GTA Online 1.02 Patch Guide: Fixes, Features, and Workarounds

The release of the Grand Theft Auto Online 1.02 patch is well underway and has currently gone live for PlayStation 3 owners of the game. Xbox 360 owners have yet to receive the update, which is expected to be deployed today. 

Weighing in at 39MB in size, Rockstar has yet to release any notes for the patch, but promises to address all commonly reported issues in the game. We've given the patch a whirl and have discovered some of the following new features:

– Kicking is now voting based.
– You can no longer quick restart or replay missions once they are finished. As such, players will no longer be able to replay missions like Violent Duct to quickly level up. 

In case you get a black screen or PS3 freezes, perform the following actions to get the game running properly:

– Go to PS3 menu
– Go to Game data tools (where the install content is located 8gb)
– Delete the file with version 1.01 or 1.02 (~39mb)

Unfortunately, there are still issues with the patch, four of which have been disclosed by Rockstar. Many users have reported that the character deletion/not synching problem remains and has yet to be resolved. 

Further issues are as follows:

– For PlayStation 3 users, a PlayStation Network server issue was detected that was limiting the amount of possible concurrent users. This was preventing most players from accessing GTA Online altogether and as of this morning, that problem was resolved.

– There is an issue that is preventing some players from getting through the first tutorial mission across both platforms. Many players have been able to get through this with repeated retries, and we are working on unblocking this for everyone as soon as possible.

– This morning, we experienced some instability across the GTA Online services which is affecting even people who have progressed beyond the tutorial mission. We are identifying these issues now and are working to restore stability for users as soon as possible.

– For the time being and until we have been able to get everybody access to GTA Online and things are running smoothly, we have disabled the option of purchasable GTA$ cash packs. Players can however keep on earning GTA$ by pulling off Jobs and other profitable gameplay activities rather than purchasing cash packs.

GTA Online's microtransaction features have been temporarily disabled as part of Rockstar's effort to tackle the game's widespread server issues.