The hype behind GTA V is only growing, with screenshots, wishlists and “leaks” spreading like wild fire across the internet, and showing no signs of stopping. The game looks set to be the most anticipated of 2013 (or the end of 2012, depending on who you believe at this stage), and based on what we’ve seen so far, there’s good reason for the excitement.
But that doesn’t mean the success of the game is a given – massive games like Modern Warfare 3 and even GTA IV ended up being comparative disappointments thanks to some problematic but completely avoidable issues, and we have to be wary of GTA V going the same way and failing to live up to the hype.
So, what might GTA V get wrong? It is perfectly possible, and likely for even the most highly revered or well crafted game to have flaws, and no doubt GTA V will be close to, but not, perfect. So what are 5 ways it might totally screw up, and how could Rockstar avoid this crippling issues?
5. Driving
A common fan complaint about GTA IV was the driving mechanics. While I personally enjoyed it for the most part, some of the cars wanted to spin out and crash at the slightest bump. Even more annoying was how every vehicle felt heavy and even the most agile of sports cars handled like piles of bricks.
How to fix it?
Basically, lighten up a bit. It’s that simple. GTA V could use GTA IV’s next-gen physics in conjunction with a newer handling model that makes cars a bit more zippy and agile. And for the love of God, Rockstar, keep the camera on target, and not turning around erratically to distract the driver. Similarly, please lock the camera to the centre of the car, not to driver position, because that was really annoying.
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37 Comments
I personally want to disagree with the story point. I personally love having the Mafia and gangsters in GTA. One thing I didn’t like about GTA IV is that you never meet serious criminals and you don’t get to rise up and take over the city, it’s entertaining going from nothing to something, and you feel like a real bad ass for doing so. In GTA V you just go from petty thief to petty organised crime I also found it really hard to relate to the characters. I found it much easier to relate and like other characters in the GTA world.
I think a smaller cast would help us understand them more. I’m not saying GTA4 had a bad story, I’m just hoping GTAV brings something new. I do get what you’re saying though.
The author of this article is a fool, the storylines and swearing all make it more real. I would rather not play as some loser who’s, always lived somewhere and always messes up and stays all the time.
I don’t get it. The way cars felt in GTA IV seemed realistic. Cars in real life aren’t super responsive. You all just think the driving is unrealistic because you are used to the arcady way cars drive in Saints Row.
Don’t even get me started on how much I hate Saints Row’s driving. It’s floaty and weak, but I think the best driving I’ve ever played is NFS: Shift. It’s so great, the amount of control is just right and the car is heavy yet still agile. If GTAV had driving as Shift, I would buy 10 copies!
Driving mechanics are you joking, there was nothing up with them in GTA iv, They where perfect, Have you played other games like saints row 3 n just cause 2, The car control was shocking. so i think R* do really deserve some credit….. GTA v will be perfection and you know it so stop with the pointless articles..
I personally loved the driving but so many others hated it so there must be something wrong. I just think a tiny bit more control would make it more appealing to the haters.
I absolutely love the driving mechanics in IV. A while back I played San Andreas for old times sake, and I laughed my ass off at how cartoony the driving physics were. In fact, I could barely control the car. I do, however, wish the motor bikes in IV were more agile. (The bike physics were tweaked in Lost and Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony, but I prefer to play in Niko’s world). To me, there’s nothing better than fishtailing a Dukes up and down Mohawk Ave.
This article should be renamed 5 ways the author can get fired. Clearly this idiot doesn’t realize the mechanics for gta iv for amazing. If they improved such as giving us the option to customize the car so it would improve in driving it would be awesome. Everything else about driving was an enjoyable experience.
Family stories? Less swearing? No mafia? Sound’s like you need to buy The Sim’s mate, not GTA.
Oh God, I love the Sims.
I like the Sims, but that doesn’t mean GTA should be anything like it. It would completely ruin the series. I don’t know why people want GTA to become more Sims-like when the Sims already exists as it’s own thing.
I’ll agree with the article that shooting/cover and driving need a little work, but that’s about all I can agree to. (I play single player so my opinion on multiplayer is null and void)
Chazdogrutten, I couldn’t agree more. This author sounds like he wants to play himself in a game. Sounds like fail.
dont agree with author at all. gta is about doing everything we would like to do if there was no laws. drive 100mph thru town, smash a cop in the face and smoke weed every day.
I think the author of this post is so wrong, why? that is criticizing something that not even played or tested, GTA 5 will be the best game in both graphics and gameplay :)
I like when you said that Max Payne 3 had lots of swearing, yet remained mature and somewhat sophisticated. Because I’m Portuguese and I didn’t quite like when I(Max Payne) was called “son of a bitch” every 2 seconds.
