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I was lucky enough to be the first person who doesn’t have “Rockstar” written on their business card to play Grand Theft Auto Online

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The best word I can use to describe Grand Theft Auto Online is “wild” – and yes, I mean that in a good way. Here are 10 crazy, awesome things you’ll encounter once you and your crew go online.

1 Rob a Liquor Store Together…and Then Betray Each Other

Masks will help during convenience store robberies.

You honk your horn outside of your buddy’s Vinewood apartment. He walks out and hops in your Aston Martin-ish car. He gets control of your radio. “Put it back on WCTR talk radio, dammit,” you say. “I want to listen to Lazlow.” You drive a couple miles, park, and get out. You each equip masks and glasses from the unique-to-GTA Online inventory menu, and walk into a convenience store. One of you points a gun at the clerk behind the counter. You can actually scream at him through your chat headset in order to intimidate him, making the cash grab go faster. You speed away with the police in pursuit, but eventually lose them in a parking garage under some downtown Los Santos skyscrapers. With the heat gone, it’s up to your friend – the one who actually got the cash from the clerk – to divvy up the cash as he sees fit. He could give you 10%, but then you could simply stop the car, get out, shoot him in the face, and take all the money for yourself. Or, you know, you could just split it 50-50 like gentlemen.On a related note, you’re able to insure your cars in case other players steal them. You wouldn’t want to lose that heavily modified, custom Cheetah you spent thousands of in-game dollars and lots of time tricking out, would you?

2 Race Your Friends…and Hope Your Other Friends Don’t Get in the Way

Races can be on-road or off.

At any point, you can link up with a friend or 12, drop a pin anywhere on the map, and once everyone agrees, a countdown timer will start. In my race, two Rockstar reps dueled – each in a high-performance sports car – trading paint and verbal jabs over the headset. It was a tight race until suddenly the four-lane road they were speeding down was blocked by police cars. As they flew through the narrow opening in the middle of the road, I saw that it was two other players causing this carnage, triggering a four-star wanted level and a shootout with the police! This was no doubt staged for my demo, but it’s clear that, especially in a 16-player game, random insane encounters like this can and absolutely will happen organically. It’s like Rockstar took most of Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Most Wanted and shoved them in here, albeit in a world 10 times as large.

3 Steal a Frickin’ Plane…and Land it Safely While Your Friends Escort You

Expect air races too.

One amazingly epic GTA Online mission I got to play was a full-on heist – the highest caliber mission GTA V offers. Dubbed “Titan Steal,” my crew of four had to fly into a military base, steal a cargo plane, and get it back to our own airstrip miles away so we could use it to…well, probably smuggle drugs or something.Anyway, we took a helicopter to get there, and had a stunning sunset view of San Andreas from the sky. The draw distance in GTA V/Online is truly breathtaking. I was but a passenger enjoying said view, but the second player in the chopper gets to be the copilot who marks targets.Upon our arrival, we had a massive shootout with the military at the Titan’s hangar. My teammates covered for me while I jumped in a semi-truck-and-trailer that was blocking the Titan’s escape and moved it. I then ran to the Titan, got in, and held RT (I was playing on Xbox 360). After a few moments the plane’s engines roared to life and the plane began to move. My crew all jumped in and we turned onto the runway and got off the ground before the remaining government cronies could damage the plane too badly.I flew us north – again in awe of the view – and couldn’t quite line the plane up with the Sandy Shores airfield runway on the first try. Or the second. But on the third, I had it looking good, so I clicked in the left thumbstick to lower the landing gear, backed off the throttle and braked a bit, and somehow managed to land the massive bird safely. Success! Neither me nor any of my cohorts died!

4 Full Multiplayer Golf and Tennis

Sure, wear these on the golf course if you really want to...

As was hinted in the trailers, GTA V contains fully playable golf and tennis mini-games. Except there’s nothing “mini” about them. I got to play both, and it’s like having Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Top Spin hidden inside San Andreas. Several tennis courts dot Los Santos, while the city contains one 18-hole golf course. The mechanics are both familiar and fully functional. Pull the stick back and whip it forward at the right moment on your golf swing, while tennis controls are almost identical to Top Spin’s. It’s surprisingly fun, and tennis can be played in two-player online, while golf can accommodate a foursome in GTA Online. Shooting the breeze with your friends while you hit the links is going to be a huge draw unto itself.

5 Chill Out at Your House and Spark a Bowl

This is one way to "hang out" with your friends.

Yes, really. You can invite your buddies to your apartment – bought with persistent in-game cash – and they can hang out, sit on your couch, and take hits off of your bong. You can even get high, which will have screen-altering effects. Your pals are also able to look through your telescope – it won’t look into space, but will instead magnify what’s in the distance of the game world (trust me, I asked!) – or watch the in-game TV. For instance, a hilarious new episode of Republican Space Rangers. And if other folks in your crew are out causing trouble, you can turn on Weasel News on your apartment TV and actually follow their shenanigans live, as covered by the San Andreas news channel. Or watch them hover creepily near your apartment on your home’s closed-circuit security television monitors. Of course, if come home from a hard day of murdering and just want to relax with a shower to wash the dried blood off your body, you can do that too.[Click to page 2 for five more crazy, awesome things I saw and did in Grand Theft Auto Online!]