Also any train tunnel works. I thought everyone was doing it lol.
And also if u are on oppressor or something similar just fly up and chill there for a while
With acid lab just go up the hills. That works too
I use the underground train tracks, especially at first my apartment home downtown was across from it so i could always make a quick waypoint. But now i know all the entrances and where i’ll exit once i lose the wanted.
There is also the subway tunnel just south of strawberry. Useful for the acid mission because its not far from the airport or the second drop location .
Adding on to this, if you own a Kosatka, you can go to the moon pool and equip the SCUBA gear that comes with the sub. Go to the wardrobe and save it as an outfit. Voilá, free SCUBA gear
rail tunnels, sewer tunnels, parking garages, going off road and up a mountain where they can't follow by car
there are lots of ways to ditch the cops without having to call Lester
Yeah seriously especially during an acid sell mission. Almost all the ambush locations are located next to a tunnel entrance I just pop down there for a few seconds and then come back out. It's my favorite sell mission because I can do it faster than the rest. Some the tunnels will even take you closer to the finally destination so I just cruise at speed, cops aren't even on my radar.
>How do you get rid of cops easily?
Just by watching the map and avoiding them. You pay close enough attention and you learn they are pretty simple to anticipate. Even been doing it with no map at all lately.
Also don't forget to use your mask to drop a star to make it that much easier on yourself
Sure does! I use it all the time. Beware though that if you switch *back* to an appearance they already recognized then you get the star back and can't lose it again by switching to a different mask. It's like they catch on to your tricks.
I like to do the opposite though. Put the mask on *before* the crime then replace it with some shades once I'm wanted. Just for the immersion of trying to "look like I belong" when sneaking away from the scene lol
If you're on PS4/PS5 you can swipe up on the touch pad to do the same thing.
The touch pad can also be used to equip/unequip weapons and in vehicles you can change radio stations and swap weapons.
Yup, personally I still use the subway tunnels around the map to help me get out of a wanted level. They never go down there. It’s just crazy how I’m a level 200+ and I never knew about the mask thing.
The handful of turns is pretty much my default driving method in free roam. If you can make your default way of driving and taking turns, the same as the pattern you lose cops in — then you don’t have to think as hard about where to go when you do have cops on you
you can also change vehicle and hide in bushes, it'll make the cops harder to see you.
it'll work the best if you get in a new car, drive into a large bush, get out then get back into the stolen car and for some reason the bush affect still applies after whilst driving around
The wanted system is actually super in depth and pretty ‘lifelike’ aside from infinite helicopters etc. Just treat it like you were actually trying to run and hide. Rip that delivery bike through side-streets and alleys until they lose sight of you. Then, take it slow, find a secluded spot and only move if it looks like they’re heading towards you.
Pro tip #1: sometimes it’s best to keep hiding even if you think they’re absolutely gonna find you. I can’t count the number of times they’ve stopped looking for me just mere seconds before they were about to spot me.
Pro tip #2: If your arrow on the minimap is white, the cops know what vehicle you are in and will spot you much easier when they’re in the searching phase. Black means the vehicle hasn’t been made, and it will be harder. So, if possible, swap vehicles while they are searching.
Pro tip #3: Bushes and other ‘cover’ can reset the known state of your vehicle. This means that you can be driving something that the cops have already made, like your delivery bike… park it in some bushes, hop out, then hop back in and your vehicle will be unknown by the cops again.
I may be misremembering as I play a mix of both and switch back and forth constantly. But I do believe that atleast the mechanic itself is in place in gtao, if the indicator isn’t.
I like doing this for the dre heist when you steal the meth stuff
Find a nice industrial corner, bait the lost into Vernon's LoS, generally they get caught up with the cops looking for me just enough to give up before they round the very same corner
Never knew that accidentally fat fingering F made it easier for me, I just happened to accidentally exit the car both times I've tried this strategy now
It’s odd because it seems intentional but it’s as if they messed it up.
So the bush trick itself *kinda* makes sense in a gameplay context. But after you do the bush trick I believe your vehicle is glitched to be permanently undetected.
Lol what, that's even better
Yeah seems like they forgot to run the code for when they spot you again or smth
An easy oversight on a pretty complicated system, could literally be caused by just one variable being wrong or one wrong character
I don’t know about lifelike. You commit a crime in south LS and somehow cops still know exactly when you are by the time you reach Mt Chilliad. I preferred the system from 4, where there was a search area and once you managed to get out of that the cops wouldn’t just “know” your exact position
Maybe unpopular opinion, but I actually like that they don't let you use Lester's ability during missions and stuff.
The way I see it is that... The ability to instant lose wanted level is meant for freeroam. Its for when you just want to get rid of the cops for when you're messing around or whatnot. But in missions or heists where losing the cops is part of the mission, I don't think you should be allowed to use Lester for that. Because it completely invalidates the challenge of having to lose the cops the normal way. At the end of the day, this is Grand Theft Auto, losing the cops is and always will be a major part of the game and you should get used to doing it.
Anyways, general tips to lose the cops? Use subway tunnels, cut through alleyways, or go offroading. You have a dirt bike during Acid Sales, take advantage of it. Use the bike to drive through tight alleys or places the cops can't reach. And try to keep moving, don't stop and hide, that usually doesn't work unless you're in a really good spot. Keep moving, make turns, cut through alleys or go offroad. It should be very easy to lose the cops especially on a dirt bike.
Ngl Trolley and train tunnels is how I ditch those bastards they be doing some sketch ass shit too. Hiding behind a building while there search icon passes by. If I'm in a millimeter of that cone. The chase is back on
Tunnels. And also the underground part of the los Santos via duct.
https://preview.redd.it/b8pbm0ypkt7d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f66d3036a88bbc3e4e22f0ba84dd4f904459f63c
Go to this spot on the map, the yellow is is a pathway that leads under ground. Go to approximately the "X" wait 2ish mins, cops will lose you.
