[Editor's Note: Don't miss the rest of our new-gen GTA 5 coverage, including the premiere of what first-person view in GTA 5 looks like , as well as the PS3 vs. PS4 graphics comparison .]

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New GTA Online Screens 13 IMAGES

The scene was like a Breaking Bad episode from Hell.In the middle of the desert, my teammates – all 14 of them – had closed in and secured the Journey, Grand Theft Auto Online’s moniker for the dingy, beat-up camper RV that looks like something you might see Walter White emerge from in nothing but a pair of tighty-whiteys. They began to drive it towards the capture point miles down the freeway they were on; God only knows what’s inside it that’s so valuable. Having survived the whole round doing the dirty work for my team (read: turning on-foot or motorcycle-riding foes into hood ornaments on my 4x4 truck), I needed to buy our Journey driver a bit more time to get the slow-moving camper to its destination.So, thanks in part to the increased draw distance in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One editions of GTA V, I rumbled out of the dirt and back on the asphalt and spotted one more machinegun-wielding bad guy standing in the middle of the road, filling our four-wheeled flag with bullets. Speeding towards him from the new-gen version’s much-appreciated new first-person view, I could see my speed approaching 80mph on the instrument panel (with the addition of the cockpits for every vehicle also come working gauges). He turned to face me, began to open fire, and…WHUMP.He was pinned to my grille, looking right at me and the teammate seated in the passenger seat, a stunned expression on his face upon his death. Hopefully he was playing in first-person view, too, so that he had as good a look at that sequence as I did. The “Grass is Greener” mission had been won.Indeed, several memorable stories came out of my short two-hour session in the 30-player matches (plus two spectators) the Xbox One/PS4 versions of GTA Online can now accommodate.Take the 30-player “Sandy Shores Race” out in Blaine County. It was Sanchez dirt bikes only, and the match host had it locked so that everyone had to race from the first-person perspective (the host can also force third-person view, or give players a choice). Through my helmet and goggles – any vehicle that necessitates a helmet includes its own custom first-person view, with the Buzzard helicopter’s being perhaps the coolest – I saw two dozen riders in front of me, all kicking up dust into my face as we sped away from the starting line. I was just getting a good feel for the high-speed racing from such an intense perspective (thanks for training me for this moment, Forza Motorsport series!), when WHAM! – I was rammed from behind by a Rockstar tester who’d decided to go for the win, sportsmanship be damned. This is GTA, after all…The collision sent me into a series of flips – all while still glued to the first-person camera – before I landed, picked myself back up, and continued the race. I finished 21st out of 30; not bad considering that I also managed to hit a narrow wood post dead-on, against all odds, and wreck myself again later in the race.Later, a supercar race along the Los Santos and Del Perro freeways ratcheted up the insanity, as we again had 30 players all bunched up on the starting grid. How many GTA Dollars’ worth of rides were sitting together here? Twenty-some million?It was this looooong 6.85-mile race that really showcased the care Rockstar has put into the additions to GTA Online for the new consoles. The interior of my Cheetah (the GTA version of a Ferrari, for those unaware) was exquisitely detailed. It’s nothing to rival Forza, to be fair, but for a fully open world game where you can go and do anything with 29 other players, the working gauges, textured interiors (the pebbled detail of vinyl dashboards and shiny beauty of carbon fiber do look fantastic here) make for a very convincing and highly desirable first-person experience.Did I end up coming in last place because I was rear ended and launched into the air, spinning end-over-end who-knows-how-many times and sailing over a checkpoint that I had to go back and hit? Yes, but I had a ball even in defeat.Oh, and then there was that one 30-player Last Team Standing match where I contributed exactly nothing while riding along in the passenger seat of a pickup truck, so I pulled RT on the controller and was delighted to see that, once again from the first-person view, I could flip people off. So I rode around, useless save for my gleefully extended middle digit.Fortunately, all of this added fun in the upgraded version of Grand Theft Auto Online for Xbox One and PS4 also brings with it the chance to add way more detail to your avatar, even if you’re importing one from the Xbox 360 or PS3 (of note: stats can also be tweaked when importing, effectively allowing for a re-spec). The character creator in GTAO now rivals that of peak Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf, allowing you to customize no less than your eyes, nose, nose profile, nose tip, cheeks, cheek shape, lips, and more. Each has its own spectrum in which to tweak each individual setting.And as for the long-awaited Online Heists? Of course they’re still coming (to all platforms), and “soon,” Rockstar insists. In the meantime, 30-player activities – whether played in first-person or third – add an incalculable amount of mayhem to the game that’s already the current heavyweight championship belt holder for most manic multiplayer game out there. You may want to start a recruiting drive to build out your Crew sooner rather than later.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan , on IGN , catch him on Podcast Unlocked , and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.