Originally posted by Toke
you can play heists with no problems by hosting an invite only lobby, then go to a heist lobby and invite people. It will be easier for people to join your invite and its less likely for you to have problems e.g. players lagging out.
I know this works because I tested it on a heist mission (prisoner one). I tried to host this heist mission (from the setups) in an open lobby, my friends were having problems joining but when I finally got 4 players I started the game and everyone lagged out. Then I tried it in an invite only lobby it worked fine.
Hope this helps!