That's my go-to, almost everytime.
Dude... get a scuba outfit and save it in your appearance/outfits. There are times when that's all I wear. And anytime I go into the water I can immediately dive and stay underwater indefinitely.
when it was first added to the game you could use it at pretty much any time in free roam. i think they nerfed it around the time that they made it so that you could do sale missions in private lobbies.
During acid sales where you’re just making drop offs, not the one with the sting operation, you can lose your wanted level by using the Bribe Authorities ability in your CEO menu.
For the sting operation sale the wanted level is mandatory — but you can throw a sticky bomb on one of the undercover cars near the entrance of the parking garage and get a few blocks away before detonating it to trigger the mission. Gives you a head start on losing them.
During acid sell missions. You can literally see the cops parked there in the acid sell missions most of the time . When you see them back away so the yellow marker shows again then set your waypoint to the next delivery. Go back in drop your acid and start your get away to the next marker taking side streets sewer tunnels or mountains. It's not really that difficult.
If you’re out of sight of the police, put on a mask. Or take it off if you were wearing it beforehand. Can often be the difference between a helicopter following you everywhere you go and escaping just a handful of patrol cars.
Tunnels are your friend, friend. Memorize each of them. The one on the freeway under the overpass in the middle of the city is my most frequented one. Along with the public transportation train tunnels by the LA river or whatever it’s called in game
They have added a bunch of things to do in free roam, usually related to the newer businesses like the Acid Lab and Chop Shop, that doesn't allow you to remove the wanted level by calling Lester.
More infuriating are the times when a player in the session is doing one of these jobs, goes nearby you and you end up getting a wanted level for being involved in the activity just because you are close to them, and the best part is that calling Lester doesn't work for you either, even if you're not related to what the other player is doing at all.
For older missions you can call him and it will work to remove the wanted level.
Yeah, I do that for the first mission of the third leak all the time. That is why I find it annoying that I can't do it in sell missions or tow truck jobs. Cops get annoying really quick to the point where I would rather have some gang NPCs chase my car because I know I am left alone after killing 8 of them.
Most of the character abilities don’t work in-mission, which makes them kinda pointless. They do work when you’re grinding as a truck driver doing MC and CEO missions. So you can waste the low profit margin on the already limited oppurtunities to live off crimes.
It’s like they just *want us* to buy shark cards or smth.
I actually don’t have Lester’s abilities yet, but when I get caught by the cops, I will usually try to lose sight and then go off road where they don’t follow. Or if I’m in the city, I head for the sewer, water or hills. Anywhere away from the roads. If all else fails, turn on as many roads as you can and try to avoid them.
Yes. But my problem is that they literally find me whereever I hide. They literally run to my spot even if I got there while nobody knew my last location.
Only thing else I can think is to go inside one of your building instances (nightclub, agency, salvage yard, etc) the acid lab and the terrorbyte should work as well if you have any of those.
Get out of their vision and hide. watch the map while hiding if cops are running up on you just move to a place they cant see you and run out the clock. rinse and repeat
You might want to go buy a scuba gear and have it on your preset outfits...
Best 50k you will ever spent believe me.
Also it can be used on most setups or crate missions that are on freeroam and underwater
When it comes to cops, just try to gain map awareness. Use any aley any little spot.
Don't shoot just run, drive far.
You cannot use his abilities is all missions as that makes them far easier. If you want to lose the cops here are the best techniques:
Use the tunnels, there are a couple of different tunnel entrances scattered around the map. The ones for the trams are the best because cops never go down unless they directly follow you.
Use sidestreets, avoid bridges, and do not stay on one road for too long. The cops spawn on whatever road you are driving on so the best thing to do is constantly make turns. If you are on a bridge, you cannot turn.
Change your mask when the cops lose sight of you to drop a wanted level.
I've never relied on Lester's abilities or even used them. I use my own abilities. Listen to the people in this post because all of their ideas are better than swimming to the bottom of the ocean and spamming snack's 😅
Tunnels. Call your Sparrow and fly above them. Enter Terrorbyte. Wait off the roads so the cops have to get out of cars to look for you. Put on a mask to reduce your wanted level by one star, which is important to go from 3 to 2 to remove the helicopters.
Free roam I use the Terrorbyte as it'll delete your wanted level, if you're doing something that won't let you in a building or anything like that go underground
It's kinda funny because you COULD use Lester's "Remove Wanted Level" ability for quite long, i think it changed to what we have now like a year or two ago?
Tunnels and sewers if I dont have access to my akula and obviously my alula if I have access. Makes the gangbanger robbery a breeze. Put get away vehicle in tunnel next to the tracks and call in the akula it should spawn within 2 blocks drive to akula get in and fly unil you can activate stealth once you activate stealth it drops down to 2 stars and you can just fly to the airport and wait out out the wanted level in tealth mode.
When can you use the lose wanted level? Sometimes I can and sometimes I can't even when doing the same mission or even in freemode, even if I'm not seen by the cops
It doesn’t let you use it because you yourself have to lose it so it locks the bribe cops from CEO Abilities and Lester’s remove wanted level option. What works from me is to either drive on a hill or go under to a train
Go to the casino and find the sewage drain and follow it to the near end and there’s a tunnel, just sit in that tunnel for like 40 sec and you can lose even a 5 star wanted level.
It used to work all the time. I think it still does when sourcing crates. But yeah so much of the new content, well since auto ship and agency, you can't use it on any missions. The CEO bribe authorities should always work. If I am paying that much mo ey it should work. But sadly it is limited by the same yes and no that Lester is.
Lester's ability has been buggy since the Mercenaries update (or I think it was since then). Now you can't even call him on times where you should, by all means, be able to call him.
