i think this is the best idea by far.....
they should have a story mode/ online server that way you dont have to be switching back and forth, like in dc universe
they should let you customize your gay just like in saints row, also they should have a little internet sever inside the game that show everything thats going on in the city, like if playing on the server and one of your buddy's steals a car and kill 18 cops while being in an intense car chases, you could see it on the internet as news or on the tv
they should make the game super realistic like lets say you get caught by the cops, instead of just respawning in your safe house, you should actually go to jail for like 1 month in real life nd there like stuff u cn do in jail like make friends, try to bust out, workout, do work so you can be let out for good behavior, ect... and the breaking out part is very important, it could be like one of the hardest task in the game and youll have to plan with your buddy cuz theres diffent ways of getting out and if you get caught ull be sentence to 2 months, nd the guards should be real people playing 24/7 so it cn be intense.. if you get caught a second time u should be sentenced to death, in which case your gona have to start the game all over agien
oh yeah if you die... you die no continues, unless its a mission
your health bar should be by amount of blood loss,, how serious the injury, or where you got hit or shot
so lets say, you got shot in the arm nd cut in ur stomach... if you dont go to the hospital in a certin amount of time or cure it yourself.. you die, also cruing a wound should be a mini game
now for crime stuff, you can actually rob stores, but some clerk have the 911 button or they have guns, so robbing a store should be like side missions
if cops dont see you.... they dont see you period..., if you kill someone in an ally the cops will not show up if no ones there... but!! there will be fbi investigation, and depending on how well you exicuted the murrder will determin if they catch you or not
run aways should be real
like if you run away from the law nd you buy a new house in some other city, every now and then cops will be stalking you,
you should be able to start a family if you want to like in sims, you can custumize your house nd car
race people nd shit
and the maps should be huge nd be seperated into different servers but should have highways for example....
lets say your in new york, you have to travel down a long highway nd new york will be one server conected to new jersey, virgina, nd so on moving down to miami's server that should be conected to georga, louisiana, and texas, then cali, then washinton, nd finally detroit, so to get to miami from newyork you have to pass pennsilvania witch will take an hour in the game nd you will be able to stay in hotels nd so on until u make it to georga witch then it becomes miami's server.
but yeah i got plenty more ideas i will be posting them shortly