GTA Online is built around playing with others. You donât have to, but itâs the default assumption for how youâll play. But itâs not always the most convenient way to play. Sometimes, you just want to play GTA Online solo and not worry about everyone else.
A lot of what weâll talk about below focuses on things to do to make money playing solo. Thatâs because GTA Online is all about making money. Money is how youâll buy new cars, new weapons, and new properties â properties that often open up new ways to make even more money.
Our GTA Online guide will explain your options for playing solo, including starting a closed session and the types of activities youâll be able to do, all in the interest of conveying how to play GTA Online solo.
Matchmaking works for solo players
GTA Online has a matchmaking system for any event that requires more than one player. And that means you donât have to be playing with a set group of eight players to take on most events, heists, or races.
Youâll be dropped into a group of players, but you can just turn off chat and audio and treat it like theyâre AI-controlled. The, letâs say, effectiveness of your party will be mixed, but your squad of randos will get the job done (for the most part).
But youâll also often have to wait in lobbies for others to join and youâll, frankly, have to rely on some random player to complete your tasks.
How to start a closed session in GTA Online
There are a lot of reasons to want a solo session of GTA Online. Griefing is a big one, though. Getting popped by a stranger while youâre looking at the map is an incredibly frustrating experience, and having other players actively working against you while youâre just trying to run a quick mission to earn some cash is painful.
More pragmatically, thereâs a set number of organizations â companies and biker gangs â that any instance of GTA Online can have. If you try to start your own when that limitâs been reached, you wonât be able to. The quick way around this is to go to Online > Find a new session. Youâll have a couple options here. Public Session will find another instance of the game â probably one with at least a couple open slots for new organizations.
For the purposes of purely solo play, though, thereâs a better option. Start a Closed Friend Session. Whether or not you actually invite friends is up to you. Now, youâll have the freedom to start organization, run missions, and even just stand on the sidewalk without getting murdered. There just wonât be any other players in your instance of Los Santos.
How to play heists solo in GTA Online
You wonât be able to play most heists solo in GTA Online. Trying to start one will drop you into matchmaking, and most of them wonât even start without at least two players. There are two exceptions, though: the Cayo Perico Heist and the Cluckinâ Bell Farms Raid.
The Cayo Perico Heist starts when you meet Miguel Madrazo at The Music Locker nightclub. This will start an international heist that involves you buying a submarine. Youâll have to drop about GTA$ 2,000,000 on the sub, but the heist has the best payout in the game.
Raiding Cluckinâ Bell Farms has you tackle a conspiracy of crooked cops (redundant) and a drug ring. Thereâs no buy in for the raid(s), so itâs a much better investment of your time for a decent payout.
What can you do solo in GTA Online?
So if youâre not doing heists â the main, story-based events for GTA Online â what will you be doing? Thereâs actually a lot to choose from. Letâs break it down.
- Contact Missions. Choosing one of your contacts from your phone will let you start Contact Missions. Some of them (but not all of them) are playable by one person. Gerald, Lamar, and Martin Madrazoâs Contact Missions are good for this. Watch for Contact Missions to pop up as 2x GTA$ and RP in the weekly updates.
- Simeonâs Export Requests. Every week, Simeon (of Simeonâs Premium Deluxe Motorsports) will have a list of vehicles heâd like you to steal. If you happen to spot one and steal it, you can deliver it to him for about GTA$ 20,000.
- Salvage Yard. Thereâs a lot of Criminal Enterprise-related stuff to do â more on this in a second â but the most straightforward of them is a Salvage Yard operation. Youâll have to buy a shop first â the cheapest one starts at GTA$ 1,620,000 â but it opens up a lot of solo options. You can make some quick cash just towing cars, or you can take on three-part mini-heists called Salvage Yard Robberies for a lot more cash.
- Gunrunning Business. Similarly, if you can afford to buy a bunker, you can set up a Gunrunning Business. The management is a little more involved, but youâll have a side hustle that will keep you occupied resupplying the bunker and delivering weapon shipments.
- Criminal Enterprises. As the Boss of a criminal organization â a SecuroServ CEO or a Motorcycle Club President â youâll have options for things to do on your own. Most of them, though, require you to buy businesses, but if you can afford it, theyâll keep you busy. But thereâs a caveat.
Should you play as a CEO or Biker in solo play?
Your criminal enterprise â either a SecuroServe CEO or a Motorcycle Club President â has plenty to keep you buy while you play solo. As an MC President, you can do things like supply your clubhouseâs bar, growhouse, and counterfeit factories without any help.
The delivery missions, though, are a problem for a solo player. Dropping off drugs and counterfeits almost always involves multiple vehicles. Very rarely, you can get the deliveries done by yourself within the time limit (especially for the aircraft-based runs). But, more often than not, youâre going to run out of time unless you have multiple people in your MC helping you out.
The other Criminal Enterprise track, SecuroServ CEO, is a much better option for solo players. Once you buy an office and a warehouse, youâll be able to start doing Special and Vehicle Cargo missions. With a little patience, these can be extremely lucrative for a solo player without the time-commitment and hassle of MC missions. And the deliveries are almost always doable for a team of one.
And if youâre playing the main game, donât miss our list of GTA 5 cheats.