GTA 4 driving. NOT realistic. Go outside, get in you car. Drive 30 mph and pull an e-brake. See HOW far your tires slide. GTA V? You don’t even have to pull the e-brake. Even driving a real car at 60 MPH, try to spin out by only turning the wheel. You might be able to roll your vehicle, but you will not spin out. Even if it was more realistic than San Andreas, it is not as fun. I couldn’t play it. I AM still playing San Andreas with Alien City mods and SAMP.
Regarding the camera whilst driving… Am I the only one who used the first-person view in GTA4 for driving? It was SO much easier for me; I couldn’t play the game at all with the external camera.
Having said that, I did learn it when playing Lost & Damned because the first-person view on bikes is horrible due to the tilting. It made Lost & Damned much harder for me.
Anyway, I think the best improvement for GTA5 would be to make the story flow more naturally. GTA (and other mission-based) games always felt kind of rigid in structure: drive to a location, watch a cutscene, drive to another location, shoot people, repeat. I’m not exactly sure how this could be resolved due the the large open nature of the game world.
I guess I’d like something where there is less differentiation between “on a mission” and “not on a mission”. For example, you might get attacked unexpectedly by a rival gang, so you try and fight them and they end up leading you to their safehouse, where you can take them out. In this case, you don’t explicitly start a mission, but it just happens naturally. I want something that feels less like playing levels in a game and more like the flowing story of a book or film.
Great idea that would make the game so epic
I’m tired of people complaining about the driving mechanics in IV. I read you, Ryan, are a fan of the mechanics; why then are you making it one of five things to fix for V?? I would be very disappointed if the camera remained centered on the car at all times. IV’s mechanics were realistic and allowed players to catch different glimpses of the Niko and whatever car he was in. Just because some impatient kids complain about the change in driving mechanics it doesn’t mean the change wasn’t for the better. It was..in my opinion anyway haha
The driving in Saints Row: The Third (I assume you meant that game) is fun and fluent. The GTA 4 driving controls suck to death, and are not realistic at all. (Might be worse because I am a PC player and can regulate the accelerator.) I hate all the car chases you have to do that seem somewhat impossible because the AI can turn corners in fairly high speed, but you’re left spinning and crashing out of control (with the brakes being as unrealistic as could possibly be).
But in any case, realism isn’t fun. It isn’t by definition. If you’re going for realism, you should die after getting shot, not just get revived at a hospital. It’s a game.
I would be interested to know why you think driving in Saints Row 3 was bad. It was an efficient way of getting from A to B, and you can pull of some insane stunts. In GTA 4, you’re almost better of taking public transportation. xD
I never found a problem with the driving on GTA iv it was realistic. But the story line I was dissapppinted with. I liked the story but same time you didn’t get the respect feel of your character like you got with say tommy vercetti. Also in my mind GTA V needs to look to San andreas for advice. Not necessarily the big things but little things like modding your car, eating too much, workin out at the gym, haircuts, tattoos, clothes etc, those little things made San Andreas for me. Although the trailer is set in Los Santos I’m hoping it covers the entire San Andreas state again. The screen shots do show mountains and other non city areas so hope i am right. I loved driving around the country in San Andreas listening to the radio. Back to the respect feeling again I enjoyed working with the mafia, triads yet same time being knocked about by the police and otter petty gangs. I did like GTAiv I thought it was amazing but was just sad not to see the above things included. Really hope that it comes out in 2013 and not 2012 as I’m away and will miss the opening obviously 99.9 percent of fans do want it right now.
That completely contradicts itself because what underworld criminal has a mature and sophisticated vocabulary. Most swear consistently.
Great article I think your the missing link on their development team.
It’s probably been said but I believe saints the third, have a lot of the driving and fighting mechanics right.. Surely with that benchmark to live up too they will have at least 2 points that won’t screw gtaV up
I agree with the game details…they should keep it pretty sealed by
releasing a few more screenshots leading up to a 2nd trailer (which is
likely coming in November, after a year of the first one). I just don’t
see this game coming out the end of this year, it doesn’t make sense!
Why would they want to release two big games in one year? Max Payne was this year’s big hit…GTA V is gonna be next year’s big hit!
Who is this author? And who let him out of the cage??
This is not professional skeptism. At THE TIME of the game it wad already revolutionary and set new standards. This game is already old and this author is giving his personal opinion.
This is all perslnal opinions and problems with skme glithces on the HUGE game
at least learn how these games are made and how long a full scale team like rockstar would take to make this game
you cant make everything perfect
and as for max payne script in my personal opinion it was corny.
