Have played since the first week of launch, and dropped it around maybe a year ago, since every vehicle is somehow slower than the Pariah but with nearly double-triple the price tag. I don't really see as to how people think this game is pay to win though, I have every property with the most expensive upgrades without ever spending a dime. I also own a 60 Car garage on my Maze Bank office with the most expensive cars. I enjoy playing the game and doing deathmatches (exclusively run and gun, no explosives or vehicles). I recommend playing at least once WITH friends. I can't recommend the PC version as hackers can just see your IP and at that point your internet connection is at risk. As a full time online college and soon uni student, I can't allow that risk anymore. The gameplay loop gets boring I admit pretty fast as you reach "end game" and turns into an artificial grind (my biggest and last was probably the most expensive yacht with the most costly lights and upgrades). Although this game isn't the same genre, the gameplay loop is still better than Destiny 2, which is the king of artificial grind. Want a tip? Join a lively crew, my best experiences are with an active crew. It's so much fun selling your businesses in public lobby (you get a 1% bonus per player in the session iirc) and having a bunch of helicopter and futuristic vehicles defend your truck from flying broomsticks that shoot missiles. If you're on Xbox, I suggest Ghillie Master on YouTube, if on PlayStation, watch TheProfessional. Their tips are life changing and will change how efficiently you manage your time in this huge expansive game. I have saved hundreds of my own and others' hours just by following their advice.

I honestly don't know how to rate this game, seeing as I have at least 2500 hours on it and have been playing it since around the time it came out. I watched it grow from a pretty barebones, interesting game, to a mess of griefing and grinding the same missions 5000 times just to afford one thing, to the game getting quite a bit better for solo players. Lots of highs and lots of lows. I'd say if you didn't play the game from day one, or you don't have the the best money making facilities; this game is awful. It's very unfair to new players, and you probably have to put over 100 hours in the game before you can really start to have fun and buy things that are really enjoyable.

In its current state though, unless you play on PC and have a mod menu; it's a pretty bad experience. Getting into public lobbies to make money by yourself is a hassle, and there's only one major money strat that works in private sessions (albeit; it's the best thing to farm for the time to money ratio so it has that going for it); unfortunately optimizing it to be the most efficient farming strategy requires well over 10-15 million dollars in-game, and a new player probably won't get that any time soon without being stuck in public sessions with new players who will destroy hours of your work in an instant; for a measly $2000 for themselves, because Rockstar incentivizes griefers to keep people from making money so they get angry and buy shark cards.

Most of the fun of this game is just the silly glitches with cars, and playing new content for the first time. A lot of people still spend most of their time buying and messing with vehicles because GTA Online has some of the most fascinating vehicle customization the video game industry has seen (makes me frustrated Rockstar has done nothing with Midnight Club for so long. I want a game mostly centered around customizing and driving cars around). Unfortunately it's a large time investment for these things, and for most; that time is not worth it. You're better off playing something like Forza Horizon 5 or something like that if you want that kind of experience. Lot less setup and hassle to enjoy a similar gameplay experience that GTA Online offers.

GTA Online is also rather role-playing friendly too though, so it has that going for it. Me and some friends do like to get on it and roleplay as bikers and taking road trips from time to time. Or just have virtual hang outs at each others apartments. Can be some pretty good fun, but like I said; that kinda requires having a friend who has money for those kinds of things, so yeah.

I've been mostly burnt out on GTA Online though. The updates that keep coming out are just not that satisfying; nor do they really offer much in the way of interesting new content. The last major one that was fun was one of the heist expansions, but it's not something you can really interact with your friends with. Every time I got into the heist with friends they kept getting disconnected. There's lots of really annoying bugs too that Rockstar refuses to fix. They're very frustrating. I will sum it up like this. If the bug makes the game easier for the player: Rockstar will patch it instantly. If it makes the game more inconvienent for the player: They won't. It's annoying, but admittedly understandable when you realize Rockstar is just as scummy as most other companies.

So all in all, this isn't worth it for anyone unless you really enjoy these things, and enjoy painstaking grinds just to enjoy the game with your friends. Just ignore strangers in the game as much as possible and if there's a way to get into public sessions by yourself; do it. It saves a ton of rage. For most people though; this is a very mediocre game, and I do admit despite 2500 hours; I am one of those people.

If I wrote about everything wrong with GTA Online, we'd be here for another 6 years and GTA 6 STILL WOULDN'T BE OUT YET!

Look, it started fine when I got it in 2014 but then the fucking exploiters and hackers really ruined this game. Private Public Lobbies are the best way to play this game and Rockstar won't even let you do it most of the time. It's bullshit.

Definitely one of the worst online games ever made. Red Dead Online is better than this clusterfuck.

I do hope when GTA 6 comes out, they either correct all the mistakes made with GTA V's Online or just scrap Online completely!