5 annoying things in GTA 5 that should be avoided in GTA 6

The GTA franchise and Rockstar Games didn't just become the cultural and financial juggernauts that they are by putting out mediocre games.

Rockstar Games' dedication to learning from each of their shortcomings and evolving as a creative force has been paramount to GTA's success.

Building upon ideas, iterating and polishing them to a great degree has been at the core of what makes the GTA franchise one of the most well-received and consistent gaming series in history. However, it would be a reach to suggest that GTA 5, the last game in the franchise, was virtually flawless.

GTA 5, although pretty great overall, had a few things that the player could do without. Considering how Rockstar has had nearly a decade's worth of feedback with regards to the game, it is highly possible that a majority of these will be addressed in the sequel.

5 things in GTA 5 that should be avoided in the next title

#1 Gimmicky Missions

Everyone knows exactly which mission GTA players will refer to when talking about "gimmick" missions. "Scouting The Port" has annoyed GTA 5 players for years. While the mission itself makes sense thematically, its execution is absolutely abysmal.

GTA 5, which was moving along pretty well up until that point, grinds to a halt for a mission that serves no other purpose apart from just stalling. Perhaps this was Rockstar's way of commenting on the mundane nature of daily life. While that is pretty amusing and bold, it isn't fun to play.

Sacrificing a player's enjoyment for the sake of commentary or satire, although pretty ballsy, is not a good decision. The GTA franchise is built upon the idea of escapist fun, but it doesn't mean that it has no room for commentary like this. However, Rockstar should probably find a more engaging way to do it.

#2 Uninspired mission design

The typical GTA mission formula is something that Rockstar doesn't tinker with, and rightfully so. Anyone who's played a GTA game knows the formula by now: go to map marker "A", go to objective "B" with ally, do "X" and return to the open world.

While the ride to the location is usually filled with characterization, important dialogue and story beats, the mission design needs a massive revamp in the next GTA game.

#3 Slight Deviation = Instant Fail

In tandem with the previous point, Rockstar's core mission design does not leave much space for creativity and exploration. Typically, players have a fixed set of methods to complete objectives in the game.

Any minor deviations or detours from the path will instantly trigger a "Mission Failed" screen and force players to stick to the beaten path. This is in direct conflict with the core GTA experience that encourages freedom and open-world exploration.

#4 Massive load times

Red Dead Redemption II and GTA 5 both take a considerable amount of time to load, even with powerful and fast SSDs on PC.

While next-gen hardware will likely help in cutting down some portion of the load time, Rockstar's ambitions are likely to work against that.

Rockstar has always set the benchmark for the gaming industry, which probably means that the next GTA game will include its most ambitious open world to date.

This would mean massive load times to avoid issues with data and asset streaming while in-game. While the compromise is something fans have made their peace with, if there's anyone who can figure out a happy medium, it is Rockstar Games.

#5 No single-player expansion

The success of GTA Online and its subsequent updates (Diamond Casino Heist, Cayo Perico, etc) have invariably proved that an online expansion works very well, at least financially.

This is the cold, hard truth of the AAA games industry, which has seen a shift towards the "games as a service" model made popular by games like Fortnite and Destiny. Fans of the single-player experience and Story Mode have been starved of any sort of attention post-launch.

Story mode expansion isn't below or beyond Rockstar as the company famously put out an exceptional DLC expansion to Grand Theft Auto 4.

While it doesn't exactly look like Rockstar is going to do that in 2021, perhaps the sequel's Story Mode has a better chance of getting one eventually.