Tutorial Grand Theft Auto V
How to save in GTA V
In Story Mode you pause, open Save Game, and you get fifteen slots. Sleeping in a property you own also writes a save. Online does not offer that menu — the session writes itself, and quitting mid-buy is how people lose a car.
Story Mode: pause, then Save Game
Open the pause menu (Options / Start on console, Esc on PC). Go to the Game tab and pick Save Game. Pick an empty slot or overwrite one you do not need. The game writes a snapshot of that character, that mission flag, that cash pile. It does not touch GTA Online.
If Save Game is greyed out, you are inside a mission, a cutscene, or a wanted chase that the script will not freeze. Finish the beat, lose the stars, then pause again. The button coming back is the signal, not a wiki workaround.
Fifteen slots and a bed
Story Mode keeps fifteen manual saves. Rotate them if you are about to rob a bank or start a strangers-and-freaks chain you might want to undo. Sleeping in a house, apartment, or trailer you already own also writes a save. The bed is not a second cloud. It is the same Story file, written because you went to sleep.
Switching between Michael, Franklin, and Trevor can trigger an autosave. Do not treat that as a substitute for a named slot before a heist setup. Autosaves overwrite the last automatic point. They do not protect the slot you named last Tuesday.
GTA Online is a different machine
There is no Save Game row in Online. When you buy a garage, finish a job, or collect a daily, the session writes to Rockstar’s servers. Leave through the Online menu when you can. Force-closing the game while a purchase spinner is still up is the classic way to pay twice or keep nothing.
Story saves on disk or in the platform cloud do not carry an Online character the other way. Loading a Story slot will not roll back a bunker you just bought, and it will not un-ban a cheater. Keep the two worlds apart when you talk, and when you click.