Free Mode

Free Mode is a multiplayer mode first found in Grand Theft Auto IV and its episodes, and later greatly expanded upon in Grand Theft Auto Online.

Grand Theft Auto IV
"Kick back, Liberty City is your playground, only your playmates ain't so nice. Have fun out there."

In GTA IV's Free Mode, the entire single-player map of Liberty City is open, albeit apart from some interiors to prevent story spoilers. Weapons are littered throughout the map for players to pick up; these range from knives to rocket launchers, and the host can additionally restrict weapon spawns to a certain kind (such as assault rifles) or turn them off completely. Along with weapons, health packs and body armor vests can be picked up. Every vehicle from single player is in Free Mode, including helicopters, and can seat multiple players or be used in different driving or combat roles effectively. Pay 'n' Sprays have the same purpose as they do in single player; they can be used to evade the police (if they are turned on in the settings), or to repair or change the color of a vehicle.

One Free Mode session could fit up to sixteen players on consoles, or thirty-two players on PC. Friendly Fire can be turned on or off by the host (which will allow or disallow the killing of other players), as well as police, vehicles, and pedestrians. The weather, time, auto-aim (can be allowed or disallowed) and spawn area can also be changed to the host's liking.

Grand Theft Auto Online
In Grand Theft Auto Online, much of the Freemode concept from GTA IV's multiplayer has re-appeared. Unlike GTA IV, the players cannot change the session conditions anymore (such as police, weapons, spawn locations and other elements), as they simply join into one of the available sessions. All the map is available for the players to play in and explore. The list of available features and activities has been expanded upon.

Players can buy their own apartments, offices (enhanced version), clubhouses (enhanced version), garages, vehicles, clothing and weapons in their respective stores or internet websites with the earned in-game money, and can start activities like Golf, Tennis and Arm Wrestling. Players can also start Deathmatches, Races, Last Team Standing, Parachute Jumps, Captures and more.

Players can also receive jobs from Simeon Yetarian, Lamar Davis, Gerald, Lester Crest, Martin Madrazo, Ron Jakowski and Trevor Philips depending on their Rank.

On Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, GTA Online lobbies are limited to 16 players, and on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC are limited to 30 players (and 2 spectators).

Freemode Events
As of Freemode Events Update, at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 hrs in game (every 12 minutes, real time; 6 in-game hours), an event or challenge will become available. All players in the current session will be notified with a on-screen HUD message that an event will begin soon, and a timer in the bottom right corner will count down until the start of the event. In some instances, a "Prepare for [challenge]" message will appear, for Challenges only. If a player is in passive mode, they will be warned about this preventing them from participating in the event or challenge.

Once the event begins, all players in the session will be notified, regardless if they became part of the event or not.

VIP Work and MC Work
As of the Executives and Other Criminals update, players that are leaders of a VIP or CEO Organization can start a VIP Work, a Freemode mission that can be started in Freemode without using a different lobby. Some VIP Work need to be done in a session that has rival players, or that has enough associates to start it. Players that are not in an Organization can attack the players that are doing the VIP Work, as all the players in the session will be notified of the mission. The CEO or VIP can start VIP Work from the Interaction Menu. Subsequent updates have added more VIP Work.

As of the Bikers Update, players that are Motorcycle Clubs' President can start a Clubhouse Contract or a MC Work, playing in a similar way as VIP Work. MC Work can be started from the Interaction Menu, and Clubhouse Contracts can be started from players' Clubhouse. Some roles of the Motorcycle Clubs' can also start MC Work from the Interaction Menu.

Players in passive mode will not be notified of these missions, neither will be able to join a Motorcycle Club or Organization.

Businesses
As of the Further Adventures in Finance and Felony and subsequent updates, players can buy different businesses across Freemode, ranging from SecuroServ's Special Cargo and Vehicle Cargo, The Open Road's drug businesses, Disruption Logistics' arms manufacturing and Free Trade Shipping Co's Smuggling Business.

Being part of a SecuroServ CEO Organization (for Special Cargo and Vehicle Cargo) or VIP contract; or Motorcycle Club (for The Open Road's businesses), players collect product to stack up and sell them across Los Santos and Blaine County for a profit.

Businesses steal and sell missions have a Global Signal countdown, where at the end of it, all players in the session will be notified of the Organizations or Motorcycle Clubs' mission and will be prompted to either destroy or steal the product the player is moving or selling. The duration of the Global Signal countdown will be dependent of the mission difficulty, ranging from 40 to 5 seconds.

If the player is on a session with rival players, they'll receive a 1% bonus for each rival players in the session, up to a 25% bonus, called High Demand Bonus. All businesses receive this bonus except Vehicle Cargo.

Businesses require the player to be in a public session. These missions cannot be executed in invite-only, crew, friend or solo sessions.

Players in passive mode will not be notified of these missions.

The Doomsday Heist
As a CEO, VIP or Motorcycle Club President, players can start "Freemode Prep" missions from their Facilities. These missions are done in Freemode and they unlock the Setups of The Doomsday Heist. These missions follow the same pattern as businesses' missions.

Other players can destroy or steal the Heist Equipment only if they have the same Act of the Doomsday Heist and the Prep is being done by the Organization or Motorcycle Club has not been completed.

Trivia

 * In GTA IV, if only one player remains and he/she dies, he/she may spawn in a random place (if the location is set in Liberty City).
 * In GTA IV, if the player enters the player menu while on fire, their character will not take any damage from the fire, but can still be killed by other players.

Mode libre Freier Modus Modo Libre Free Mode