01-05-2026, 03:34 AM
If you dove into GTA 5 the way I did, you probably tore through the yellow story markers and barely looked up, chasing the next big cutscene instead of stopping to breathe or explore, and that rush feels great until you realise your character still looks basic, your weapons are kind of mid, and you are wondering why other players seem so stacked already, especially if they also choose to buy GTA 5 Money while you are still scraping by in story mode.
Wear Your Progress
A lot of players think cool outfits just show up in the wardrobe over time, but that is not how GTA 5 works, and if you ignore side content you miss half the good stuff, including some sets that quietly say "yeah, I actually did the hard bits", so it is worth planning around them a little instead of just sprinting to the next mission marker.
Take Flight School, for example, which most people open once, crash a jet a few times, then never touch again, but if you push through and aim for gold medals, that proper pilot outfit shows up at your safehouse and suddenly your character actually looks like they earned their wings instead of just renting a helicopter for fun; the same idea applies to triathlons too, because those long, slightly painful races unlock exclusive athletic gear that you simply cannot buy in a shop, so if you want your character to look like they train instead of just jog to the nearest mission, you have got to sweat for it in those side events.
Heists are another sneaky one, because people blitz the setup, finish the big finale, and then never bother checking the wardrobe afterwards, but a lot of the tactical gear and crew outfits you use during those jobs quietly get added to your closet, so it is worth taking a minute after each heist to cycle through the options at Michael's place, Franklin's safehouse or Trevor's trailer, since you might already have masks, vests or full combat sets sitting there with zero effort needed now that the mission is done.
Finding Better Firepower
Relying only on Ammu Nation unlocks is basically playing with training wheels on, because yeah, the shops keep adding new guns as the story moves along, but the game also hides serious firepower out in the world, and you only get it if you are willing to go off route and poke around places that do not have big icons slapped on the map.
If you are used to just following the GPS line, try breaking that habit every now and then, drive out to remote construction sites, cliffs, back alleys near the docks or weird dead end roads in the desert, because Rockstar likes to stash high tier weapons in those quiet corners, and the important part is this: once you physically pick up a weapon from the ground, it usually unlocks in your loadout permanently, meaning you can grab ammo later and use it like you found it "legit" way earlier than the story expected, giving you an obvious edge in tougher missions.
Actually Using Special Abilities
The biggest mistake with Michael, Franklin and Trevor's special skills is treating them like a panic button you should never touch, people save the meter forever and then complain the abilities level up too slowly, but the game really wants you to spam them whenever things get even slightly hectic, especially during missions where the skill gets more XP than it does in free roam.
With Franklin, hit that slow motion driving almost every time you weave through traffic or fly down a freeway, do not wait for a "boss chase", just use it whenever a crash would annoy you, and you will see his bar climb a lot quicker; with Michael, tap bullet time in every gunfight, even the small ones, snap off a few clean headshots, then let it recharge while you move up, and for Trevor, do not be shy about rage mode either, because the second you are surrounded or pushing into a messy firefight, turning it on makes the whole encounter less stressful and levels his skill faster than hiding behind cover hoping not to get shot.
Speeding Up Progress
If you stick with the story alone, GTA 5 slowly feeds you rewards, but once you start mixing in side activities, hunting down hidden weapons and actually leaning on those special abilities, the game opens up in a way that feels way more like you are shaping your own run rather than just ticking off missions, and if you care about looking geared, hitting harder in fights or just saving time, it is worth building that into how you play instead of treating it as "extra."
As a platform that focuses on making it easy to like buy game currency or items in RSVSR, it is designed to cut down the grind and let you jump straight into the fun parts, and if you want to push that power fantasy a bit further in your own save, you can pick up rsvsr GTA 5 Money and pair it with all those in game unlocks to get a much smoother experience.
Wear Your Progress
A lot of players think cool outfits just show up in the wardrobe over time, but that is not how GTA 5 works, and if you ignore side content you miss half the good stuff, including some sets that quietly say "yeah, I actually did the hard bits", so it is worth planning around them a little instead of just sprinting to the next mission marker.
Take Flight School, for example, which most people open once, crash a jet a few times, then never touch again, but if you push through and aim for gold medals, that proper pilot outfit shows up at your safehouse and suddenly your character actually looks like they earned their wings instead of just renting a helicopter for fun; the same idea applies to triathlons too, because those long, slightly painful races unlock exclusive athletic gear that you simply cannot buy in a shop, so if you want your character to look like they train instead of just jog to the nearest mission, you have got to sweat for it in those side events.
Heists are another sneaky one, because people blitz the setup, finish the big finale, and then never bother checking the wardrobe afterwards, but a lot of the tactical gear and crew outfits you use during those jobs quietly get added to your closet, so it is worth taking a minute after each heist to cycle through the options at Michael's place, Franklin's safehouse or Trevor's trailer, since you might already have masks, vests or full combat sets sitting there with zero effort needed now that the mission is done.
Finding Better Firepower
Relying only on Ammu Nation unlocks is basically playing with training wheels on, because yeah, the shops keep adding new guns as the story moves along, but the game also hides serious firepower out in the world, and you only get it if you are willing to go off route and poke around places that do not have big icons slapped on the map.
If you are used to just following the GPS line, try breaking that habit every now and then, drive out to remote construction sites, cliffs, back alleys near the docks or weird dead end roads in the desert, because Rockstar likes to stash high tier weapons in those quiet corners, and the important part is this: once you physically pick up a weapon from the ground, it usually unlocks in your loadout permanently, meaning you can grab ammo later and use it like you found it "legit" way earlier than the story expected, giving you an obvious edge in tougher missions.
Actually Using Special Abilities
The biggest mistake with Michael, Franklin and Trevor's special skills is treating them like a panic button you should never touch, people save the meter forever and then complain the abilities level up too slowly, but the game really wants you to spam them whenever things get even slightly hectic, especially during missions where the skill gets more XP than it does in free roam.
With Franklin, hit that slow motion driving almost every time you weave through traffic or fly down a freeway, do not wait for a "boss chase", just use it whenever a crash would annoy you, and you will see his bar climb a lot quicker; with Michael, tap bullet time in every gunfight, even the small ones, snap off a few clean headshots, then let it recharge while you move up, and for Trevor, do not be shy about rage mode either, because the second you are surrounded or pushing into a messy firefight, turning it on makes the whole encounter less stressful and levels his skill faster than hiding behind cover hoping not to get shot.
Speeding Up Progress
If you stick with the story alone, GTA 5 slowly feeds you rewards, but once you start mixing in side activities, hunting down hidden weapons and actually leaning on those special abilities, the game opens up in a way that feels way more like you are shaping your own run rather than just ticking off missions, and if you care about looking geared, hitting harder in fights or just saving time, it is worth building that into how you play instead of treating it as "extra."
As a platform that focuses on making it easy to like buy game currency or items in RSVSR, it is designed to cut down the grind and let you jump straight into the fun parts, and if you want to push that power fantasy a bit further in your own save, you can pick up rsvsr GTA 5 Money and pair it with all those in game unlocks to get a much smoother experience.