8 Things We Want to See in GTA

Grand Theft Auto IV has only been out for little more than a week, and yet we can't help but think about the future of the series. Thinking about future GTA installments, we've come up with a list of things we'd like to see in forthcoming installments of the GTA series. While reading it over, keep in mind we're aware that many of these things are unrealistic at this point in time because there are technological barriers that prevent them from being included in the immediate successor to GTA IV. What we've put together is a dream list -- an outline of just some of the biggest things that would help create the ultimate GTA game.

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In-car View
Grand Theft Auto IV already has an in-car view, but it's not too impressive. We want completely detailed, in-cockpit views for every automobile in the game -- see Gran Turismo 5 for an example of this in action. Considering GTA IV features a fairly detailed interior model of the taxi, which you get to see when you take a cab ride across Liberty City, we know that Rockstar can pull this off.

Fully Modeled Interiors for All Buildings
Admittedly, the concept is elaborate, but this is a dream list, is it not? Imagine being able to go inside every building you see. In past GTA games, you essentially drive around an empty mass of land, decorated with buildings that served no purpose other than visual eye candy.


Multiple Cities
This isn't exactly a new idea. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured three cities -- modeled after Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas -- but the concept is something we'd like to see Rockstar revisit. Considering that this is a dream list, we're going to take things to the next level. We want to see Rockstar's reimagining of the world (but not the whole thing -- just parts of it). The developer could recreate notable major American cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York City, Miami, Atlanta, Seattle or others. And it could also fill its world with cities inspired by Paris, London, Tokyo, Sydney, Moscow and so on. In between these cities, you'd find famous landmarks like the Grand Canyon, Mount Everest, the Great Wall of China, Niagara Falls, the Great Pyramids and whatever else Rockstar dreams of. Think such a landscape is too big to be functional? Blizzard has pulled it off with World of Warcraft. Rockstar could employ similar mission structure to make sure missions stay within the same city -- or "zone" for those familiar with WoW -- they begin in or don't span too much distance. It's ambitious, but this is a "dream" list, after all. Oh, and Rockstar would have to bring planes back, which we're totally cool with.

Destructible Environments
Truth is, this almost didn't make our list, because what we'd really like to see is a GTA MMO, and destructible environments would be too chaotic and impracticable in a persistent online setting. So, we had to choose between the two things, and we went with destructible environments because they just fit better with the GTA theme, and the concept would probably be more entertaining. Indeed, destructible environments would add a new layer of interaction to the GTA world. Like many of our other ideas, there are some obstacles to overcome. If a building is completely demolished, for example, it'd have to respawn eventually. There'd likely be some technical challenges to overcome, too, but we're sure that the talented folks at Rockstar can manage.

More Realistic Crash Physics
Obviously, you can't destroy a car too much when it crashes -- otherwise it'll stop running after just an impact or two, and that's too realistic for GTA -- but there's still a lot of room for graphical detail in the way of the destruction that is caused by collisions.


Robberies
This is something developer Volition did with Saints Row, and Rockstar should borrow the idea. We want to be able to hold-up a convenience store, bank, clothing store or any other place with a register.

More Moral Decisions and Consequences
We'd like to see more branching storylines, challenging players with more decisions and consequences. For instance, during a mission, it'd be nice if you had multiple outcomes, and the way that you play would determine how the story pans out. GTA IV already has a smidgen of this, but Rockstar can definitely expand upon it.

Co-op Play
Although our dream GTA IV might not be an MMO -- for obvious reasons, such as the inclusion of destructible environments being impracticable in an online world -- we still want there to be an online component, similar to GTA IV's. Specifically, we'd like to see a co-op mode that allows several people to play through the full game -- missions and everything -- together. Ideally, you'd be able to hop in and out of each other's game at any point, so the experience would be as seamless as possible.