GTA V Online hits speed bumps: Short wait before you can rough up that hooker

Liked the SP

So far my multi-player experience consists of a little loading bar. I'm then told that the connection timed out.

I've been trying a few times during the last 8 hours (as in not every five minutes, but more like once every 1½ hours if I remembered)

The fact that - unlike Sim City - the singe player portion can be played without connection to the servers (which apparently can't be attained) is what saves GTA from being a huge disaster.

Of course, if online doesn't get up and running in the next day or two, it'll be quite horrid. Single player is good and all, but it wasn't nearly as big as it should have been in my opinion. And frankly the map seems somewhat empty and also underused (There's a freaking casino, which I cannot enter! I do _NOT_ want to see a Casino DLC R* - do ya hear!?)

Designed for online?

When looking at the single player campaign I think R* has taken quite a step backwards. Quite frankly I think that the major reason why the map is so big is to fit all online gameplay stuff. Because in story mode the map more than often works against you.

One of the most heard complaints of GTA IV was the excessive driving. I wasn't really bothered by it, but if you failed a mission then it could get awkward pretty quickly.

So now we have Trevor, the number one pick when it comes to flying because his skills are nearly maxed out right from the start of the game. Once the game is fully under way then Trevor usually hangs out in the city and can hardly be found on Sandy Shores. Just too bad that Trevor can't buy a hangar in the city for some reason; his only hangar resides in... Sandy Shores. So if you want to fly a plane without all the hassle of escaping the police you'll just have to drive up there for 5 or so minutes.

And once you're up there.. In the event that you find a cool car or such to keep then you're out of luck again. Because Trevors personal garage is not in Sandy Shores; that one has been placed in the city (probably to avoid the need for excessive driving, yeah right...).

Don't get me wrong; the game was quite enjoyable. But I'm quite disappointed with the way they handled the story mode. At the very least give me an option to have more gunfights between and after missions; getting chased by the police all the time really starts to bore me to no end.

to have avoided the now-notorious disaster .. Electronic Arts

Few simple reasons for this -

1) Rockstar have not turned into Big Brother by trying to dictate the condition the game much be played under (i.e. DRM, Always "connected" etc)

2) This is GTA V ... its like the 2nd coming of the messiah to some

""We've designed house party invitations specifically to be a friendly social affair where players can visit each other's pads without fear of having them ruined or losing their hard-earned vehicles in the process"

Sounds mind-numbingly boring.

Did anyone ever play the original top-down GTA online? I think you could only do it on a LAN. But it was great. You found a machinegun, drove to where everyone else was, and rammed the pile-up at top speed, splattering anyone who was on foot. Once you got stuck in the wreckage of everyone else's cars you were a sitting duck, so you got out and opened fire on whoever you failed to run over. Then someone else would enter the scene and run you over. Then you would respawn, drive back and run them over. Repeat ad infinitum. After a few minutes you had a growing pile of wreckage and a continual rolling shootout with players driving in from all directions. Simple, repetitive and hilarious.

The sort of fun you just can't get nowadays with designed-to-death games like GTA V.

One question....

Who's Trevor?

Watched my youngest son steal a Ferrari and immediately rip one of the doors off. I think the graphics are amazing but I can't play it. I just cannot get the co-ordination on the game controllers, not just GTA but almost any game.

Bring back the Intellivision, their controllers were excellent.

Rockstar spent five years and $170m??

I think you'll find they spent $266m or £170m, take your pick.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels a little let down by GTA V. They boasted that all the interiors would be unique, but but all the ammunation stores are clones of each other as are the clothes shops. Most buildings are just boxes that you cannot enter when not on a mission. Why is it that R* still can't make a character open a door properly? All buildings have non realistic 'cowboy' swing doors. Five years and no improvement. I won't be rushing out to buy the next one.

MMO?

I'm a big fan of GTA - have owned every copy of the game since the first one and love the way its progressed. I wonder whether we'll see the next iteration have a single player story mode (like GTA V) that then allows you to move into a World of Warcraft style GTA world. That would be absolutely amazing.

I NEED TO MURDER REAL PEOPLE NOW DAMMIT

Kind of working

Managed to get in last night. Things went well, some people joined and then about 30 seconds later they all vanished and I was left racing against the computer.

So they are still having problems.