Yeh Pay 2 Play but only if you want combat the rest is free with game purchase apparently its got real boring as there is really nothing but doing robberies and cop missions and there isnb't much story as it is player driven story.
Customisation is huge and really amazing but timely if you are planning on getting it right.
1000 people to a server but only 100 people to a district.
I was following this for about the last 2 years and when it came out everybody who had been following it got mighty annoyed because although it was top of the line for everything gfx, communication, customisation, AI, Positional music and voice and innovative gameplay it lacked any real reason to play beyond "giving it a go".
If you have your own enthusiasm to play and have a group of members who come on and play and maybe even have a storyline going (such as big character profiles history and in game roleplaying opinions of each other) it can be amazing but if you are on your own and nobody bothers to get you involved and keep the game interesting.
It is just like SAMP with everything done up the quality x10 while paying for combat (when there really isn't much that different with the guns and combat just different scenarios with real humans) but still no story.
SO go ahead if you want a better SAMP for a price to run around like gangs (and playing the good guys is fun in this) but if you are looking for a game you can play on your own or you lack any individual motivation then forget about it.