've strayed to far but most importantly you can put any car you find (not including the expensive/buy only cars) into your garage. When you do it automatically gets the GPS tracker making it yours for good. You can only own as many cars that will fit in your garage. If it's full you can chose to replace one. I suggest driving many vehicles replacing your old ones until you find the car you really like before spending money upgrading them.

The Elegy. Once you have a garage to store your cars go to the Legendary Motorsports website through your phone and buy the free Elegy RH8. If it isn't free or available then why haven't you signed up for Rockstars Social Club? Go do it now and get your free sports car.

7) Quickly leveling your skills online.

These are not confirmed (Except driving)
The single players ways are obviously still going to work, these listed here will be the online only ways.
Stamina - Bicycle Races
Shooting - Gun Ranges, playing Survivals are extremely good in my opinion.
Strength - Arm wrestling
Stealth -
Flying - Flying races more than likely do since Land races do.
Driving - Land Races
Lung Capacity -

8) Bounties

Players can set bounties on other players after meeting and calling [spoiler]Lester[/spoiler]. Not all bounties are placed by actual players though. At level 15, give or take. I received a $5,000 bounty on my head while playing a friends only game with one person by an NPC. A comment below suggests it's a random car theft, it could possibly be random acts of violence towards NPCs in general. If you survive 24 hours with a bounty on you, you will pocket the entire bounty yourself. Stay alive and make that money.

9) Saving and Earning money

Here will be some information that may not be completely obvious to all or good information to read before playing. First off see 1) for how to get a nice car from the beginning.
Don't forget to deposit your money! Typically I deposit it all through my phone and withdraw $500 to keep some pocket change just in case I need an emergency snack or hooker.

A) Saving Money
-Committing suicide for $500 instead of dying and losing $2,000.
-Claiming/Calling insurance may be cheaper than repairing your car, or alternatively you can do a job or mission and when you finish, or the mission ends and your mint condition car will be waiting for you.
-Getting a new car for free by taking it to your garage/appt
-Picking up a gun that you have unlocked to purchase at ammunation then going and buying ammo will unlock that gun for you instead of purchasing it.

B) Earning Money
By far the best way to earn money and RP is to grind on missions/jobs
After the most recent patch you can only replay the mission by voting, then pulling the right trigger. NOT continuing. These missions done quickly with a group are extremely efficient ways of earning money or to level.
(The level requirements are only when you can start hosting the missions)

Level 7 - Meth'd up: 5K - Gerald
Level 15 - Violent Duct: 9K - Gerald
Level 24 - A titan of a job: 10K - Lester (Slower than Violent Duct)
Level 27 - Base Invaders: 25K - Ron
Level 45 - Mixed up with coke: 18K - Martin
Level 75 - Rooftop Rumble: 25K
Note: The higher level missions are only more efficient if played with a group

Alternative ways to earn money
-Robbing armored trucks can also be pretty profitable (Only available after reaching the level for sticky bombs)
-Robbing Stores. You can go to the basket icon on the map and hold up stores by aiming your gun at the clerk. While in, in-game chat you can yell, shoot around them or both to make them put the money in the bad faster. Watch the intimidation bar at the bottom right. As you're leaving the store be sure to keep your gun aimed at them or they may pull a gun and start unloading into your back. Some tips for making this smoother are to pull up with a mask on, in a stolen car. Leaving the store head off in the stolen car to your actual car, parked conveniently out of sight. When the cops don't see you, remove the mask to lose 1 star. Switch cars to yours to lose another star. Easy peasy.
-Solo Players see 5) as most of those give cash rewards
-Simply playing through any of the blue icons rewards you with cash
one of the most fun ones in my opinion is the survival missions after level 15
which is also a good way to level your shooting up
-I have read a comment saying you can rob fleeca banks. This is unconfirmed but if you're a higher level, give it a try or let me know.
-Don't forget about bounties. See 7)

10) Vehicle Locations

Here I will start compiling a list of vehicle locations or tips to find them easier.
As like many other grand theft auto games, driving nicer cars, motorcycles etc increases the frequency you'll see that type of vehicle. Driving a infernus around you're more likely going to see other nice cars so to start if you want a specific type of car driving a similar one will more than likely help.

-Military Base - Jets, jeeps, titans, cargobobs, tanks
-Helicopters - By the Marina you can buy in single player (just north of the airport) there are helipads which spawn mavericks. You can also do a stunt jump by the gate of the airport to get inside of it and steal a helicopter from there. You do not get stars for entering the airport. Checking the tops of hospitals, tall buildings and Trevors airfield are also likely places for them to spawn.
-Airports - Airplanes, Helicopters, air tugs, fork lifts,
-Farms - Tractors, Fork lifts, utility vehicles
-Golf Club - Golf carts, usually higher end cars
-Police Station - Police Cars
-Fire Station - Fire trucks
-Hospital - Ambulances, Delumadol vans and Helicopters can spawn on the roof.
-Mine/Quarry - The HUGE dump trucks, semis, trucks, cement mixers, bull dozer, flat beds
-Construction site - Semis, dump trucks, bull dozer, flat beds
-Shipping Yard - Utility Vehicles, trucks, semis, flat beds
-Docks - Boats, Jet Skiis, Dingys, Helicopters nearby
-Beach - Bicycles, Life Guard vehicles,
-Desert - Increases your odds dramatically of finding trucks, dune buggies, bf injections, dirt bikes and four wheelers
-Vinewood Hills - Increases your odds dramatically of finding higher end cars, sports cars and coupes
-Grove Street and Similar areas - Increases your odds of finding sedans, muscle cars and sports classics

