Those who prefer to play alone or with friends in GTA Online have various options for doing so. However, they are not very obvious
Those who want to avoid hackers and grifters in GTA Online can simply let off steam in private lobbies and solo sessions. However, you have to know how to open them, because Rockstar has hidden the option a bit.
In this article we tell you how to open private sessions for you and your friends in the PC version of GTA Online, what you have to keep in mind and which features of public sessions you have to do without. If you want to play alone or exclusively with friends, you will be denied certain missions or gameplay elements of GTA Online.
By the way, if you need help earning money in GTA Online, you should take a look at our guide:
How to start private lobbies in GTA Online
Creating private or friends sessions in GTA Online is actually quite simple, but a bit hidden. That’s because you can’t start solo sessions from the main menu or from a running GTA Online game. Instead, you first have to start the single player of Grand Theft Auto 5.
Proceed as follows to start a private session:
– Start GTA 5
– Starts the story mode of GTA 5
– Once your save game has finished loading, press the Escape key to open the menu.
– Select the “Online” tab
– Now click on the menu sub-item “Play GTA Online”.
– Ignore “Go” and choose one of the other five options to start a session just for you and/or your friends.
What the different sessions mean.
If you’re not sure what the different options for starting GTA Online in the single player menu mean, we’ll give you a compact overview here:
Go: This is where you enter public sessions of GTA Online, in which you are randomly thrown together with other players. Not recommended if you want to play alone or with friends.
Invitation-only session: Here, only players you have explicitly invited can join you. For example, via the Rockstar Social Club or your friend lists on Steam, Epic and Co.
Crew-Session: This is where your own crew ends up in your session with the crews of other players. You can set a maximum for how many crews should end up in the session.
Closed Crew Session: This starts a session that is exclusively reserved for your own crew and its members. Outside crews or players cannot join you.
Closed Friends Session: This starts a session that only your friends can join. Other or foreign players remain locked out.
Solo session: In this session you are completely on your own. Neither friends, nor crew members, nor other players can join you.
Who do we recommend for solo sessions in GTA Online?
Hackers and Grievers are still a big problem in GTA Online. So if you don’t just want to escape from one public session to the next, you will benefit from knowing how to open private lobbies.
Those who should avoid public sessions: We also recommend that players who simply want to complete missions with friends, search for collectables or prepare the Diamond Casino and Cayo Perico heists in peace make use of closed sessions.
However, you will have to do without numerous activities that you can only do as CEO or club president. So if you grind vehicle or cargo sales in GTA Online and earn your money that way, you’ll have to steer clear of closed sessions. More on this in the next section.
You’ll have to do without these features in solo sessions
If you start a private session for yourself or your friends in GTA Online, you are somewhat limited in your choice of activities. You can still pursue almost all jobs, heists or collectible hunts, but you will have to do without many CEO and club president opportunities.
Above all, the activities in purely solo sessions are severely limited, as you need other players for many missions. We therefore recommend that you almost always start friends-only or invite-only sessions, as you can also invite other players or crew members to these later.
These activities are only available in public sessions:
– CEO: Warehouse Missions
– CEO: Import/Export Missions
– CEO: Special deliveries
– Bunker Missions
– Hangar missions
– Mobile Command Centre Missions
– Doomsday Heist preparation missions
– Certain free-roam events
More tips on GTA Online
If you want to learn more about GTA Online, we have a few more helpful articles for you. Among other things, we’ll tell you how to earn money in GTA Online in 2021 the best and fastest way or how to buy and get rid of flats. We also have lists with the best weapons and the most useful vehicles in GTA Online for you.
