A pastime which took a little too long to be introduced to Grand Theft Auto Online is still worth plenty of money in the single player portion of Grand Theft Auto V. That pastime? Blowing the doors off armored vehicles and taking the sweet honey from within. It is a pretty random event but when one comes around there is almost no excuse for passing up on the opportunity to make a quick few thousand dollars.
Early in Grand Theft Auto V, when you’re struggling to scrape together enough money for a haircut the prospect of breaking open the doors of a heavily armored vehicle can be a little daunting. Not impossible however, just daunting. Before you obtain sticky bombs use a semi-automatic weapon (the Micro-SMG should do the trick) and concentrate all of your fire at the center of its rear doors. It can take a while but the goods will be yours. When you do have sticky bombs, just dive up behind the van and lob your explosive onto the rear doors.
This isn’t exactly the most legal of activities to engage in, however. As a result, when you start wailing on the van the police will be notified while two armed guards get out of the van to dish out their own brand of rough justice.
When you grab the hunk of cash though you’ll be sat with a fairly easy $3,000-$8,000. Whether it’s worth the cost of ammunition and sticky bombs is your choice.
Put your Dreamcast controllers away everyone, I don’t mean that Crazy Taxi. This method of earning cash is probably the most legitimate way to conduct business in Grand Theft Auto V, before you start playing with the stock market or collecting property profits. Although it does start out with a little minor robbery.
To rob a cab you’ll have to hold down Triangle/Y rather than just press it as just tapping the button will put you into a fare giving situation and you want to be taking fares. Take the cab (killing the driver is of course your choice) and then tap the left stick. This will put you in touch with the cab office and opens up the opportunity to collect fares.
These are pretty simple, just pick up the customer and take them to their destination. The quicker you are, the bigger the tip. It generally averages out at $200 per fare. Since it only takes a couple of minutes to go from one job to the next you can very soon reel in some pretty significant cash. Passengers will sometimes try to dodge their fare so its up to you to get it back. Your options here are chase them down and knock them out or threaten them with a weapon to get your money. You could of course shoot them but this invites the attention of certain justice departments who will bash up your precious taxi.
This is Grand Theft Auto V. You’re playing the game with the likely intention of stealing whatever you can. Luckily, the game allows you to be the lowest of the low and mug people.
Mugging NPCs is incredibly easy. Simply walk up to them and take them down in a punch up. This’ll net you a cool $20-$30 as long as you don’t use a weapon. If your plan is to shoot them full of holes you might get the cash, but you’ll have a slightly increased chance to attract the police. Frankly, this is the same with any mugging activity. Around 1 in every 5 muggings ends in some sort of police situation. If you’re desperate, take the chance. If you aren’t, maybe look into other options.
To make the most of going out for a gentle mugging excursion, hang around the many ATMs dotted about Grand Theft Auto V. When some unsuspecting sap takes out their cash you take the chance to pounce upon them and relieve their wallets of whatever they just took out. This increases the returns by a fairly high percentage but it’s quite a rare thing to see.
The flip side to the last suggestion is chasing down other crooks. Like almost everything else this is quite hard to predict. Having said that, if you drive around the more populous districts of Los Santos they pop up a little more frequently than out in the sticks. There’s also other little activities you can get wrapped up in to make a quick buck.
When someone cries out on the street that their purse/bag/wallet has been robbed, you can chase down the criminal and take back what they stole. Then you’re left with a choice. Do you return it to the rightful owner for a small reward, or do you walk off with the stolen goods. Walking off yields more cash so if you’re looking to make some easy money, this is the way to go.
Other activities are a little more scripted but still yield some healthy and quick cash. Early on you’ll gain access to aircraft drop offs via Trevor and bail bondsman missions which can net a healthy 5-figure sum if the target isn’t killed. If they are you’ll still get a paycheck, just not quite as large of one.
Start your engines boys and girls, the race is coming to town. Very early in Franklin’s story the option is opened up to indulge in some street racing. Even earlier, in Trevor’s tale, Stock Car Racing is also unlocked – this being a whole new part of the Grand Theft Auto V experience on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. These only occur at certain times but can yield some fairly consistent returns.
Trevor’s races are fun in their own right. Getting the easy money though is best done with Franklin’s Street Races. Rock up in a fairly swift car and tear around a course to make a small but easy sum of money at the end. It might only be $200 at times but there are opportunities to earn a little more.
Why did I say Franklin’s races are the best way to earn money? Well that’s due to his special ability. Being able to turn any vehicle on a penny while slowing down time makes tearing past your opponents and leaving them in your dust so easy. It’s seriously like taking candy from a sleeping cat. You can go the extra mile and kit out a sweet ride if you’d like, but there are enough sports cars and muscle cars rolling around the streets in Grand Theft Auto V that you can just rob one and get to making a quick bit of money.
The Street Races are available between 22:00 and 05:00 in Los Santos.
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