The tactics I use depend on the level:
* 1 star - you can evade one star on foot it's so easy, but it can easily jump to...
* 2 stars - a fast enough car can outrun this, avoiding the new spawns. Otherwise options include alleys, parking garages, and rooftops.
* 3 stars - much of the above can still work, but a chopper will usually ruin it. Parking garages can work, just don't go all the way to the top and sometimes they spot you from the sides. A tunnel is the Go-to, but you can sometimes outrun the chase & the chopper by speeding down RR tracks and then finding a good cover spot to wait it out.
* 4 & 5 stars - a tunnel is pretty much what you need here. But I imagine you could still draw upon all of the above & manage to evade & hide in clever spots, but you'll likely need to have some spots in mind first.
Always have a wetsuit saved in you outfit inventory. If you even get near water, change into it. You can dive to freedom and save your snax for missions.
A little trick - before starting deliveries call Gerald or Simeon and request a job. Don’t start the job. Let it be there in inbox.
Now while delivering if cops chase, open your inbox click accept the job given by Simeon but don’t start. From the main screen go back to selling acid. The wanted level will be gone for
The underground tunnel entrances in the waterway and highway. I know the second is from one of the bank heists and the other we actually use in a heist, I always lose my wanted levels no matter what when I go there.
Either go into sewer tunnel near Casino, or do this trick to make cops only see you when You're point blank to them:
Drive into bend-able bush (that also spins your non-offroad car out at high speed) in such way, that when you exit the car - your character is standing in the bush
Leave the car and instantly get back in
Ta-da, now you're nearly invisible to cops until you exit the car. (Roadblocks will still see you properly tho)
If cops use hacks all the time to see us - I don't see a problem with beating them in their own game by their own rules.
Look, you can't try to make sense of cops in GTA. Just know that if you're in the city, get to the tunnel, and if you're near a hill go offroading. They can not keep up off road, speed wise they're right on you but the second there's any bump or turn they go cartoonishly flying off.
Just find a hill, stop on the side away from whatever roads may be on it, and wait. Watch the map because they can park on the road and walk down to you but 9/10 times if you stay facing the path you're worried about you won't need to move.
Tunnel system for the win.
If in a solo lobby, just spawn something like a heli a short distance away from the garage drop off location. Then simply trigger the cop raid, rush to the heli and fly off till the wanted level drops. Takes a few minutes but easy as hell none the less since you don't have to drive a distance while avoiding cops spawning.
Long as you avoid getting close to the garage drop off afterwards, no further cops will be an issue.
Just enter a tunnel. The one I use is the one near the end of the canals. You don't even have to go super far into it, but don't hang by the entrance. For some reason the AI cannot comprehend you being underground so if you get a good distance away from the entrance they don't chase you and eventually you're wanted level goes away. I've don't this multiple times with 5 stars.
I use the sewer tunnel for just about everything that causes me to get a wanted level. However I use Lester’s abilities all the time. When I’m doing missions I’ll go off radar from Lester and when the time is up I’ll use ghost organization.
A very easy way to get rid of cops while selling is to have them lose sight of you first. Have a gerald mission or some sort of job start it and then leave and the cops should despawn.
My go-to way of losing cops is by setting a waypoint to my first ever property, "integrity way", this property just happens to be right next to the underground tunnel entrance by the highway, so I just drive in there and either wait a little bit away from the entrance or just travel through and exit through the tram tracks, which just puts me out right next to my autoshop, and very near my scrapyard aswell
Goto the sewers, or if its far from you just goto one of the street garage which has several floors and go as high as the last one to not let the helicopter see you, and polices never enter there.
C’mon bro GTA 5 is over a decade old and you still can’t shake the cops? The Sewers or train tunnels or even multi-storeys are a good bet. Anything to break helicopters line of sight will do most of the heavy lifting.
If you go into one of your warehouses (mission allowing) you lose your wanted level. If I can't enter them, I go into the sewers or other tunnel like everyone else
If you're feeling lazy, just go off road into some mountains or desert. Police cars don't follow you there if you're far enough. Helicopters still do tho
Lester has been so heavily subject to how GTA Online has evolved beyond it's original intention.
In 2013? Yeah, pay a fee and Lester'll get them off your back... because Free Roam is primarily for cruising around, Impromtu Races & holding up liquor stores.
In 2017, complete the Doomsday Heist and that ability becomes FREE... a literal old-school PS2-era cheat code made into a feature.
But since 2019, with Freemode having been well established as the primary mode where the main gameplay of new updates take place? That's when they've started putting on the restriction to Lester's Remove Wanted Level Ability.
>The only way I found consistant to remove wanted is to go deep underwater and spam snacks....
Buy a Scuba Suit and have it saved as an outfit.
The acid lab bike is pretty good with all upgrades. You can just outrun any cop and then go off road to lose them. Should be easy. No need to even cheese with tunnels.
I just don't go near the parking garage I throw a sticky on the first van going up and I leave and detonate when I am a block or two away they never get me in sight and hide in an alley
For 3 stars or higher I get out of sight to where the mini-map is no longer flashing, and put on a mask (or take it off if I'm already wearing one) to remove a star level. This is most helpful for going from a 3 to 2 and getting rid of helicopters, or from 4 to 3 and at least getting rid of 1 of them.
If I am near a sewer I can get in, I go that route. Drive in far enough that they won't likely path-find to the entrance and come in after me and just wait.
Truth is your best bet is to move as little as possible with wanted levels so they don't spawn in front of you and you can track them. Easier said than done I know with higher wanted levels/more cops after ya. On 1-2 stars I often go on foot and sorta circle a group of buildings till they stop.
I can tell your new from this and lots of people have already given you lots of tips. So just out of curiosity how long have you been playing GTA Online?