11) Preventing Character Loss

-Do not load directly into online, load single player, go to the online tab under the pause menu and start online from there.
-Do not 'Continue without saving' or create a temporary character. Ever.
-If it says you failed to connect to cloud servers, do NOT retry. Cancel and repeat the above step
-When exiting online, do not dashboard, shut down your console, etc. Press start, go to the online tab and Leave Online. Wait until single player starts to load before quitting the game so your character saves properly to the cloud servers and isn't interrupted.
-If your character does disappear or is 'deleted' do not panic, immediately load single player back up and follow these steps from top to bottom. Try a few times if it doesn't work on the first one. Your character should reappear fully intact. Do NOT make a new character right away and if you chose to make a new one, put in the other save slot as your character may still return.

Miscellaneous Tips:

-The last two stores you rob won't be available for a short period of time
-Shooting registers in clothing stores may not give you a wanted level at all
-You can call people who have given you jobs to request a new one, or redo one
-Climbing walls, ladders, etc is sped up for GTA: Online
-Using the tunnels are very effective for losing cops
-Gaining XP for driving, flying etc is much slower than single player
-Every clothing shop sells the same items regardless which store
-The prison is now on the map with a good amount of detail. Possibly hinting at there will be missions involved with it or heists when they're released. Looking forward to finding out!
-The websites that sell vehicles have a vastly improved inventory! Go check it out.
-Dying costs %5 of your max cash, capping at $5,000
-As of patch 1.02, this no longer affects Deathmatch.
-Passive mode is not invincibility. You're still vulnerable to being shot from a car and being run over.
-When robbing a store, you can kill the store keeper and take the money out of the register but you will make less.
-Typically the farther the store from Los Santos, the more it pays out. That's where most of the bigger stores are.
-You can sell cars to any auto-shop once every in-game day (around 48 minutes) which usually goes for 4-9k.
-Luxery Sedans and high end SUVs are the highest paying car when selling cars to the auto-shop.
-You can withdraw/deposit cash safely from your phone.
-All your progress online before the brown sync icon appears will be lost on turning off your console, selecting Leave GTA Online will save your progress.
-You can also shut down your console if you lost a great sum of money and haven't synced yet to restore your previous save.
-When you find a good farming mission, repeat as much as possible. Most good farming missions you cannot choose to join and usually end up joining by random.
-Gerald's missions seem to pay the highest. Would like to know if anyone has found any higher paying missions.
-If you're not finding good matches on Quick Job try swapping sessions by pressing Find New Session.
-Buying Armor before a session is usually worth it. It's cheaper then the expensive death penalty.
-Blue moving objective points that aren't auto GPS tracked will appear under Quick GPS.
-If a player in your passenger sets a GPS route on the map, it will also appear on your map.
-Simeon's missions are time consuming and not worth the payout compared to Gerald's missions.
-Use Find New Session to quickly warp back to your garage/apartment.
-If you get a phone call from an AI, your characters lips will move. Your characters mouth also move whenever you talk into the mic.
-When buying an apartment/garage, you will sell your already owned property and get about half the value back to contribute to the purchase.
-Only the host needs to be the required level to start a mission. Anyone can play with anyone regardless of level requirements.
-Press RT to vote for replay mission after everyone has liked even if the option is not shown.
-Mashing jump up hills is faster then running.
-Sports/Super cars must be bought through the ultimate motors website to keep in your garage, sell or modify.
-Don't quit golf/tennis/shooting range etc. because you are losing. You still get rp (experience) for losing and for being a good sport you will get monetary rewards. Plus you still get points towards your skills. Races can be done solo. They can give 500-1000 rp each time alone which can be a great experience booster. Keep in mind though that it costs 100 each time.
-Players drop 100 every time they die, in addition to any funds they are carrying.
-You have to start a solo/private game from the pause menu.
-Blowing up other players owned vehicles deems you a bad sport, so be careful on your drive-by stick-bomb sprees.
-On the other hand, shooting the all the tires out of a players personal vehicle is totally okay.
-Heritage can influence character height in Character Creation.
-How you set your time spent in character creation can affect how you look, though apparently some of these can be removed when you get an apartment.
-Stores can be re-robbed immediately if you swap sessions.
-Driving a car into an auto-shop gets rid of your wanted level, if you're not currently spotted by the police.
-Your garage/apartment is also a easy way to hide from police if you enter when you're not spotted.
-Cops will sometimes chase you if the car you are driving is stolen.
-All clothing stores have the same options for different items.
-To unlock car upgrades you need to run races with that class of car and level up.
-Holding back allows you to split up money that you get from robberies.
-Wearing a mask while wanted and then removing it drops your wanted level by 1 star, more depending on the mask.
-In races, holding Y/Triangle to spawn back to the last checkpoint also repairs your car.
-Pressing down the the d-pad enlarges the mini-map to give a good view of nearby players.
-Putting a car in your garage makes it your personal vehicle, repairs it, and gives it a free tracker.
-Singing while in the shower in your apartment gives you RP. Leave music playing into your mic overnight to exploit this.
-Rolling (X while zooming-in) will dodge most bullets from AI and players.
-Food bought from stores can be used as portable med-kits.
-You can kill players in stores when you kill the attendant.

Hope this helped you! Feel free to comment and if you want to contribute just reply with any tips that aren't listed and I'll be sure to add them along with your name below for supporting this thread.