How to get into a solo public lobby in GTA Online

Hamza Khalid
GTA Online solo public lobby

Playing GTA Online in a public session means dealing with a few rambunctious players, but you can avoid that by getting into your own solo ‘public’ lobby. Here’s how you can get this done.

There is always something for players to do in GTA Online because of continuous updates and the role-playing community. You can make a ton of money quickly, hunt for hidden treasure, and cause general mayhem.

While most players in a public session in-game are respectful, a few may decide to mess with you while you’re trying to complete races, jobs, and other activities. You can avoid these trolls by playing in a solo lobby.

How to get into a GTA Online solo public lobby on PS4/PS5/Xbox

A snapshot of the skyline in GTA Online at the time of sunset while a helicopter flies by in the center.

There’s a simple trick for joining your own solo ‘public’ lobby. First thing’s first, you need to make sure that you’re inside a building you own if you want to avoid being sent to GTA 5’s story mode.

This trick involves disrupting your internet connection. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Load into GTA 5 Story Mode.
  2. Unplug your Ethernet cable, and connect to a wireless network.
  3. Join a public GTA Online session and enter a building that you own.
  4. Reconnect the Ethernet cable to your console.

Once that’s done, all players should be kicked from your lobby. You’ll then find yourself alone in your own public lobby.

How to get into a GTA Online solo public lobby on PC

GTA Online Solo Public Lobby

While this also works on PC, you can try an alternative method involving the task manager’s network performance monitor. Simply launch GTA V and then follow these steps:

  1. Join a public GTA Online session, and visit the building you own.
  2. Press alt-tab to open Task Manager.
  3. Select the Performance tab and click “Open Resource Monitor.”
  4. Find and Right-click GTA5.exe before selecting “Suspend Process.”
  5. After a few seconds, right-click again and select ‘Resume Process’.

After you’ve followed these steps, the game will kick you out of the lobby you were in and put you in a new one. You’ll get to play GTA Online by yourself without having to worry about reduced earnings and player interference.

However, you might not be alone for your whole play session, as another player might eventually join your lobby. The good news is that you can repeat either of the processes above to enjoy your own session again.

After a while, it’s possible that another player could find their way into your GTA lobby, but if you repeat the processes listed above, it won’t be long before you’re in a new, empty one again.

Image credit: Rockstar Games

Related Topics

About The Author

Hamza is a Content Creator & Publisher at Charlie INTEL, who graduated from Bahria University with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. He's spent the past few years covering news and guides for various video games, including Call of Duty and Apex Legends. He loves digital art, movies, and comic books. You can contact Hamza at [email protected].