Please dont waste our time with opinions we gamers deal with facts
Nice article. There’s a lot of hate coming out of the comments, and I can understand why. Don’t get me wrong, GTA IV and it’s expansions were fantastic, quite possibly the best game I’ve ever played, but I think Ryan is right in saying the driving was not perfect, and for a lot of people this was a flaw they could not get over. If they can make a few tweaks to the vehicle damage and weight/handling, GTA V will blow our minds. This article is not saying GTA is bad, I guarantee the author probably loves the game more than most you, but there is definitely room for improvement. Again, good article.
The driving in GTA IV was amazing. You want a less realistic, more arcady driving. Terrible. One of the ways GTA V could fail is messing with the driving. I thought that was the highlight GTA IV.
In fact, if it is more arcady, I will not buy it.
TAKE THIS ARTICLE DOWN! The driving? WHAT? The only games I play are (iracing, LFS, FSX, ARMA 2, and GTA IV). GTA IV driving is absolutely the best it has ever been, and in fact, that is the reason I like the game so much. Cars have handling limits, they understeer, they oversteer, and etc.. You say you lose control when going over bumps, but you’re going over these bumpy city roads at speeds close 100mph! You think in real life your car will not want “to spin out and crash at the slightest bump” (and this is in GTA IV dependent on which car, just like IRL)? If anything, R* needs to make it even MORE realistic, meaning cars would be even HARDER to drive.
What could mess up GTA V? Articles like this! And people wanting more arcady games.
And R*, please have ALL THE CARS available in multiplayer. In GTA IV, you didn’t have all the cars available, ie. the 911, and sadly, it is my favorite car.
Are you kidding me? Critisizing the driving in GTA IV?
NFS shift? That “racing” game is so arcady, the driving physics are LESS realistic than GTA IV. NFS Shift is NOT a racing SIMULATOR. You should try REAL simulators, like iRacing. But then again, you probably wont like them because you will crash too much and the driving will be too difficult for you.
Oh and 1st person view should have view of dash and steering wheel and be DRIVER CENTERED, not centered with the vehicle. Rockstar would improve driving by just adding cabin detail while in first person view.
Kevin: I drive a car, I pull e-brake at 30mph, it looks a lot like what I can do in GTA IV when I press the e-brake button at low speeds. IT IS REALISTIC. Also, (assuming you’re in a huge parking lot) if you drive at 60mph and turn full lock in either direction you will NOT roll your car. Even in a SUV it is very unlikely, in most cases, your car will continue to go straight and just understeer. In modern cars, the center of gravity is so low that people roll their cars because of sliding and hitting obstacles (a curb, a sign, etc…). If the obstacles were not there to initiate the roll, the car would just continue to slide.
Hundereds of hours of iRacing, hundreds of hours of HPDE (real life High Performance Driver Education), NASA Racing Member, SCCA Member, PCA member, BMWCCA member. I also own a purpose built track car.
Go play Saints Row and quit trying to ruin this game.
I think what they could improve is the driving AI, they seem to cause a lot of accidents, and often turn INTO you instead of trying to AVOID you.
They could also add more damage for accidents, something similar to the cryengine 3 crash physics. See for yourself, search youtube for “CryEngine 3 Soft Body Physics”
I do not agree. I only agree with multiplayer and some of the combat and driving. Thanks… k, bye.
The driving in GTA IV was good, but if it had the same realism as Mafia II, then that’ll be great also; but in no way was the driving bad. O.K. AI cars ram you in the rear at junctions and the enemy vehicles when in car chases does give the impression as though they are scripted. But these are all minor tweaks. So for GTA V more realism on the car and better AI physics.
GTA IV had tons of swearing and abusive language, so it does need toning down a little for GTA V, As for GTA V story, it will be different, where you’ll play a family man who loses everything, his business, his home and his family, so your aim is to make money and restart your empire back up again. Hence the almighty Dollar being the theme and it’s also said to be based on the recession.
Combat however, needs the most work for GTA V; a possible redesign, but Rockstar are working on this anyway so I won’t dwell on it.
I cant believe all these negative comments regarding this article. Its common knowledge that GTA 4 was generally disappointing overall let alone just the driving physics.
The game actually sucked because it was a step backwards, san andreas is still king and anyone who thinks othetwise will always be in the vast minority.
like
Are you joking GTA San Andreas style driving is a step backwards only idiots without the ability to use a brake are complaining and NO ryan NFS Shift had one of the worst driving physics ever every car felt like you were driving on ice no grip whatsoever also the story will be different and why does the swearing need toning down it’s a 18 game so angry mothers can get screwed the swearing should remain plus name me one criminal in history who didn’t swear.
I feel for rockstar, how the hell do you make a game/vr for the world when everyone wants something different. And they will still get it right of course.
Don’t change the driving for the love of God it was one of the best improvements about IV.