Grand Theft Auto V (specifically from the PC version) has one of the worst tutorials I played in recent memory.
My experience:
On foot tutorial, spoiler for length
Driving tutorial:
Rockstar Employee 1: "Hey, you know how we have a kind of awkward semi-realistic, semi-arcade driving system with a variety of cars all with different handling and acceleration? Let's have the player learn to drive in a fast sports car, in crowded traffic, with terrible handling, and put prompts in the upper left of the screen away from the center of the road."
Rockstar Employee 2: "Okay, but how about we add in a "tracking" ability that whips the camera (and the steering) around unnecessarily, have multiple hairpin turns before telling the player how to brake or even use the handbrake, and have the player be forced to follow an NPC the whole time."
Rockstar Employee 1: "Sure, but let's have the route get called out by the NPC, but only on every third turn. And have the NPC drive slower than the player at top speed, requiring the player to awkwardly slow down or fail the mission for getting ahead of the NPC in what is set up as a race, or fail it for turning away from an incredibly arbitrary race that has no clear path. Oh, and then they have to escape cops in a crowded, cramped map of the central city, that is also not centered on the screen at all, and require the player to keep track of the magically spawning cops on their little GPS. We want them to crash"
Advanced driving activities:
Okay, so now you've had to drive to the new mission, and probably figured out basic driving systems in a much more reasonable, readily available car. Now you have to chase someone on a motorcycle down. This person does not follow a set path.
You are encouraged to shoot at the person throughout the high speed chase. In relatively dense urban traffic. The prompt to shoot is, again, in the upper left hand corner, away from the screen (And action's) center. There is no pause or time slow down to introduce the new mechanic. A mechanic that requires three buttons to be pressed, all while driving with the sticks.
The biker makes sudden, quick turns, so it's difficult to line up a shot on the bike that can swerve through cars. Luckily, you can just hit him with your car and knock him off the bike (not explained in game).
I'd never played a GTA game for a long period before, and the tutorial was just terribly mangled. This is the fifth main entry in a franchise, and the third main 3D one. They've had time to get tutorials done right, but there was very much a "read the manual" feel to it - the issue being that the game doesn't come with a manual. The mechanics are awkward enough that you can't assume new people know the controls, but the game doesn't take any effort to teach them in a meaningful way. They make sense and work well after spending hours in the world, but GTAV does nothing to smooth out the transition. SR3 does the action packed heist tutorial far better, and came out years before even the last gen GTAV.
TL;DR: GTAV focuses on flashy, exciting sequences rather than teaching the game, turning cool moments into frustrating and irritating early-game experiences.
My experience:
On foot tutorial, spoiler for length
The first prompt it gives you - press back on the 360 pad to enter first person. I have an Xbone controller, so that button isn't there (granted this one is nitpicky, but I don't know if it defaults to 360 icons for any plugged in controller, which could be a problem with logitechs).
Aim at the people to have them back away - doesn't say how to aim.
I open up the controller bindings, because there's no manual. The controls rotate fairly quickly between on foot, cars, and planes. Good luck getting a grasp on that.
Next prompt - call the bomb. No prompt for what to press. I get lucky and hit A.
Next - get the money. No button prompt. I guess X. Jump into the air suddenly. I press A. It works.
The swapping character mechanic is explained well, slows down time, and puts you in a "high pressure but not" situation. Thank you.
Gunfight against the police. Explains cover decently, but doesn't work well in first person. Doesn't explain how to leave cover for the first few minutes, so I feel like I'm popping off randomly. Police have decent AI - will shoot you, but you have to intentionally kill yourself. Allows you to swap characters, further exploring that mechanic.
Main problem - game starts throwing guys at you at a distance, but doesn't bother to explain iron sights.
The gunfight isn't to bad though, and the tutorial seems to have become sensible.
Aim at the people to have them back away - doesn't say how to aim.
I open up the controller bindings, because there's no manual. The controls rotate fairly quickly between on foot, cars, and planes. Good luck getting a grasp on that.
Next prompt - call the bomb. No prompt for what to press. I get lucky and hit A.
Next - get the money. No button prompt. I guess X. Jump into the air suddenly. I press A. It works.
The swapping character mechanic is explained well, slows down time, and puts you in a "high pressure but not" situation. Thank you.
Gunfight against the police. Explains cover decently, but doesn't work well in first person. Doesn't explain how to leave cover for the first few minutes, so I feel like I'm popping off randomly. Police have decent AI - will shoot you, but you have to intentionally kill yourself. Allows you to swap characters, further exploring that mechanic.
Main problem - game starts throwing guys at you at a distance, but doesn't bother to explain iron sights.
The gunfight isn't to bad though, and the tutorial seems to have become sensible.
Driving tutorial:
Rockstar Employee 1: "Hey, you know how we have a kind of awkward semi-realistic, semi-arcade driving system with a variety of cars all with different handling and acceleration? Let's have the player learn to drive in a fast sports car, in crowded traffic, with terrible handling, and put prompts in the upper left of the screen away from the center of the road."
Rockstar Employee 2: "Okay, but how about we add in a "tracking" ability that whips the camera (and the steering) around unnecessarily, have multiple hairpin turns before telling the player how to brake or even use the handbrake, and have the player be forced to follow an NPC the whole time."
Rockstar Employee 1: "Sure, but let's have the route get called out by the NPC, but only on every third turn. And have the NPC drive slower than the player at top speed, requiring the player to awkwardly slow down or fail the mission for getting ahead of the NPC in what is set up as a race, or fail it for turning away from an incredibly arbitrary race that has no clear path. Oh, and then they have to escape cops in a crowded, cramped map of the central city, that is also not centered on the screen at all, and require the player to keep track of the magically spawning cops on their little GPS. We want them to crash"
Advanced driving activities:
Okay, so now you've had to drive to the new mission, and probably figured out basic driving systems in a much more reasonable, readily available car. Now you have to chase someone on a motorcycle down. This person does not follow a set path.
You are encouraged to shoot at the person throughout the high speed chase. In relatively dense urban traffic. The prompt to shoot is, again, in the upper left hand corner, away from the screen (And action's) center. There is no pause or time slow down to introduce the new mechanic. A mechanic that requires three buttons to be pressed, all while driving with the sticks.
The biker makes sudden, quick turns, so it's difficult to line up a shot on the bike that can swerve through cars. Luckily, you can just hit him with your car and knock him off the bike (not explained in game).
I'd never played a GTA game for a long period before, and the tutorial was just terribly mangled. This is the fifth main entry in a franchise, and the third main 3D one. They've had time to get tutorials done right, but there was very much a "read the manual" feel to it - the issue being that the game doesn't come with a manual. The mechanics are awkward enough that you can't assume new people know the controls, but the game doesn't take any effort to teach them in a meaningful way. They make sense and work well after spending hours in the world, but GTAV does nothing to smooth out the transition. SR3 does the action packed heist tutorial far better, and came out years before even the last gen GTAV.
TL;DR: GTAV focuses on flashy, exciting sequences rather than teaching the game, turning cool moments into frustrating and irritating early-game experiences.
