So the dust has settled after the monumental launch of GTA V and it seems fair to say that Rockstar have treated us to something really special here. Contrary to many reviews, it’s not perfect but as far as value for money goes this is one of those games that stands up with the best of them. Having spent far too much of my time playing the story mode and taking in all Los Santos has to offer i was justly excited to expand into the online version of the game. There were connectivity issues and cloud failures and bugs galore but i don’t want to talk about them. I want to say how outstandingly fun the online game is and would like to share some top tips that i have picked up and collated over the past couple of weeks of online play. Many of these have appeared elsewhere and will be known by a lot of players, but hopefully there is still something for everyone in the list.

• As long as you are a member of the social club and you have bought your first garage you can have the Annis Elegy RH8 delivered for free! It has excellent handling and great top speed. It also looks pretty damn good.
• Good money can be made by selling cars at any LS customs shop. This can be done every game day (45minutes…ish) and can make about 7-9k per sell if you grab a top end SUV (Gallivanter baller is a 9k car, look for the 2 vents by the front doors).
• Hold ups are an easy way to make cash when you’re near a shop. Point your gun at the cashier and fiddle with your mic to speed things up without having to strain your voice (not recommended if playing with others though). Make sure to keep your gun pointed at the cashier as you exit the shop or there is a chance they will drop you with a well placed shotgun to the back.
• Bank that cash! If you’ve had a good spree of jobs or are holding more than 5K then take out your phone and make your way to the maze bank website where you can safely deposit your cash.
• If you ever find it a real struggle to escape a police chase then head for the aqueducts/storm drains. Police do follow down here sometimes but it has plenty of bridges to evade choppers and also little tunnels that lead to the underground train tracks. Alternatively if you can do enough to get out of sight you can call Lester and for a small fee have the wanted level removed.
• When robbing the armored security vehicles you don’t need to waste expensive C4/sticky bombs, a couple of shots with a shotgun will make the cash pop out and you can make a much quicker/cleaner getaway.
• Insure your vehicles! Its much easier than having to re-steal another one of those cars you like and paying 5k for the clown horn again….
• Garages really are awesome. Once bought, not only do you get a free sports car but you can also call up your mechanic and have him deliver any car that you have stored in your garage.
• When racing you can get turbo starts by pressing the accelerate at the “go”, however this isn’t always the best option if you have 15 other vehicles right behind you eyeing you up on the first corner…..
• Hold back to bring up a quick menu that you can use whilst driving (sort of). It’s ideal for setting GPS targets and extremely useful if it is a moving target.
• If like me you prefer a slightly higher view whilst driving you can change this in the display settings (set camera angle high).
• Drinking Soda will restore you HP!
• When playing through jobs and leaving to free mode be aware you will spawn at the location of the last job. Sometimes its worth doing a 1 min parachute mission in town to get back quicker and earn a little cash/RP at the same time.
• Once at lvl 30 you can call in for a helicopter pickup from Merriweather. They want to take you to a specific location, however i find killing the pilot and flying yourself is much more fun! (1k per helicopter pickup).

That’s it for now, following this advice has got me to lvl 30 with relative ease and i expect to pick up a whole new set of tips and tricks for the lvl 30 – 50 range. If anyone can think of anything that should be added please leave a comment and i’ll add it to the list!