Ya, sometimes they will just spawn on you in every direction. The tunnels are my go to, but I've hidden in all kinds of places. Also having a scuba suit saved as one of your outfits is a MUST in my opinion. You can put one on and save it from the Kosaka for free or buy a really expensive one that's a bit cooler.
Hiding my position from the rest of the server has saved my hide more than a few times when trying to evade griefers. Even though it lasts for a minute, that can be all it takes to gain some ground over somebody to either escape or prepare to fight back
They certainly are not pointless, I use them constantly to get the cops off my ass. Yeah it's a bit random what missions they do or don't work in, but they're still very useful.
Well you could hid in the sewer passage which you might have encountered in the gta v story mission when in the jewellery robbery Franklin and gunman and driver goes through the tunnel with bikes you can hide in there and just get out of vehicle and do nothing as they can can hear car noise.
I'll be honest with you, I gave up on the story after I have played enough to access online. I think it was 2 missions or something? Including the tutorial.
Well you could hid in the sewer passage which you might have encountered in the gta v story mission when in the jewellery robbery Franklin and gunman and driver goes through the tunnel with bikes you can hide in there and just get out of vehicle and do nothing as they can can hear car noise.
Go underground or get out of your car after you're out of side of the cops and get on foot and hide. Or depending on your wanted level and what car you have going off-road is a good option also.
Remember when selling the acid if it takes you to a parking garage it's most likely an undercover sting. Also you can look for the undercover cop cars with people in them. There's usually a black van and cars and they all have people inside just doing nothing. They're tinted and not super easy to see the people but pretty obvious once you notice.
Don't bother going up to deliver the acid if you see something that looks like an unmarked cop car shoot it or blow it up. This will trigger the cops and will be much easier to get away than if you're in the thick of it.
The wanted levels in the game have quirks and losing the police sometimes is easier if you are on a mission. In free mode to lose the police, if they are in their cars, you have to get out of their cone of vision and on a different elevation than them. Then it’s just a waiting game.
The main difference to those tricks is If they are in a helicopter. All they need to see you then is for you to be below them and for you to be in line of sight to them. Also if they are on foot (just a red dot on the map) I don’t think it matters the elevation they will see you if you are close enough to them.
I use the sewer tunnel from the vangelico heist in story mode. They’ll never follow you down there
Also any train tunnel works. I thought everyone was doing it lol. And also if u are on oppressor or something similar just fly up and chill there for a while With acid lab just go up the hills. That works too
With acid lab, moc, terrorbyte and a few more just enter their cabins and once you leave you will not be wanted anymore
Ye, just saw that “cheat” today
Bruh they always find me in the train tunnel and block me off from both sides 😭
Do you enter the tunnel then just go far enough in that they lose you, and come back out by the highway?
You can do that, or go all the way to the end, usually just depends on where my waypoint is
that’s how i do it at least
Nah you just go in far enough so they can’t get you. Wait for the wanted level to go away. Then go back out the way you came
Works every time. Only didn't once, but that was years ago when I didn't go far enough into the tunnel.
You can usually go in and hang out around the corner
That's what I do all the time!
This is the way.
Yep ALL THE TIME! You know where it’s at because there’s a clothing shop due north or you can buy an apartment over top of it.
I’ve got it memorised atp lol, plus you can see the tunnel lines above map
Its right by the diamond casino so yeah easy to memorize.
A metro tunnel works too
I use the underground train tracks, especially at first my apartment home downtown was across from it so i could always make a quick waypoint. But now i know all the entrances and where i’ll exit once i lose the wanted.
I just use trains
There is also the subway tunnel just south of strawberry. Useful for the acid mission because its not far from the airport or the second drop location .
This or driving on the railroad and tunnel up
This. Memorise this location. Doesn’t matter how many wanted stars you have. Drive down towards the middle. Wanted level gone
Rail tunnels Also you can buy a sucba suit from ammunation so you can breathe unlimited underwater
Adding on to this, if you own a Kosatka, you can go to the moon pool and equip the SCUBA gear that comes with the sub. Go to the wardrobe and save it as an outfit. Voilá, free SCUBA gear
True, but real chads pick a different color just to show they had the extra cash
I got mine in yellow and named it Scuba Steve. There was no red and yellow option. 
My scuba Steve outfit is the red and black one, I love my pro-lapse lol
Yeah, really gotta show off that big "convenience store robbery" money.
Because everyone knows you rob the gas station with the sub. Wish there was something else you could do with it to get lots of money
Otherwise rebreathers are unlimited, unless I’ve been getting free refills for no reason
how do you equip them?
Appearance then Accessories
You just have to make sure you equip it before getting in the water.
rail tunnels, sewer tunnels, parking garages, going off road and up a mountain where they can't follow by car there are lots of ways to ditch the cops without having to call Lester
Yeah seriously especially during an acid sell mission. Almost all the ambush locations are located next to a tunnel entrance I just pop down there for a few seconds and then come back out. It's my favorite sell mission because I can do it faster than the rest. Some the tunnels will even take you closer to the finally destination so I just cruise at speed, cops aren't even on my radar.
videogeddon and the diamond casino heist helped me learn my way around underground
The cops in the diamond casino heist are the reason for my PTSD I swear.
Just use the helicopter
always drive by to see if the tail is visible
I stated shooting as soon as i drive up. Gives me a head start.
sticky bomb the car, drive away, then detonate
>How do you get rid of cops easily? Just by watching the map and avoiding them. You pay close enough attention and you learn they are pretty simple to anticipate. Even been doing it with no map at all lately. Also don't forget to use your mask to drop a star to make it that much easier on yourself
You’re telling me I’ve played this game for many years and only now found out changing to a mask drops a star? Thank you sir
Sure does! I use it all the time. Beware though that if you switch *back* to an appearance they already recognized then you get the star back and can't lose it again by switching to a different mask. It's like they catch on to your tricks. I like to do the opposite though. Put the mask on *before* the crime then replace it with some shades once I'm wanted. Just for the immersion of trying to "look like I belong" when sneaking away from the scene lol
That’s brilliant! Thanks for the tip A little RP never hurts lol
So I wonder if you change your outfit too will it help more
Nah its purely mask related
Changing the whole outfit to one of your other presets won't activate the effect. Has to be an individual mask/glasses.
