How does the driving feel?

Has combat (shooting) been refined? Does shooting someone in the game carry some weight, or is it as satisfying as landing a well placed block in Tetris?

Would the core gameplay hold up as a AAA title on its own? Imagine playing the game without all of the extra features, such as sky diving and other mini-games. Is playing the game from beginning to end without the fluff nearly as enjoyable as "The Last of Us" or "Assassins Creed 3"?

The story... is it excellent? I felt that GTAIV had an OK story, but not spectacular. Is it as interesting as "Red Dead Redemption"? How much am I going to care about the characters by the time the game is through?

Is this a watershed game or just an improvement on the GTA series? Is this a game that redefines the genre?
Listen... I love the Halo series. I'm addicted to multiplayer Halo, can't get enough of it. But I'm willing to admit that there hasn't been a truly important game since Halo 2. The rest have been little more than expansion packs. Is that the case with GTA V? Or is it something more?

Am I asking a lot? Damn straight. GTA V is being released just before a new generation of consoles is released. It better be damn excellent to keep me from pawning my consoles now when I could get the most for them. If it ends up being little more than GTA IV with a bigger map, more cars, and more mini-games I'll be pissed. If it's one of the greatest games I've ever played I'll be satisfied.

Here's to hoping that I have less in common with Mick Jagger than I thought.

I didn't see this listed anywhere, not that I looked that hard, but I had to download 68.2% of The Last of Us before it was playable, not 50% as is comonly reported on the net.  My download also got stuck a few times along the way, I had to quit "the game" and start it back up again.  This resulted in no loss of progress and my download continued normally.

Well, I'm ready to get some gaming in :)

My Party connection with my friend dropped out and I can't get a game to connect in matchmaking even though it tells me that "player found" for a complete match.

Second time in four days that live has dropped out. Everyone should send an e-mail to Microsoft... I want a couple free months of live for this crap

Is the power brick from my original Xbox going to work with the slim line model? Will the slim 360's power brick power up an original Xbox? I only ask because we have a few xboxs in my house and they get moved around a lot, my roommates and I regularly fight over the living room TV.

Thanks in advance

Is a License Transfer difficult to arrange?

So Lost and the Damned doesn't require Live but the Ballad of Gay Tony does?

He plays Lost and the Damned without being connected...