Rockstar Confirms GTA Online Status as Fully Restored, "All Services Have Resumed as Normal"

Update 2 (March 12):

Following some GTA Online maintenance today, Rockstar says, “Today’s maintenance is now complete. Thanks for your patience.” According to their website, everything is back up and running normally.

Update:

Rockstar has resolved the issue with the Online Heists update where GTA Online characters have changed appearance or gender.

Here’s what you need to do to restore your original character appearance:

Enter GTAV and load into Story Mode
Pause the game
Highlight the “ONLINE” tab
Choose “Choose Character”
Select your affected character

Once you re-enter GTA Online, your original character appearance will be restored.

Original Story:

Following the release of Online Heists in the big update yesterday, March 10, Rockstar announced that GTA Online in Grand Theft Auto V was experiencing some issues:

We are aware of some issues today with players having problems connecting to GTA Online, as well as issues with the Xbox Live service. We are working to restore full access to GTA Online as quickly as possible.

Well, as of 7am PT/10am ET today, March 11, Rockstar says, “Full access has been restored to GTA Online and all services have resumed as normal.” This is backed up by the official GTA Online support page, which shows all platforms as “up” in terms of status.

Rockstar also took the time to answer some frequently asked questions about Heists on their website, which you can read below:

How to Complete the First Person Award (Another Perspective) for Heists in GTA Online

To complete the First Person award, the Heist Leader (or lobby host) must lock the view to First Person mode in the lobby settings. That way, players in the Heist must stay in first person mode and you can complete the award.

How to Access Daily Objectives in GTA Online

To access your Daily Objectives in GTA Online, access the Interaction Menu and select the “Daily Objectives” option. To access the Interaction Menu:

On PS3: Hold “Select”

On PS4: Hold the touch pad button

On Xbox 360 or Xbox One: Hold the “Back” button

How to Access Heists in GTA Online

To host a Heist in GTA Online, your character must be Rank 12 and own a high-end apartment. If you are under rank 12 or do not own a high end apartment, you can still join a Heist another player invites you to.

To join a Heist as a crew member without an invite, go to the Quick Job menu on the phone. Select “Play Heist” to quickly jump into the action.

Once you complete the prerequisites above, Lester will give you a call to set up your first Heist. Once you complete your first Setup Mission, there is a brief delay before Lester calls you for the next part of the Heist. There is a small delay between completing your first Heist and Lester’s call for the next Heist as well.

To replay a Heist, simply call Lester using your in-game phone and select the “Request a Heist” option when he answers. From there, you’ll be able to play any of the Heists you’ve previously completed.

How to Track Special Heist Completion Bonuses in GTA Online

There are Special Heist Completion bonuses that can only be achieved once per person, but will add some serious zeros to your bank balance. They are as follows:

First Time – Completing each Heist Finale for the first time will get you a bonus cash reward

All In Order Challenge – Complete all Heists in order, including Setups, to receive a $1,000,000 cash bonus

Loyalty Challenge – Complete all Heists, including Setups, with the same team of players to receive an additional $1,000,000 bonus

Criminal Mastermind Challenge – Complete all Heists on Hard, in order, with the same group of players, without losing any lives, to receive a massive $10,000,000 bonus

Another Perspective (PS4/Xbox One only) – Complete all Heist Setups and Finales in first person mode (Note – this requires the Heist Leader to lock the camera option to first person when setting up the Heist)

The one-off bonus challenges are linked to in-game awards. You can monitor your award progress via the Stats > Awards tab in the Pause Menu. These awards do not have to be completed in one sitting and can be completed and tracked over time.