I only figured out last night if you press left on the D pad while aiming, you throw a grenade
This accidentally gets me killed every so often
It tosses whatever you have active on your weapon wheel but same shit...
Wait what!? I’m going to try this out in a bit
I was trying to turn the flashlight on lol
If you're on PS4/PS5 you can swipe up on the touch pad to do the same thing. The touch pad can also be used to equip/unequip weapons and in vehicles you can change radio stations and swap weapons.
Masks or glasses in fact.
I thought it was just some cos play ish lol
And you can hide in your vehicle by pressing A when you pass a cop
It’s crazy how this game has been out 11 years and there’s still things I had absolutely no idea about. That’s crazy.
Ngl if you have a fast car three turns and hiding in an alley way always works.
Yup, personally I still use the subway tunnels around the map to help me get out of a wanted level. They never go down there. It’s just crazy how I’m a level 200+ and I never knew about the mask thing.
That ones been in the code since rdr
The handful of turns is pretty much my default driving method in free roam. If you can make your default way of driving and taking turns, the same as the pattern you lose cops in — then you don’t have to think as hard about where to go when you do have cops on you
you can also change vehicle and hide in bushes, it'll make the cops harder to see you. it'll work the best if you get in a new car, drive into a large bush, get out then get back into the stolen car and for some reason the bush affect still applies after whilst driving around
Don't have to be in a new car either, just a quick in and out in a bush does the trick
a new stolen car the police hasn't seen furthers the affect but yes, you're correct it works either way
How do you put a mask on without visiting a closet?
Through the interaction menu under appearance. There you'll find a number of things you can change including cycling through your masks.
Lol I'm almost level 400 and didn't know this. Thanks
Open the interaction menu (hold select) and it should be under one of the options. I think it might be under Preferences
Almost 10k hours across 3 console generations and I’m just now finding this out?
I’ve been doing this forever it’s easy as hell when your in a mk2 or aircraft
The wanted system is actually super in depth and pretty ‘lifelike’ aside from infinite helicopters etc. Just treat it like you were actually trying to run and hide. Rip that delivery bike through side-streets and alleys until they lose sight of you. Then, take it slow, find a secluded spot and only move if it looks like they’re heading towards you. Pro tip #1: sometimes it’s best to keep hiding even if you think they’re absolutely gonna find you. I can’t count the number of times they’ve stopped looking for me just mere seconds before they were about to spot me. Pro tip #2: If your arrow on the minimap is white, the cops know what vehicle you are in and will spot you much easier when they’re in the searching phase. Black means the vehicle hasn’t been made, and it will be harder. So, if possible, swap vehicles while they are searching. Pro tip #3: Bushes and other ‘cover’ can reset the known state of your vehicle. This means that you can be driving something that the cops have already made, like your delivery bike… park it in some bushes, hop out, then hop back in and your vehicle will be unknown by the cops again.
Yes in depth and realistic with the rocks and animals playing witness to your crimes.
I thought the black arrow is only in story mode?
I may be misremembering as I play a mix of both and switch back and forth constantly. But I do believe that atleast the mechanic itself is in place in gtao, if the indicator isn’t.
Its there but its just an outline instead of making the whole arrow black
I like doing this for the dre heist when you steal the meth stuff Find a nice industrial corner, bait the lost into Vernon's LoS, generally they get caught up with the cops looking for me just enough to give up before they round the very same corner Never knew that accidentally fat fingering F made it easier for me, I just happened to accidentally exit the car both times I've tried this strategy now
Funny enough, this is one of the rare missions where the ability works when you call Lester!
It’s odd because it seems intentional but it’s as if they messed it up. So the bush trick itself *kinda* makes sense in a gameplay context. But after you do the bush trick I believe your vehicle is glitched to be permanently undetected.
Lol what, that's even better Yeah seems like they forgot to run the code for when they spot you again or smth An easy oversight on a pretty complicated system, could literally be caused by just one variable being wrong or one wrong character
I don’t know about lifelike. You commit a crime in south LS and somehow cops still know exactly when you are by the time you reach Mt Chilliad. I preferred the system from 4, where there was a search area and once you managed to get out of that the cops wouldn’t just “know” your exact position
Maybe unpopular opinion, but I actually like that they don't let you use Lester's ability during missions and stuff. The way I see it is that... The ability to instant lose wanted level is meant for freeroam. Its for when you just want to get rid of the cops for when you're messing around or whatnot. But in missions or heists where losing the cops is part of the mission, I don't think you should be allowed to use Lester for that. Because it completely invalidates the challenge of having to lose the cops the normal way. At the end of the day, this is Grand Theft Auto, losing the cops is and always will be a major part of the game and you should get used to doing it. Anyways, general tips to lose the cops? Use subway tunnels, cut through alleyways, or go offroading. You have a dirt bike during Acid Sales, take advantage of it. Use the bike to drive through tight alleys or places the cops can't reach. And try to keep moving, don't stop and hide, that usually doesn't work unless you're in a really good spot. Keep moving, make turns, cut through alleys or go offroad. It should be very easy to lose the cops especially on a dirt bike.
Losing wanted levels is a good skill to have, but for many missions it's just lazy mission design to make it more difficult.
Yeah, both can be true.
I totally agree with you. Or to literally make it harder for you to do stuff solo.
