If you open up the Rockstar Launcher, load up the game, but there’s no option to play GTA Online, then watch the video above to see what may be causing it and how you might be able to fix it.
The first thing to check from the Rockstar Launcher is that you have an active network connection. If you don’t you’ll see a message about only being able to play offline (Story Mode). Also check that you are signed into the Launcher by checking the avatar icon top right.
Also note that you can’t play GTA Online until you’ve done at least the Prologue (very first mission) in Story Mode.
Then, if you load up the game and go into Story Mode you can use the character switcher to try to switch to your Online character. You can also open up the main in-game menu and toggle to Online and try to load up the game from there.
If there’s a message saying you need to be signed in, but you are signed in on the Rockstar Launcher, then there’s probably an issue with the Rockstar servers.
To find out if there’s a status issue you can go to Rockstar’s office page which is here: Rockstar Service Status. It’s also a good idea to do a quick internet search on ‘is GTA Online down’ and see if there are user reports of problems with the game.
With these two options you should have a clear idea of whether the problem is down to Rockstar’s servers or if it’s a problem local to your setup.
If it’s the latter, then there are a few options you should consider:
- The classic restart! Close the game down, close the Rockstar Launcher and then open it up again
- Do a reboot of your machine
- Next up on Rockstar Launcher, go to Settings, click on GTA 5 and then scroll down to ‘Verify game file integrity’ to see if your game has got corrupted somehow
- If none of that is working (and only then) you might want to consider the nuclear option and even then it’s probably unlikely to work. That is to delete the game, the Launcher and then reinstall them.
If you have other helpful suggestions, then please share them with others in the comments.
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