Above: Los Santos looks incredible from the sky
14. Race to make cash and earn RP
Deathmatches are fun, but they take a long time and use up lots of ammo. Races, however, are a surefire way of making some money and earning RP. Even doing badly in a race nets you some cash, and sitting in a decent lobby exploring the variety of races on offer is a great way to pass the time in GTA Online.
If you don’t want to play in a public lobby, then start a private session with some buddies (from the Online menu) and get racing.
Pro tip: if someone in the lobby is consistently doing well, it’s worth placing a bet on them to win. Do this from the last menu before the race starts.
16. Get a turbo start
If you’re going to be racing, you’ll need to get out of the blocks fast. In true Super Mario Kart style, GTA Online offers a turbo start if you depress the accelerator right at the word “Go!”.
Get 50 turbo starts and you’ll unlock some neat new colors at Los Santos Customs.
17. Find your friends (and enemies) easily
With 16 dots moving around the mini-map, it can sometimes be difficult to see who you’re after. Use the interaction menu to choose “Highlight Player,” then select whose dots you want to flash.
When set to “On,” the flashing dots will appear on the main map and will flash on the edges of the on-screen mini-map, helping guide you quickly and easily to your target.
18. Forgot who shot you? Rockstar didn’t.
Navigate to the “Info” section of the game menu and you’ll get a run-down of your most recent activity. I’ve used this, on more than one occasion, to track down a miscreant and exact revenge.
Helpful if most of the players in your lobby have instantly forgettable user names created from a seemingly random string of letters and numbers.
Interestingly, Rockstar is constantly keeping tabs on who plays nice in GTA Online. Players report being forced to wear dunce caps for 48 hours, due to being bad sports. Conversely, good sports have received in-game payments of $1000 from Rockstar.
Above: Play nice or you wear this dunce cap for 48 hours
18. Use your “Action” commands
You can assign an action to your character from the interaction menu. Activate it by clicking both analogue sticks in.
Actions include dancing and flipping the bird which are essentially useless, but fun. If you stock up on energy bars from the convenience stores, however, and set your action to “Eat snack,” then each time you click the sticks you’ll recover some health. Handy to remember when you’re in a firefight.
19. Expand your mini-map
Two “Down” clicks on the D-pad will expand your on-screen mini-map. Perfect for getting a better view of where you’re heading, or of who’s after you. I wish the single player game had this option.
20. Join a crew for extra RP
If you haven’t joined a crew, then you’re missing out on reputation points. Being part of a crew gives you a 10% bonus for every mission. You can search for recommended crews via the start menu if you don’t have any online buddies to hook up with.