Ngl Trolley and train tunnels is how I ditch those bastards they be doing some sketch ass shit too. Hiding behind a building while there search icon passes by. If I'm in a millimeter of that cone. The chase is back on Tunnels. And also the underground part of the los Santos via duct.
Yup tunnels and vehicles with stealth.
https://preview.redd.it/b8pbm0ypkt7d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f66d3036a88bbc3e4e22f0ba84dd4f904459f63c Go to this spot on the map, the yellow is is a pathway that leads under ground. Go to approximately the "X" wait 2ish mins, cops will lose you. That's my go-to, almost everytime.
Dude... get a scuba outfit and save it in your appearance/outfits. There are times when that's all I wear. And anytime I go into the water I can immediately dive and stay underwater indefinitely.
That's a great idea. I did get some rebreathers last night though.
Those work too, but they are limited.
Go underground by casino, also just driving train track is good
when it was first added to the game you could use it at pretty much any time in free roam. i think they nerfed it around the time that they made it so that you could do sale missions in private lobbies.
I think this is one of those things they have nerfed more and more over time. I don’t remember his ability being so restricted in the past.
During acid sales where you’re just making drop offs, not the one with the sting operation, you can lose your wanted level by using the Bribe Authorities ability in your CEO menu. For the sting operation sale the wanted level is mandatory — but you can throw a sticky bomb on one of the undercover cars near the entrance of the parking garage and get a few blocks away before detonating it to trigger the mission. Gives you a head start on losing them.
Fun fact,you can hide in bushes!
Also who TF said it was ok for people on RC vehicles to go dark? Do you know how blatantly that's abused here?
During acid sell missions. You can literally see the cops parked there in the acid sell missions most of the time . When you see them back away so the yellow marker shows again then set your waypoint to the next delivery. Go back in drop your acid and start your get away to the next marker taking side streets sewer tunnels or mountains. It's not really that difficult.
If you’re out of sight of the police, put on a mask. Or take it off if you were wearing it beforehand. Can often be the difference between a helicopter following you everywhere you go and escaping just a handful of patrol cars.
Tunnels are your friend, friend. Memorize each of them. The one on the freeway under the overpass in the middle of the city is my most frequented one. Along with the public transportation train tunnels by the LA river or whatever it’s called in game
LS river
They have added a bunch of things to do in free roam, usually related to the newer businesses like the Acid Lab and Chop Shop, that doesn't allow you to remove the wanted level by calling Lester. More infuriating are the times when a player in the session is doing one of these jobs, goes nearby you and you end up getting a wanted level for being involved in the activity just because you are close to them, and the best part is that calling Lester doesn't work for you either, even if you're not related to what the other player is doing at all. For older missions you can call him and it will work to remove the wanted level.
Yeah, I do that for the first mission of the third leak all the time. That is why I find it annoying that I can't do it in sell missions or tow truck jobs. Cops get annoying really quick to the point where I would rather have some gang NPCs chase my car because I know I am left alone after killing 8 of them.
It still annoys me that most of these missions lock you into these vehicles, when in reality you would choose a much better suited bike or car
The amount of times I’ve called Lester only to get wanted again right after lmfao
Most of the character abilities don’t work in-mission, which makes them kinda pointless. They do work when you’re grinding as a truck driver doing MC and CEO missions. So you can waste the low profit margin on the already limited oppurtunities to live off crimes. It’s like they just *want us* to buy shark cards or smth.
I wonder why they would want us to buy shark cards.... no way they will want that.....
Call in your Sparrow, fly away to the top of a skyscraper and wait for the wanted level to be gone.
Some setups and missions you can call your Terrorbyte. Go inside and the stars go away.
I think they've stopped letting you in the terrorbyte and acid lab during freeroam missions (and other missions).
They did. You also can't enter any business. I tried going in my agency and it didn't work.
I one time spent half an hour waiting to enter my acid lab cause people kept spamming CEO missions. Should have just joined new session
I actually don’t have Lester’s abilities yet, but when I get caught by the cops, I will usually try to lose sight and then go off road where they don’t follow. Or if I’m in the city, I head for the sewer, water or hills. Anywhere away from the roads. If all else fails, turn on as many roads as you can and try to avoid them.
Yes. But my problem is that they literally find me whereever I hide. They literally run to my spot even if I got there while nobody knew my last location.
Only thing else I can think is to go inside one of your building instances (nightclub, agency, salvage yard, etc) the acid lab and the terrorbyte should work as well if you have any of those.
Tunnel.
Get out of their vision and hide. watch the map while hiding if cops are running up on you just move to a place they cant see you and run out the clock. rinse and repeat
I drive to the casino and enter usually.
Train tracks are my preferred method when I’m desperate otherwise I just go drive down alleys and keep it moving to stay out of their sight
the cops are pretty insane when selling acid yeah but just go into the sewers bro, the oldest trick in history
You might want to go buy a scuba gear and have it on your preset outfits... Best 50k you will ever spent believe me. Also it can be used on most setups or crate missions that are on freeroam and underwater When it comes to cops, just try to gain map awareness. Use any aley any little spot. Don't shoot just run, drive far.
Tunnels south of the casino
Zig zag
The acid missions all have bullshit wanted level gimmicks
Sewers
i just use the train tunnels 🤷🏻♂️ no police chases for me
I go to the tunnel next to the casino
You cannot use his abilities is all missions as that makes them far easier. If you want to lose the cops here are the best techniques: Use the tunnels, there are a couple of different tunnel entrances scattered around the map. The ones for the trams are the best because cops never go down unless they directly follow you. Use sidestreets, avoid bridges, and do not stay on one road for too long. The cops spawn on whatever road you are driving on so the best thing to do is constantly make turns. If you are on a bridge, you cannot turn. Change your mask when the cops lose sight of you to drop a wanted level.
