I was a big GTA nut for years, but I kinda agree with you. The story and the mechanics of Sleeping Dogs were better. Even the leveling up and the abilities were a nice touch. It's time for Rockstar needs to rethink and redo the GTA formula for the next game. IMO, Sleeping Dogs looked more simpler inside it's huge world. I thought GTA V was good, but they need to simplify what's complex (dialogue, mechanics, controls) and add more depth to where it needs it (abilities, environment, open world). Story wise, they need to stop the unnecessary relationships that won't lead anywhere and add more believable and developed drama. Maybe it's asking too much, but they've made many games; they need to know what works and what doesn't.

IMO it was a really great game where it is clear the devs have put a lot of effort in every aspect of the game, graphics look incredible for a 7th gen system but personally I feel there's a few flaws that shouldn't have ignored. Single player flaws are mostly minor, maybe a few bugs, parts where the storyline looked a bit forced or the canon ending being a bit weird.

*...Killing Stretch made no sense since he was a minor antagonist and appeared in like... One mission. Also, the 3 murders were mere hit and runs. Go there, shoot the guy/s, escape. Each shootout should've at least had a small introductory cutscene to create atmosphere (Like, Michael watching Stretch from a distance or behind a wall while pulling out a weapon). It was the exact opposite of what made GTA IV ending so great: "The third way" didn't feel long and endingful, only the actual ending cutscene felt like that and it wasn't that impressive, Devin was a good villian but didn't have as much antagonist development as Dimitri and Pegorino did in GTA IV, I believe.

But the main flaw of the game is the online mode. It started bad, full of bugs, and when they got rid of the bugs,  there was a small time of peace... Until cheaters got everywhere. That's right, we're on 2014 and cheating on GTA Online is seemingly easy as hell because they are everywhere. I had a good time playing GTAO but once cheaters took over it I left it, since the game became pointless. Another thing that sucked was people killing you for no reason at all, and making you lose money (Like if it wasn't enough to have to play repetitive missions in order to obtain it). IMO they should've implemented something like, if you're were unarmed the last 10 seconds and someone shoots you to death you won't lose money at death and maybe they get some sort of penalty (Unless you're close to a public objective such as a high-priority vehicle), which would also give a point to being permanently unarmed to start with. However, on the opposite side, why whould they let you buy tanks and jets if you can only use them against cops? I believe some sort of "self-bounty" mode could've been a possible solution if well-implemented. Imagine that you buy a tank and active said mode, well, you would be able to destroy other player's vehicles with no penalty (No one pays the insurance), but the drawback for this is that it would be very  expensive, unremovable until death (Minimum $15.000, $1.000 for each player) and when you die you have to pay said reward which splits among every player in the server, boosting cooperation among other players. Suicide doesn't count.

We were also promised online cooperative heists, which never arrived.

Despite all this, all in all it's still a really enjoyable game IMO and I actually apreciate all the effort the people at Rockstar put on it, but what about you guys? How good was it really? Which ignored flaws did it have? 

I was expecting it to at least be Rockstar's best game yet and maybe even my favorite game of all-time

Are you kidding? GTA IV had the worst story and characters. 

Are you kidding? GTA IV had the worst story and characters. 

It's the best GTA to date in terms of mechanics and the game world, though I still had favor Vice City and San Andreas just a bit more. I'd probably give it a 9/10.

I will say that the torture mission was over the line, even for GTA... It actually made me put down the game for a few days.