I always assumed a GTA online experience would be like what GTA San Andreas was if you entered the Aggressive Traffic, Riot and Pedestrians Have Weapons cheat codes.
The game then becomes an entertaining exercise in survival since some of those randomly weaponed pedestrians have rocket launchers, and you no longer have to provoke them for them to use them.
Although it does crack the 4th wall a bit since with all this chaos, the police still only get interested in you. Which I think is why in the game itself, the riot conditions only last over 1 mission.