Same here. They kill so often, I didn't even know you could get arrested rather than killed in this GTA until yesterday when I was beating the shit out of some hipsters for running away when they saw me throw a biker off a pier and some cops rolled up on us without me seeing them and I got busted before I could react.

i think its more the way damage is done this time around, no more getting shot a hundred times, or letting the car take your damage, they are out to kill. even with that being said as long as they dont have tanks, i find its easier to get away.
invest in ammo nation early and buy body armor.
anyone else taking advantage of the online stock market? strip clubs, ammo nation, and customs auto shop. once those micro transactions get turned on thats where all the real fake money is going be spent

I'm not sure the stock market is ACTUALLY tapped into anything, or will be. Insider trading would be too easy, to me it would make sense for each console to have a totally different stock market environment.

I'm not sure how many stars you're talking about escaping from, Lordy. I got rid of 5 stars today by jumping on a train, and then getting off mid-tunnel under a mountain. Had to shoot down about 10 helicopters before I even got there.

I can lose up to 3 stars easy by going off-road and up in the hills, but if a chopper spots you it can be very difficult to lose those stars - and cars in this game BECOME USELESS MUCH FASTER. I had a minor collision ruin my car because it bent the back tire to an angle where it can no longer spin.

As much as I love realistic car damage, I kind of wish they were slightly more indestructible - I thought IV was a good balance in that regard. In IV, I can _NEVER_ get killed by the cops if my car is in working order, I always know how to escape. In V, the options seem much more limited for getting away. What's your guys' strategy for losing the cops?

Drive, hide, as usual. It hasn't been much of a problem really.

The only thing that bothers me is the pac-man style line of sight radar thing you have to do to actually lose the cops. It's a good system IN THEORY, but it results in looking at the radar and not at the screen, so losing the cops becomes related to your eyes focusing more on what's going on in a tiny square located in the bottom left corner of the screen rather than looking at the frantic action on screen.

gmork, supposedly, the BAWSAQ is connect to the social network, although it hasnt really come online yet
nu'man, i agree. i like the how the hud is very minimal, but the little map and everything just gets really hard to follow when there so much shit going on

I mean for losing the cops once you have 3 stars and a helicopter, and simply surviving sometimes requires blasting your way out of a situation that'll earn you that fourth star.

Drive and run away only works if your wheels are still turning and not bent, and these new cops love to ram and box you in more realistically - it really does feel like i'm dealing with the LAPD.