In preparation of Tiger Droppings Crew arrival in the city of Los Santos, here is IGN's most up to date information and what we will be able to do once we descend upon Los Santos.

GTA Online or Grand Theft Auto Online, the multiplayer component to GTA 5, will launch two weeks after GTA 5 on October 1, 2013. GTA Online will be free for everyone who bought a copy of the game. The events of GTA Online take place BEFORE the events of GTA 5.

GTA is a dynamic and persistent online world for 16 players that begins by sharing gameplay features, geography and mechanics with GTA 5, but will continue to expand and evolve after its launch with new content created by Rockstar Games and the GTA community, according to Rockstar.

The game will let you and friends team up to tackle missions, activities, ambient events and other things, as well as competing with others in more traditional game modes.

When playing GTA Online, you take the role of a custom character. With this character, you can customize your appearance, increase stats, and own property and cars. You use this character to earn reputation and money to open up new opportunities for you and your friends.

Crews

'Crews', which have been recently seen in Max Payne 3, will also be used in GTA 5. The 'Crew' mechanic makes use of Rockstar's Social Club, which has been in use since the release of Red Dead Redemption. By creating a 'Crew' in a game such as Max Payne 3, players will be able to port across their character between the two games.

Rockstar boss Dan Houser said: "Multiplayer is an ever-more important part of all our games moving forward. By creating crews through Social Club, the crews that you create in Max Payne 3 will be ready and available for you to play in Grand Theft Auto V from day one."

GTA Online will let players form private crews with friends, or join public crews. Players can be a member of up to five at the same time, and completing tasks as a crew will gain experience points for the player. In late 2012, Rockstar said that "refining open-world multiplayer into something really special" had been a huge focus in the development of GTA 5.

Crews will be able to be recruited and the hierarchy of them is very flexible. Every crew has a Leader, then there are the Commissioners, Lieutenants, Representatives, and Muscle. There can be multiple people in every position except for the Leader.

Gangs can then meet up with other gangs online and compete in various modes including Team Deathmatch and Gang Wars. There will even be tournaments set up for these matches.

Missions and Activities

Missions in GTA Online will come in many forms. There will be the typical missions involving meeting up with friends at a specific location to accomplish the goal of the mission. There will also be some more interesting missions, including those created by the community. A creator tool will be implemented, with more features promised than the ones that will be offered at launch, to construct your own missions for others to accomplish.

Players will be able to participate in numerous activities while playing GTA Online. These include going to a country club to play Tennis and Golf, get tattoos done, and doing Yoga.

Things You Can Do in GTA Online
Here are just a few of the many things confirmed for GTA Online.

Create a customized character
Develop a backstory for your character
Backstory determines starting location
Join a crew
Rob a convenience store with a friend
Customize a mask for GTA Online
Yell into a controller microphone to make a hold up go faster
Freely divide up money after a heist
A mission called Titan Steal has you stealing the Titan cargo plane
Fly with your friends in an airplane
Race anyone, anywhere, anytime by dropping a marker
Play multiplayer Golf or Tennis
Play a 4-player Golf game
Purchase a safehouse
Watch TV with your friends
Watch Weasel News helicopter footage of your friends doing things
Smoke pot with your friends in your safehouse
Shower to wash off blood
Use an ATM to deposit money
Steal your friends' undeposited money
Play a "deathmatch" game
Design a "deathmatch" game
Go to a Strip Club
Watch a movie and comment on it as a group with friends
Vote on mission playlists
Play 500 pre-made missions, more will be added

This post was edited on 9/21/13 at 12:54 pm