How to fix ‘Failed to host a GTA Online session’

GTA Online has been going strong for over a decade, cementing its reputation as one of the most popular pieces of media in the entertainment industry. While GTA Online and its single-player mode have received immense praise from players and critics, the game has suffered from its share of bugs and errors.

Some of these errors can be solved easily, but others may take time and require you to experiment with many fixes to get your game running again. If you’re experiencing the “Failed to host a GTA Online session” error, read on to find some fixes.

Possible methods to fix “Failed to host a GTA Online session” error

There can be several reasons for the “Failed to host a GTA Online session” error, as it’s quite vague. However, the following methods are among the best and most efficient.

Check your internet

If you encounter this error, one of the first things you should do is check the status of your internet connection. As its name suggests, GTA Online is an online-only game mode, which means your experience depends on the stability of your internet connection. If you feel like you’re getting an unstable connection or outage, contact your internet service provider (ISP) and let them know. Connectivity issues can often be the result of maintenance or similar problems.

Aside from this, you should also check your internet speed. You can test it online using various websites dedicated to this function. 

According to Rockstar Games, you should have a minimum Download Speed of 7.5 Mbps and an Upload Speed of 0.5 Mbps when trying to run GTA Online, with 1 Mbps being the recommended Upload Speed.

Restart the game

Aside from checking your internet connection, one of the simplest ways to diagnose this error is to restart your game. Think of it as a way to refresh the game, its network settings, and its connection to Rockstar servers.

Restart router

Restarting your router is another easy potential fix to this error. This move resets the router’s settings and re-establishes its connections to your ISP. It also erases all existing temporary data on it and starts over, so you can think of it as “resetting” your router. 

Check if the game is updated 

Playing on an older version of GTA Online can often cause network issues. In most cases, you won’t be able to connect to Rockstar services or will keep getting the “Failed to host a GTA Online session” error until you update your game. So, checking for an update is a quick and easy fix to this issue.

Check Rockstar server status

If you’re sure everything is working correctly on your end, the problem may lie with Rockstar’s servers or online services. You can check the status of Rockstar Services on its support page. 

You’ll need to check under the “Online Services” tab and the “Grand Theft Auto Online tab. The latter can also tell you whether there’s a problem with GTA Online on a specific platform, so make sure you check that yours has a green light beside its name.

Verify game files

If you’re playing GTA Online on PC, you can verify the integrity of your game files, ensuring that any corrupted or missing file is repaired or restored. You can try this method for almost any issue you run into with this game. Here’s how to verify your files on both Epic Games and Steam:

If you’re playing on Steam:

• Open Steam.
• Navigate to Grand Theft Auto V in your Library.
• Right-click on the game’s name.
• Click on “Properties.”
• Click on “Installed Files.”
• Click on “Verify integrity of game files.”
• Wait for the process to finish and check if you encounter the error again.

If you’re using Epic Games:

• Open the Epic Games Launcher.
• Click on “Library” on the left side of the screen.
• Select “Installed.”
• Find GTA V and click on the three dots under its thumbnail.
• Click on “Manage.”
• Click on “Verify,” the first option.
• Once the verification is done, try connecting to GTA Online servers again.

Suspending GTA Online

This is a neat little trick PC players can use to potentially solve this error and any other network errors you might be having, like freezing in the clouds above Los Santos infinite loading screens. 

Here’s how you can suspend GTA V using the Resource Monitor:

• Open the Task Manager.
• Click on the “Performance” tab.
• At the bottom of the window, click on “Open Resource Monitor.”
• Scroll down and right-click on “GTA5.exe.”
• Click on “Suspend Process.” You’ll see the process text turn blue from black if it’s successful.
• Wait 5-10 seconds and right-click on the process again.
• Click on “Resume Process.”
• Try connecting to GTA Online again.

You can use this method to find empty public lobbies to safely sell your business, MC, and other cargo before Rockstar introduced the feature in Invite Only lobbies.

Changing the session type

Speaking of Invite Online lobbies, you can choose to enter different types of lobbies when you decide to play GTA Online. If you load into the game directly from the menu screen, you’ll be placed in a Public Lobby. However, if you’re experiencing the “Failed to host a GTA Online session” when doing this, you can try joining other sessions. Here’s how to do that:

• When you’re back in Story Mode, press the Escape key to open the options menu.
• Click on the “Online” tab.
• Scroll down to “Find New Session.”

From here, you can choose to load into a different Public Session as well as an Invite Only, Crew, Closed Crew, or Closed Friend Session. Try it out and see if it solves the error for you.

Port forwarding 

Port forwarding can seem tricky, but you can always ask your ISP for help. On the official Rockstar Games support website, you can find five ports that need to be open for GTA Online to work correctly:

• Port 6672 (UDP)
• Port 61455 (UDP)
• Port 61457 (UDP)
• Port 61456 (UDP)
• Port 61458 (UDP)

Speak to your ISP and check if these ports are open. If not, getting them opened may potentially fix this error.

Reinstall GTA V

If all else fails, you can try reinstalling GTA V. This can often be annoying and time-consuming, as the requirements for the game ask for at least 120 GB of free storage space. However, if nothing else works, this might be your only option other than speaking to Rockstar Support or simply waiting for the issue to be resolved.