GTAV Hands On Previews & New Screenshots

Another round of GTAV previews from various publications, Hands On edition! That’s in addition to new screenshots as well.

Share your thoughts and reactions over at GTAForums!

Previews

Flying under bridges achievements will return from GTAIV. There are exactly 50 bridges to fly under.
The city features cracked roads, graffiti, shopfronts and billboards. Every shopfront in the game is unique.
Night time is more realistic and is a big improvement from IVs “darkness”. At a certain part of Blaine County the only real source of light were Trevor’s vehicle headlamps.
Destructible environments have been upped in this game which means that you can use them to your advantage in missions; you can use: gas cylinders, motor cars, fuel tanks and more.
Animals yelp when hit by a vehicle.
Neon signs actually have a buzzing noise.
Helicopter wreckage can be found from high above in the sky.
Although map is open from the start, it still has a huge element of discovery.
Grove Street will be making a return.
GTAV feels like a “best of R* experience” because of the elements from all of R*’s greatest games.
Normal walking is quite slow.
The weather system is different, featuring virtual sunrays.
Water physics are fantastic, featuring realistic waves that foam back and forth.
The framerate is consistent and there seems to be no stuttering when switching between characters to complete a mission.

Franklin usually hangs out in the ghetto, Trevor in the wastelands, and Michael in the business districts.
Your character’s health regenrates to 50% only.
Sometimes you will be prompted to use certain characters – at other times you can choose yourself.
A coloured flash on screen will signal a switch to a particular character. Michael is blue, Franklin is green, and Trevor is orange.
Simeon’s dealership has quite a lot of high-end vehicles which Franklin can use immediately.
One of a kind encounters may occur such as Lamar acting agressively towards a hobo.
Chop belongs to Lamar, not Franklin.
Chop can distract enemies, giving an advantage against them.
Each protagonist has a very distinctive walk and feel to them.
Main characters and NPC have thousands of custom animations.

The main weapon wheel is broken down into a series of subcategories; after scrolling with the stick to the weapon type you want, left and right on the D-pad will cycle between additional individual weapons.
The wheel will store all of the weapons you collect and you will never lose them, even if they run out of ammo or you get busted. It’s estimated that players can hold about 14 weapons.
You can throw weapons to the other protagonists.
Sniper Rifles can be upgraded with a Thermo Scope which can be activated on the run.
Miniguns destroy vehicle almost instantly.
The ability to fire whilst prone and rolling around returns from Max Payne 3 at a mission with Trevor.
There are Ammu-Nation stores which are open at night.
Players can have a shooting scope of 360 degrees so that they can strategically decide what they need to do.
You can adjust the power, rate of fire and gauge levels of the weapons.
AI constantly changes their position to get a better shot at you.

There are four different in-vehicle views in addition to cinematic mode. However the cockpit view will not be included.
Trains are drivable.
if a saved vehicle is abandoned or destroyed, it can be recovered (for a fee) at the local impound lot.
Each vehicle type has a unique type of handling, for example the pick-up truck doesn’t stick to the road as well as a supercar.
You can turn a car’s engine on and off.
Pedestrians react differently to carjackings now, such as speeding off when aimed or shot at with a weapon.
Drivers flip you off after collisions.
Car crashes usually leave trails of fuel, which can in turn be used to blow them up.
Chopper controls are extremely alike to GTAIV, and landing them is more straightforward.
Engine realism such as engine stuttering and black smoke shooting out was noted.
Car explosions and aftermath much more realistic than IV’s.
Hearses are NOT good for escaping cops.
For racing, Rockstar has relied on Midnight Club: Los Angeles’s gameplay mechanics for the driving in V.

There are various ways to tackle a one mission objective.
When missions end, the aftermath “spills over” into freeroam – as noted when a car is blown up at the end of a mission, fire engines will rush to the still destroyed car, whereas in IV the world would simply “reset”.
There will be split second decision makings which adds a Hollywood-esque feels to the gameplay.
“Derailed” involves Trevor chasing a train of cargo on a dirtbike (All you had to do was follow the damn train Trevor).
At one point in “Nervous Ron” a light is shot out to prevent a dead body being discovered.
“Vinewood Babylon” involves using a weapon similar to what Bruce Willis uses to blast off Jack Blacks arm in “The Jackal”.
One of the missions shown involved breaking the target out of the FIB building.
If you go up to a mission marker, you go straight into a cutscene and straight out smoothly, similar to Max Payne 3.
There are mission checkpoints.
Every single mission is replayable like The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Unlike GTAIV’s wanted system, every officer and police car has its own search circle.
Blowing up a cop car will get you a wanted level of 1 star.
You receive a 2 star wanted level when flying over the prison.
Police will chase after you if you decide to go into water.