GTA 5 and GTA Online PS5 and Xbox Series X/S – 10 Tips and Tricks to Keep in Mind

As a nine-year old game that’s sold over 150 million copies, it’s hard to find people that haven’t played Grand Theft Auto 5. If, however, you’ve somehow never dived either into its story mode, or its vastly popular online mode, or both, and are looking to do that with the new PS5 and Xbox Series X/S launch- well, hopefully this should prove handy. Here, we’ve compiled a few tips and tricks to keep in mind as you play GTA 5 and GTA Online.

SHOOTING AND DRIVING

Grand Theft Auto 5 allows players control over their characters and their progression, and allows you to prioritize which of your various stats you want to improve. Regardless of who you’re playing as though, the two that you should prioritize above all else are shooting and driving. That’s what you’re going to be doing for the vast majority of the game, which, luckily enough, feeds into the progression loop as well, automatically making you stronger in those areas. If you want to go the extra mile though, you can always go to the shooting range or try some races to improve those stats even further.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

The three main characters in GTA 5 each have their own unique special abilities, and each is uniquely useful, with Michael’s bullet time, Franklin’s precision driving controls, and Trevor’s rage mode. All too often, players tend to simply forget about these, which is a bit of a bummer, because they can be incredibly useful. Using Michael’s bullet time during tense firefights, for instance, can really pull you out of a tight spot, and Franklin’s ability can be just as useful during a high speed chase.

STOCK MARKET

The stock market is probably the best and easiest way to make money in GTA 5 and GTA Online– it’s certainly one of the more popular ones. With the LCN and the BAWSAQ, GTA 5 has two fully functioning virtual stock markets, and playing those markets can be incredibly lucrative. Of course, this being GTA, there are always ways to keep an eye on the stock market and maybe even manipulate it to your liking to make that extra bit of money. Speaking of which…

MAKE SMART INVESTMENTS

There’s a whole line of missions in GTA 5 that is focused entirely on its stock market- specifically, assassination missions task you with assassinating CEOs of rival companies. That, of course, is something that has an impact on those companies, and you can use that knowledge to make smart investments and make tons of money. Meanwhile, it’s also always smart to pay attention to radio and news broadcasts that talk about the highs and lows of the market- that, too, is information you can use.

STRANGERS AND FREAKS

In a game like GTA 5, there’s absolutely no shortage of content, but if you’re looking for more handcrafted story-driven missions that aren’t necessarily part of the main story- well, there’s plenty of that as well. Los Santos is brimming with Strangers and Freaks side quests, and they’re well worth seeking out. You either get to meet bizarre, memorable characters, or you get to be a part of some really fun and interesting stories, or you get to experience a well-designed mission with a unique hook- one way or another, these Strangers and Freaks missions tend to be some of the best parts of the game.

SCAVENGER MISSIONS

Scavengers Missions are another type of activity that you can potentially spend hours on in GTA 5’s open world, what with its focus on collectibles. Something that can speed up that whole process, though, is tackling them as Franklin and bringing Chop along with you. If you get close to one of these collectibles when Chop is with you, he’ll lead you right to it, saving you a lot of time and effort.

PICK THE EXECUTIVE CAREER PATH

As you kick off GTA Online, one of the first things you’ll do is use its Career Builder, which is meant to ease new players in with more direction. Here, the game will ask you to pick one of four paths, and while Gunrunner is a pretty lucrative path, our advice would be to pick Executive. From here, don’t spend an awful lot of money on your main office, but do make sure you get a warehouse that’s at least medium-sized, because having larger cargo stockpiles will allow you to sell them to buyers for more money as you progress further.

BUY A GOOD CAR AND PLENTY OF WEAPONS

In addition to purchasing your headquarters and warehouse, GTA Online’s Career Builder will also give you the option to purchase a personal vehicle and weapons- this is where you spend your initial pile of money. Buy a good car, because you’re obviously going to be driving around a lot. Meanwhile, buy a ton of weapons, since they’re not awfully costly, and make sure to get plenty of grenades and molotovs as well. You’ll need all the firepower you can get.

STEAL A CHOPPER, DON’T BUY ONE

Of course, once you’ve created your character and established your criminal career, you’re free to do whatever you want in the lawless criminal haven that is GTA Online’s open world- so rather than saving up the money to buy a chopper so that you can have easy access to flying whenever you want later on, just save that money. Steal a chopper instead. There are multiple areas of the world where you can try and steal a chopper and claim it as your own, so save your money for something else.

KEEP DEPOSITING YOUR MONEY

Speaking of money, that’s a precious resource in GTA Online, for obvious reasons, and since it’s the primary driver for progression here, it makes sense to guard it with your life. Of course, other players can simply kill you and steal everything that you have on your person- so it’s best to err on the side of caution and deposit your cash every so often. You can do that by using ATMs or via the Maze Bank website, which can be accessed using your phone.