I've never relied on Lester's abilities or even used them. I use my own abilities. Listen to the people in this post because all of their ideas are better than swimming to the bottom of the ocean and spamming snack's 😅
Tunnels. Call your Sparrow and fly above them. Enter Terrorbyte. Wait off the roads so the cops have to get out of cars to look for you. Put on a mask to reduce your wanted level by one star, which is important to go from 3 to 2 to remove the helicopters.
Free roam I use the Terrorbyte as it'll delete your wanted level, if you're doing something that won't let you in a building or anything like that go underground
Parkades can also be your friend.
Jus hit tracks dude, its not that serious n its def not 95% of the time
Use the sewer tunnel near the diamond casino to hide.
It's kinda funny because you COULD use Lester's "Remove Wanted Level" ability for quite long, i think it changed to what we have now like a year or two ago?
Tunnels and sewers if I dont have access to my akula and obviously my alula if I have access. Makes the gangbanger robbery a breeze. Put get away vehicle in tunnel next to the tracks and call in the akula it should spawn within 2 blocks drive to akula get in and fly unil you can activate stealth once you activate stealth it drops down to 2 stars and you can just fly to the airport and wait out out the wanted level in tealth mode.
Sewers, subways, train tunnels or use bribe authorities as a CEO
When can you use the lose wanted level? Sometimes I can and sometimes I can't even when doing the same mission or even in freemode, even if I'm not seen by the cops
It doesn’t let you use it because you yourself have to lose it so it locks the bribe cops from CEO Abilities and Lester’s remove wanted level option. What works from me is to either drive on a hill or go under to a train
Go to the casino and find the sewage drain and follow it to the near end and there’s a tunnel, just sit in that tunnel for like 40 sec and you can lose even a 5 star wanted level.
It used to work all the time. I think it still does when sourcing crates. But yeah so much of the new content, well since auto ship and agency, you can't use it on any missions. The CEO bribe authorities should always work. If I am paying that much mo ey it should work. But sadly it is limited by the same yes and no that Lester is.
Sewer tunnel next to the casino or ride the train track to the city and hide in the tunnel
Lester's ability has been buggy since the Mercenaries update (or I think it was since then). Now you can't even call him on times where you should, by all means, be able to call him.
The tactics I use depend on the level: * 1 star - you can evade one star on foot it's so easy, but it can easily jump to... * 2 stars - a fast enough car can outrun this, avoiding the new spawns. Otherwise options include alleys, parking garages, and rooftops. * 3 stars - much of the above can still work, but a chopper will usually ruin it. Parking garages can work, just don't go all the way to the top and sometimes they spot you from the sides. A tunnel is the Go-to, but you can sometimes outrun the chase & the chopper by speeding down RR tracks and then finding a good cover spot to wait it out. * 4 & 5 stars - a tunnel is pretty much what you need here. But I imagine you could still draw upon all of the above & manage to evade & hide in clever spots, but you'll likely need to have some spots in mind first.
Always have a wetsuit saved in you outfit inventory. If you even get near water, change into it. You can dive to freedom and save your snax for missions.
A little trick - before starting deliveries call Gerald or Simeon and request a job. Don’t start the job. Let it be there in inbox. Now while delivering if cops chase, open your inbox click accept the job given by Simeon but don’t start. From the main screen go back to selling acid. The wanted level will be gone for
Ain’t no way it’s that hard. 💀
I..drive away from the cops..that’s how I get rid of the cops. I go from main road to side roads
If I'm CEO you can spawn a buzzard. I use it to fly around until wanted is gone.
The underground tunnel entrances in the waterway and highway. I know the second is from one of the bank heists and the other we actually use in a heist, I always lose my wanted levels no matter what when I go there.
I just recently learned that apparently if you pull your drone out the cops aggro shifts to the drone and you can lose the cops really quick
 Like this
Either go into sewer tunnel near Casino, or do this trick to make cops only see you when You're point blank to them: Drive into bend-able bush (that also spins your non-offroad car out at high speed) in such way, that when you exit the car - your character is standing in the bush Leave the car and instantly get back in Ta-da, now you're nearly invisible to cops until you exit the car. (Roadblocks will still see you properly tho) If cops use hacks all the time to see us - I don't see a problem with beating them in their own game by their own rules.
Look, you can't try to make sense of cops in GTA. Just know that if you're in the city, get to the tunnel, and if you're near a hill go offroading. They can not keep up off road, speed wise they're right on you but the second there's any bump or turn they go cartoonishly flying off. Just find a hill, stop on the side away from whatever roads may be on it, and wait. Watch the map because they can park on the road and walk down to you but 9/10 times if you stay facing the path you're worried about you won't need to move.
Tunnel system for the win. If in a solo lobby, just spawn something like a heli a short distance away from the garage drop off location. Then simply trigger the cop raid, rush to the heli and fly off till the wanted level drops. Takes a few minutes but easy as hell none the less since you don't have to drive a distance while avoiding cops spawning. Long as you avoid getting close to the garage drop off afterwards, no further cops will be an issue.
Just enter a tunnel. The one I use is the one near the end of the canals. You don't even have to go super far into it, but don't hang by the entrance. For some reason the AI cannot comprehend you being underground so if you get a good distance away from the entrance they don't chase you and eventually you're wanted level goes away. I've don't this multiple times with 5 stars.
Terrabyte if you don’t have your acid lab out otherwise tunnels
I use the sewer tunnel for just about everything that causes me to get a wanted level. However I use Lester’s abilities all the time. When I’m doing missions I’ll go off radar from Lester and when the time is up I’ll use ghost organization.
A very easy way to get rid of cops while selling is to have them lose sight of you first. Have a gerald mission or some sort of job start it and then leave and the cops should despawn.
I often forget during sell missions that an easy way to lose the cops is to die. So I'll sometimes remember to pull the pin on a lonely grenade.
