Dummies Guide to GTA Online [For the beginners in GTAO PC]

[Ghost XB]

Introduction

Welcome to the Dummies Guide to GTA Online. GTA Online is one of the most complicated Online Action-Adventure RPG Multiplayer games there is, and as GTA V and GTA Online for PC just came out yesterday, I decided to make this guide to help the new people in GTA Online. If your experienced in GTA Online, this guide probably has no use to you, but I still recommend reading on because lul. Remember, these are just some tips I have for new players. If theres anything you would like to add, please comment it and I'll might add it! So lets get started

 

Guide to the Guide

Before I begin, I'm making this guide for new players, who are starting from scratch, so not all of this will apply to experienced players. If you pre-ordered the game for PC, you get an extra $1,000,000 to spend, however I will be mostly counting this towards people who did not preorder. This guide isn't just for PC though, and I recommend also using it for Last Gen and Current Gen consoles! I split the guide into multiple sections. View the ones you like, and thanks for reading the Guide to the Guide.

 

The Dummies Guide to Grand Theft Auto Online

Starting Off

 

Lets begin with the basics. Firstly, after loading up GTA Online, you must complete the Tutorial.

 

 

Your First, Free Vehicle

After the Tutorial, you get to select a vehicle to use. This will probably be your main vehicle for quite a while, so I recommend getting something decent that you wouldn't mind using for a day or two. Although this vehicle cannot be a High End vehicle [Over $100,000+ Price], there are still many good options for vehicles to use as your first. I personally wasn't very skilled back then and chose the Gauntlet, but even that served me well for a good 3-4 days [Real Time]. Some vehicles that I recommend getting as your first are:

• Benefactor Schwartzer [Lots of customization options, and pretty good speed.]
• Maibatsu Penumbra [i'm 80% sure I spelt this wrong, but its got ton of customization options and even better speed than the Schwartzer]
• Lampadati Felon GT/Felon [Great 2 and 4 door cars. Decent speed, and the Felon GT is a convertible]
• Vapid Dominator [All around great car with lots of customization options and is best in its class for performance, In my opinion]
• Bravado Gauntlet [This was my starting car, and I still kept it for a good week or so before scrapping it]
• Karin Sultan [All out beast, Can be found pretty easily at the Prison. Amazing performance, its the whole package]

Don't worry, you won't have to keep this vehicle for very long, but its still very important to pick a good starter car.

 

 

Your First, Paid Garage

 

Once you begin Online, one problem you may discover is you cannot purchase vehicles until you own a garage. After completing the tutorial, Simeon will eventually give you a call saying you can purchase apartments. After that, you are ready for your first garage.

 

For your first garage, there are 3 ways you can go. Either

A) Quickly purchase a small 2 car garage

or

B) Save up money and purchase a 6 car or 10 car garage a little later

or finally,

C) Buy a small 2 car first, then start saving for a 10 car

 

The cheapest garage is located under a bridge, fits 2 cars, and looks like sh*t. The good news though is it only costs $25,000! [Thats only 2 missions, or 1 heist setup on hard].

Option B is to purchase a more expensive 6 or 10 car garage a little bit later, which will probably be better located, look nicer, however will cost more and will also make you wait longer to purchase vehicles.

I personally like option C because its best of both worlds. For Option C I recommend purchasing the $25,000 2 car garage, then start saving for the $100,000+ 10 car garage.

FAQ: Why not just buy a nice apartment instead????!?!?!??!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!!?

Answer: Apartments are useless until you are starting a heist, and even then you have to use $200,000+ to get the cheapest high end apartment. Until your ready to get a heist crew together and host heists, or have a stable amount of money, I don't recommend buying an apartment since they end up costing around $100,000+ more than just buying a garage.

 

If you thought this was confusing, wait for the rest of the guide.

 

 

 

Your Second, Paid [or possibly free] Car

 

Now lets start spending money [possibly]! If you have a Garage, and a suitable amount of money [$100,000+ recommended] you may just be ready to purchase your first vehicle. Lets look at some options here:

 

Option A) You purchased a small or large garage but got a really cra*py starter car, and need a quick car fast. You don't have a lot of money, so the cheaper the better. In this case I recommend the Elegy, possibly one of the best sports cars in the game, and saving up money to get a new car.

 

Option B) Listened to my advice and got a great starter car, were able to scrap up some cash, and now have money to get some sick wheels!

 

If you don't have much money, or even if you do but are looking to save up, I recommend the Elegy RH8. Its probably one of the best sports cars in the game, and although it isn't [in my opinion] the best looking car, it definatly get the job done. To get the Elegy RH8 however there are some requirements. The Elegy is unlocked by signing up to Rockstar Social Club, and linking your game account [XBL/PSN/orPCequivelent] to your Social Club. Once you do that you should be able to go to Legendary Motorsports on your phone and purchase the Elegy RH8 for "Free".

