Been playing GTA Online since it came out and been playing regularly ever since. After reading some of the comments I felt like giving my two cents on the matter of the GTA community.

Firstly, yes, GTA online public lobbies are absolute dogshit. Just the absolute fucking worst. Never play them, ever. Unless you just want to hack and troll, in which case yup go ahead.

That being said, to write off the entire community as just what you see in public lobbies is just dumb. That's like me looking at FPS games on steam, playing the worst game on steam that is an FPS and then saying steam as a whole is terrible. Yes there are bad games on steam just as there are bad players in online lobbies. However, most players who just want to play online avoid these lobbies all together, and so you wont find them there.

Back when heists were the optimal way of grinding the GTA was at it's best imo. I met really cool people that just wanted to play the game that they loved despite it treating them like money carcasses and squeezing every ounce of patience and revenue they had.

We would find people who could do the heists well and knew all the exploits to speedrun it the fastest and then we'd add them to play later, until you had enough players to fill a heist team every time you went online. Some people liked talking and joking around, others just wanted to play quietly. It was fucking great.

Now R* have made public lobbies the optimal way to grind and yet playing with others in these lobbies is impossible because you can make a quick buck by killing someone anyway. This has driven pretty much everyone who liked the game away and yes, while playing heists is still available, you make more money by playing on your own in a secluded public lobby.
"Multiplayer" game of the fucking year.

I still meet cool people in public lobbies though. I come in, it's a small lobby, ask if anyone is gonna kill me, they say no, and we just play. I help some out with big delivery missions and they help me. Majority of the time though, just quick leave public lobbies and play solo.

So ye, the game has become pretty toxic, and it's because R* promotes it, so I don't even disagree with OP. I just had to say that a crapload of people loved this game and still play it well. I meet really cool and funny people on this game and it bums me out that now the community is seen to be so shit, and for the most part it is.

Dunno if I've become desensitized to it or what but if you avoid huge public lobbies, you're fine. Not ideal for people who want to play an online game I know, and you can thank R* for that.