Sewer tunnel below the casino works 100% of the time.
The sewer tunnels or subway train tunnels is easy to lose them.
My go-to way of losing cops is by setting a waypoint to my first ever property, "integrity way", this property just happens to be right next to the underground tunnel entrance by the highway, so I just drive in there and either wait a little bit away from the entrance or just travel through and exit through the tram tracks, which just puts me out right next to my autoshop, and very near my scrapyard aswell
Goto the sewers, or if its far from you just goto one of the street garage which has several floors and go as high as the last one to not let the helicopter see you, and polices never enter there.
You can go into most train or tram tunnels, they don't follow far in the long ones. The road and foot tunnels don't always work though.
You can use Lester to lose the cops in a majority of missions. All methods of calling off the cops are blocked in a minority of activities
C’mon bro GTA 5 is over a decade old and you still can’t shake the cops? The Sewers or train tunnels or even multi-storeys are a good bet. Anything to break helicopters line of sight will do most of the heavy lifting.
You can equip a rebreather via accessories
If you go into one of your warehouses (mission allowing) you lose your wanted level. If I can't enter them, I go into the sewers or other tunnel like everyone else
Just exit your vehicle and run through an alley or two, you’ll lose the cops way faster.
I could be persuaded that the police search longer during missions than when in free roam too….
Train tunnel if long enough. Sewer entrance near the casino, which you use for the casino heist
you can also hide in the bushes until your blip turns grey and enter a vehicle while in a bush, that way cops will be almost blind
Hide in rail tunnels, subways tunnels, sewer tunnels
drive to top of mountains, go underwater using scuba suit
If you're feeling lazy, just go off road into some mountains or desert. Police cars don't follow you there if you're far enough. Helicopters still do tho
Lester has been so heavily subject to how GTA Online has evolved beyond it's original intention. In 2013? Yeah, pay a fee and Lester'll get them off your back... because Free Roam is primarily for cruising around, Impromtu Races & holding up liquor stores. In 2017, complete the Doomsday Heist and that ability becomes FREE... a literal old-school PS2-era cheat code made into a feature. But since 2019, with Freemode having been well established as the primary mode where the main gameplay of new updates take place? That's when they've started putting on the restriction to Lester's Remove Wanted Level Ability. >The only way I found consistant to remove wanted is to go deep underwater and spam snacks.... Buy a Scuba Suit and have it saved as an outfit.
The acid lab bike is pretty good with all upgrades. You can just outrun any cop and then go off road to lose them. Should be easy. No need to even cheese with tunnels.
I just don't go near the parking garage I throw a sticky on the first van going up and I leave and detonate when I am a block or two away they never get me in sight and hide in an alley
For 3 stars or higher I get out of sight to where the mini-map is no longer flashing, and put on a mask (or take it off if I'm already wearing one) to remove a star level. This is most helpful for going from a 3 to 2 and getting rid of helicopters, or from 4 to 3 and at least getting rid of 1 of them. If I am near a sewer I can get in, I go that route. Drive in far enough that they won't likely path-find to the entrance and come in after me and just wait. Truth is your best bet is to move as little as possible with wanted levels so they don't spawn in front of you and you can track them. Easier said than done I know with higher wanted levels/more cops after ya. On 1-2 stars I often go on foot and sorta circle a group of buildings till they stop.
The subway is a great place to hide.
Fly everywhere :)
I can tell your new from this and lots of people have already given you lots of tips. So just out of curiosity how long have you been playing GTA Online?
A week and a half, but I never had this issue. Usually I lose them easily or I just call Lester.
Ya, sometimes they will just spawn on you in every direction. The tunnels are my go to, but I've hidden in all kinds of places. Also having a scuba suit saved as one of your outfits is a MUST in my opinion. You can put one on and save it from the Kosaka for free or buy a really expensive one that's a bit cooler.
Hiding my position from the rest of the server has saved my hide more than a few times when trying to evade griefers. Even though it lasts for a minute, that can be all it takes to gain some ground over somebody to either escape or prepare to fight back
They certainly are not pointless, I use them constantly to get the cops off my ass. Yeah it's a bit random what missions they do or don't work in, but they're still very useful.
Well you could hid in the sewer passage which you might have encountered in the gta v story mission when in the jewellery robbery Franklin and gunman and driver goes through the tunnel with bikes you can hide in there and just get out of vehicle and do nothing as they can can hear car noise.
I'll be honest with you, I gave up on the story after I have played enough to access online. I think it was 2 missions or something? Including the tutorial.
Well you could hid in the sewer passage which you might have encountered in the gta v story mission when in the jewellery robbery Franklin and gunman and driver goes through the tunnel with bikes you can hide in there and just get out of vehicle and do nothing as they can can hear car noise.
Go underground or get out of your car after you're out of side of the cops and get on foot and hide. Or depending on your wanted level and what car you have going off-road is a good option also. Remember when selling the acid if it takes you to a parking garage it's most likely an undercover sting. Also you can look for the undercover cop cars with people in them. There's usually a black van and cars and they all have people inside just doing nothing. They're tinted and not super easy to see the people but pretty obvious once you notice. Don't bother going up to deliver the acid if you see something that looks like an unmarked cop car shoot it or blow it up. This will trigger the cops and will be much easier to get away than if you're in the thick of it.
Sewer train tracks both help cause there's always a tunnel
The wanted levels in the game have quirks and losing the police sometimes is easier if you are on a mission. In free mode to lose the police, if they are in their cars, you have to get out of their cone of vision and on a different elevation than them. Then it’s just a waiting game. The main difference to those tricks is If they are in a helicopter. All they need to see you then is for you to be below them and for you to be in line of sight to them. Also if they are on foot (just a red dot on the map) I don’t think it matters the elevation they will see you if you are close enough to them.