Passive Mode

Passive Mode is a Free Mode player status mode in GTA Online. It is first introduced upon the GTA Online Protagonist's first death, where they will see a cutscene, where they meet Cris Formage in a place comparable with the typical description of heaven. Passive Mode is similar to Red Dead Redemption's Friendly Free Roam, where the player cannot kill or be killed.

This feature can be activated through the Interaction Menu, is free to activate. Entering Passive Mode originally cost $100, but since Title Update 1.07 the fee was waived so that "players could have more options with friends". As of Title Update 1.10, any player who kills a passive player who is not in a vehicle must now pay their hospital bills, and vice versa.

Passive mode is restricted to weapon use, so a player in passive mode is unable to access their Weapon Wheel to access any of their weapons, and no other player can target the passive player with their weapons. Free aiming onto a passive player will disable the player's gun and they will not be able to shoot the passive player. Explosive weapons will not damage a passive player's health even if they miss the player but explode close enough to have killed a non-passive player.

Vehicles
Passive Mode will only be active while the player is on foot.

Entering a vehicle disables passive mode immediately, since any vehicle can be used as a weapon to run over other players (and armed vehicles such as the Rhino, Buzzard, Annihilator and Lazer can be fired from the front by a passive driver), The Fire Truck also cannot use the water cannon, despite not technically being an offensive/armed vehicle,  as it is capable of damaging and killing on foot players. While inside a vehicle, the player regains access to their weapon wheel and are able to shoot and get shot at and in the process, get killed. The player's vehicle is not immune to damage if they enter it in Passive Mode. Exiting a vehicle will immediately reactivate passive mode. Passive Mode ends if the passive player shoots at another player.

Conversely, a passive player on foot is also able to be killed by other players in vehicles by being run over or hit by aircraft (including helicopter blades). Medical expenses will be incurred by the vehicle driver in these circumstances.

Cooldowns

 * There is a 60 second cooldown between exiting passive mode and being able to re-enter passive mode.
 * Exiting Passive mode starts a 10 second countdown during which the player is no longer passive and able to be targeted but is unable to access their own weapons, presumably to attempt to prevent griefing.
 * Passive Mode is disabled if the player has a Bounty on his/her head. It also cannot be activated while the bounty is active.
 * Passive Mode is automatically disabled with no cooldown if the player enters a vehicle. (This is fixed in the enhanced version)

Refurbished Passive Mode
Passive mode has been updated in the enhanced version to become a ghost-mode similar to the non-contact race option.

When a player is in passive mode, they will appear to all other players as a semi-transparent ghost and the passive player will see all other players as semi-transparent ghosts. Neither player will be able to harm one another. Players with passive mode enabled cannot be killed in a vehicle.

It is possible to kill a passive mode player using environmental hazards, such as parked cars that the passive player is standing near, as these cars are still "real" to both players.