Passive Mode is introduced to the player immediately upon their first death. A cutscene will be shown where Cris Formage describes online "death" and the passive feature used to prevent it.
Passive Mode is similar to Red Dead Redemption's Friendly Free Roam, where the player cannot kill or be killed.
Passive mode restricts 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 fire at 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.
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.