Five Tips For Thriving And Surviving In Grand Theft Auto Online

Though many of us are still struggling to gain access to Grand Theft Auto Online as Rockstar works out the technical difficulties, some have slipped between the error messages to experience Los Santos through the lens of their own created characters. To help you get set up in this new virtual world, I have a few tips I learned while playing the beta you may find useful.

Watch The White Dots!
You see those white circles on your mini-map? Those are other human players. When you see one speeding toward your location, steel yourself. The player behavior in GTA Online is erratic - they could simply be passing by to another destination, or they may have more confrontational expectations. Having a gun drawn is the best way to prepare for whatever happens next.

Deposit Money Often
If you're carrying more than $5,000 in cash, other players can kill you and take that money. To prevent this from happening, make sure you deposit large sums in the bank as soon as possible. When you're holding a big stack of bills, you should hold down the select button to bring up the player interaction menu, cycle through the waypoint options until you see the ATM option, and drive straight to the nearest one to make sure your money is safe. Update: As readers have pointed out, you can also deposit the money straight from your phone by clicking on the "money and services" tab in the phone's web browser.

Play With Friends
Rockstar doesn't prevent you from tackling missions by yourself, but doing so isn't very beneficial. To encourage cooperation and make crew membership more valuable, Rockstar gives players a 50-percent Reputation Point bonus for playing missions with others, plus a 10-percent cash bonus. Leaving that experience and money on the table is an ill-advised move.

Use Playlists To Make Cash Fast
When starting out in Los Santos, it can take a while to get set up with a nice pad, decent weapons, and nice car customizations. Instead of knocking over random liquor stores, I recommend you get a crew together, start a mission, and continue participating in races, competitive shootouts, and jobs via the playlist. That way, all that precious time normally wasted between jobs is spent making money and ranking up instead.

Buy Car Insurance
Grand Theft Auto Online is an unpredictable world, and you never know what could happen to your car. Whether you're driving like a maniac smashing into other cars, using your ride as cover in a shootout, or someone else jacks your wheels when you're inside a store, it's nice to know you can pass the bill to a faceless corporation instead of having to save for a new ride. The insurance payment may seem steep when you're staring at the price tag, but trust me, you'll be glad to have it.