 

If you have some cash and are looking to buy a decently priced car, here are some options:

• Bravado Buffalo S [Great for the price, 4 seater, not crazy fast but its still the best 4 - seater in the game in my opinion]
• Pfister Comet [Great car, decent speed, only $100,000. Not extremely fast, but is good enough for a starter and also has lots of customization options.]
• Benefactor Feltzer [Pretty Fast Car, costs $145,000, and has lots of customization parts as well. Faster than the Comet and is one of the best Sports Cars for racing in GTA Online]
• Grotti Carbonizzare [Amazing. Costs a little more, at $195,000, however is speedy quick and has a hardtop retractable roof. If your looking for spending a few more bucks, this is the car for you.]
• Dewbauchee Massacro [if you saved up since starting GTA Online, and have $275,000, this is the car for you. Fastest [Non Racecar] Sports car, with great acceleration, best in class top speed, and great customization. The only downside is it costs a bit more for starters, over $100,000 more than Feltzer, but if you did manage to save up that much, its definitely worth it]

One other option is to simply spruce up your starter car a bit. Complete some races so that you can equip upgrades such as Turbo on your vehicle or Transmissions, as well as make your car look good by respraying.

 

 

 

Your Loadout

 

Back in my day [Few months ago] we didn't have the option of buying crazy cool guns from the start, but now you do, so use it. Due to DLC Weapons being unlocked at rank 1, DLC guns are definitely the way to go when starting GTA Online. Heres my recommended loadout for beginners: [Note: Some weapon classes do not have DLC weapons

• Pistol: Normal Pistol [You won't be using the Pistol much anyways, until you unlock the AP Pistol, so don't bother wasting money on a pistol and stick with your normal pistol]
• SMG: Micro SMG [This is one of the few weapons you should buy when unlocked. Since you need a drive-by weapon, this is pretty much your go to option until unlocking the AP Pistol. Yes its unlocked with your rank, but its a pretty low rank as I remember and you should be able to unlock it in a few minutes, maybe an hour tops]
• LMG: Unfortunately no LMG is unlocked from the start of the game
• Assault Rifle: Special Carbine [Pretty much one of the best weapons in the game.]
• Sniper Rifles: Unfortunately no Sniper Rifles is unlocked from the start of the game
• Handheld: Fists [unlocked at Rank 1]
• Shotgun: Heavy Shotgun or Sawed Off Shotgun
• Heavy Weapon: Homing Launcher [The Essence of GTA Online]
• Explosives: Since its unlocked by DLC, Proximity Mines [Although I recommend Sticky Bombs if unlocked]

 

 

 

 

*This guide is not complete, nor close to complete. I will be updating the guide frequently, and lots of more info will be added*

Edited April 15, 2015 by ExEminer1

[killerx2]

kill or be killed.

[razmat]

I just started online , made a character and skipped the tutorial. is there any way to do the tutorial now?

[Booyaah]

Unfortunately the PC version does not get the Elegy RH8 for free, I believe it's $95K, but that's still pretty cheap and a good car. Honestly though, I just went ahead and got the Obey 9F for $120K, it is slightly better and I prefer the Audi R8 look.

 

As far as my 1st starter car, I got the Ocelot F620. Has that Aston Martin look to it somewhat. Best place to look for your first starter car is Rockford Hills I believe. Here is a good resource for comparing cars: http://www.ign.com/wikis/gta-5/Vehicles

I went with the 'get the cheap $25K 2 car garage first' option..you don't need a 10 car garage or high end apt right off the bat. The main reason you want a cheap garage ASAP is because you want to have a mechanic to be able to deliver your car to you. Jacking and trading in cars to LSC every hour will mean you will have to jack another car just to get back to your original car unless you want to hike it on foot.

 

I found the best way to make money is bring up the main menu -> Online -> Play Quick Job -> Play Mission. Unfortunately you can't 'on call' queue for 4 player Missions (give more money) from your phone.

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by Booyaah

[Sam(u)sonite]

For the first car, I would add Zion, especially if one is into racing.

Fastest coupe in the game.

[Sam(u)sonite]

Oh and definitely DON'T use the IGN as a reference.. at least not for comparing car performance!

The stats have been proven to be inaccurate many times.

 

For example the top speed stat doesn't mean anything. Since it only shows the top speed value from the data and doesn't factor in the drag coefficient.

 

If a new player is interested in racing, then I would strongly suggest watching Broughy's series from youtube.

Best fully upgraded cars from:

https://www.youtube.com/user/hwkabro/playlists

[_Pythonomorpha_]

The loadout is slightly inaccurate, since there is a sniper rifle available from the start: the Marksman Rifle. It's not as powerful as the other snipers nor does it have a zoom-in option, but it does have a larger magazine and it's semi-automatic with good firerate.

 

And I also recommend at least getting the Heavy Pistol, it's pretty much a semi-automatic version of the AP Pistol.

[Ai®a©ob®a]

Unfortunately the PC version does not get the Elegy RH8 for free, I believe it's $95K, but that's still pretty cheap and a good car. Honestly though, I just went ahead and got the Obey 9F for $120K, it is slightly better and I prefer the Audi R8 look

Yeah the Elegy went to $95,000 once the PS4/XB1 version came out it was only free on PS3/360