The main missions of Grand Theft Auto Online are known as "Contact Missions." They are unlocked as you progress in GTA Online rank.
These missions vary in difficulty and rewards, with higher-ranked missions offering greater challenges and greater rewards.
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It's easy to confuse "Contact" missions with "Contract" missions. They're not the same!
You receive Contact Mission offers via text messages from NPC "boss" characters or you can request missions directly. The missions can be played in any order once you have completed the first-time tutorial mission. However, some missions, like those from Lamar in the Lowriders update, follow a specific storyline sequence.
Missions can be replayed freely, and some can only be accessed through job coronas in Freemode. These missions appear during specific in-game time periods and offer unique challenges not found in standard NPC missions.
For example, when players reach Rank 5 in GTA Online, they unlock missions provided by Lamar Davis, including "Introduction," "Mall Or Nothing," "Hold Up," and "Ballas to the Wall." As players rank up further, additional missions become available. For instance, "San Andreas Seoul" unlocks at Rank 16, "Ticket to Elysium" at Rank 18, and "Going Down the GOH" at Rank 20, with more missions unlocking as players' progress.
Players are rewarded with job points, money, and reputation points (RP) for completing Contact Missions.
When GTA Online was first released, way back in 2013, Contact Mission payouts were a flat rate depending on the mission difficulty (easy, normal, and hard). However, a year later in 2014, the payout calculation changed to a time-based system. Now, spending more time on a mission increases its payout, but there's a point where further time investment yields diminishing returns. The ideal time to spend doing a Contact Mission is 15+ minutes.
The table below explains the payouts you can expect compared to the duration of the Contact Mission.
There are also bonuses players can earn by completing Contact Missions using different methods:
The following are the NPC "bosses" that can give you Contact Missions in GTA Online. Feel free to check out the list of all the missions provided by these contacts here:
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Duration | Payout | Percentage of Max Payout |
|---|---|---|
Less than 2 mins | 12.5% | $2,550 |
2-3 mins | 25% | $5,100 |
3-4 mins | 37.5% | $7,650 |
4-6 mins | 50% | $10,200 |
6-8 mins | 60% | $12,240 |
8-10 mins | 70% | $14,280 |
10-12 mins | 80% | $16,320 |
12-15 mins | 90% | $18,360 |
15+ mins | 100% | $20,400 |
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