5 improvements to GTA Online that may vastly enhance the overall game experience

GTA Online has been quite the home run for Rockstar Games as the game has gone from strength to strength and cultivated an absolutely massive player base. The growth hasn't been all lilies and sunshine though as the game got off to a relatively slow start. It only really picked up the pace with the Heists update a couple of years after the game's launch.

Since then, the player-base has expanded to an absolutely massive size and GTA Online has solidified its position as one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games in the market.

While the game is certainly a lot of fun to play, even the most die-hard GTA fans will agree that the game isn't without its flaws. While the overall game experience is fairly robust, there are some improvements that Rockstar could look to make.

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5 improvements to GTA Online that may vastly enhance the overall game experience

1) No Shark Cards

This is perhaps one change that could potentially be happening as GTA Online arrives on the new consoles as a standalone title. Meaning that players can pay for GTA Online without having to purchase Grand Theft Auto V, essentially removing the need for microtransactions in the game.

Microtransactions have been the blight of AAA games and it makes little sense to include them in the game once GTA Online becomes a standalone title. Shark Cards can break the game experience as it devolves into a "pay to win" situation. Rockstar should look to plug that hole before it becomes a huge issue.

2) Load Times

This is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the optimal GTA Online experience as the game can take an awfully long time to load into Online and then into a session. This could potentially also be fixed when the game becomes available as a standalone title and the player does not have to pick from Story Mode or Online from the Main Menu.

Load times have gotten significantly better with next-gen hardware and fans can only hope that GTA Online also takes full advantage of the improved SSDs on the new consoles.

3) Better Matchmaking

GTA Online does a good job of putting players on even footing in PvP modes. However, money tends to make just that little bit of a difference when it comes to the weapons, armor, and ammo players start the game mode with.

While players will rarely ever be completely broke in GTA Online, there is a fair chance that they are matched against someone with significantly better loadouts. Perhaps improving matchmaking and staying away from the perils of skill-based matchmaking should be the way forward for Rockstar.

4) Stable performance on console

Console gaming comes with a few drawbacks even though it is perhaps the most accessible way to get a consistent stream of games for years without having to spend too much on hardware. The significant downside of console gaming comes in the form of games not functioning as smoothly as they might on PC.

Frame rate drops are aplenty when playing GTA Online on consoles. These can be quite frustrating for players and lead to frequent rage quits and broken controllers. The game, as a result, feels like an extremely taxing experience to go through and is a major hindrance to console players worldwide.

Perhaps next-gen hardware is the fix, but that remains to be seen.

5) Fix Freemode

Freemode is the quintessential GTA mode where players have the entire state of San Andreas to blow up and set fire to repeatedly for hours upon hours. Alas, griefers come along and ruin the game for everyone else.

While this isn't a problem with the game but a problem that the community presents to itself, perhaps allowing players to report griefers may help to make Freemode a better place for everyone. #makefreemodefunagain