A Reddit user, in charge of TheGTAPlace.com, hosted an AMA to answer questions about Grand Theft Auto Online after travelling to New York at the behest of Rockstar Games.
Playing on the Xbox 360, it was stated that there were no performance issues, with no lag though that could be different based on players playing across the world instead of in the same room. Bugs were also limited, with one particular instance involving cops killing another player on the same server first before setting their sights on you. Whether this was lag or a glitch wasn’t clear, but given that this was an early build from 1 to 2 months ago, there’s a chance that such bugs would be eliminated.
Almost all clothes shops and tattoo parlours were unlocked from the start. You can also choose the appearance of your four grandparents, which will influence your character’s look. You can customize your skin colour, hairstyle, age and other stats though. You can make a new character but it’s not certain if you can change this generated character. It’s not certain if you can create multiple characters for GTA Online.
You’ll need to reach about rank 8 or 9 to buy properties but there are plenty of houses and apartments to buy across the map. When you start the game, you’ll have missions such as Deathmatch and Races in which you can bet on the winner and earn money. You can also get texts from different characters for extra jobs to earn more money. Many weapons aren’t unlocked from the start, irrespective of how much money you have, so you’ll need to upgrade your rank by completing missions to unlock them.
As far as properties went, one small house was about $20000. You can rob stores and pick up roughly $3000-$6000 each time, but there will be enough balancing to ensure that it’s not abused. How it works is that you can point a gun at the store clerk and they’ll give you money in a carrier bag till the cash register is empty. You can shout into a headset to get them to give you money, which will cause the cash to be emptied quicker. Some store owners have pistols though, so be careful when entering and leaving lest you get shot.
You’ll start off in the single-player campaign in which you can switch to multiplayer from the character menu. The process has been described as quick enough to not be frustrating.
There is also something called Passive Mode, in which players cannot be killed and will have a line through their radar icons. You can’t quite switch while on a mission, and you may need to enter free roam for it. A reputation system is also in place to ensure you don’t drop out of matches for whatever reason. Passive Mode can be entered for a price, which would be about $100 or $500.
You can also take car insurance. Simply give the contact a call and you can make a claim on the car. This won’t net a huge amount of money, but it is a good way to get your car replaced.
Missions were stated to need at least two players, though some could have as many as eight taking part and they’re adequately team-based. For example: One team will be protecting an objective while the other team is focused on eliminating it. You’ll essentially see the same kinds of missions as present in single-player but with the ability to play with friends. Rockstar Games still stuck by their 500 missions number.
Interestingly, the Social Club was experiencing network issues during the event which prevented mission/job data from being downloaed. If that was a problem, think about how it will be once millions of people access GTA Online tomorrow. You can still play with friends and access the world, but you’ll probably be prevented from accessing the latest available missions.
Grand Theft Auto Online has shipped with Grand Theft Auto 5 and will be launching tomorrow for Xbox 360 and PS3.
