How do saves work in Grand Theft Auto V?

Question

As far as I understand it, in Grand Theft Auto v there are two save systems - manual "quick saves" and "autosaves". So, please could somebody explain the following about how these systems work - it's worth noting at this point that I'm totally blind, which is partly the reason that it's not as easy to explore these options on my own:

1. If an autosave is made whilst progress of the game is 10% complete and I then perform a quick save at 12% but quit the game before an autosave happens, when restarting the game which save will be loaded - does the game pick the save with the most progress, or does it prefer autosaves?

2. When reloading from a quick save, does the game resume from the exact point that the quick save was made in the exact same location, or does time progress somewhat?

3. From memory, I believe it's possible to reload a game from the pause menu - can autosaves be reloaded, or does the game only allow for manual quick saves to be reloaded in this way?

Answer 1

1. The game will load the game with the latest date / time stamp so a quick save taken 30 seconds after an autosave will still get loaded.

2. Both autosaves and quick saves will load you into a spawn point, usually something to do with your current or next mission. This is often, but not always the same character you were when you saved and most times, it is at their respective house but I have spawned on the side of the road near my car in a number of places around the city.

3. Not 100% sure on this one but I don't think you can load specific saves, only replay missions. I'm guessing it was done this way to stop cheating / end wanted levels if you try something and get caught.

Answer 2

2. Autosave works kind different than user quicksave.

If you load an autosave: the game will only get overall missions and world state. You can spawn at any place watching one of many switch scenes.

On the other hand quicksaves are more situational sensitive. After loading quicksave you will get the same hero at almost the same spot with the same vehicle (read note!), weather, random events you encoutered, stock market and many more. Of course traffic and pedastrians will be different beacuse they are created randomly.

vehicles note: If you quicksaved in particular vehicle after loading you will be in this exact vehicle (also repaired). But if you saved outside your vehicle, even 2 meters from it, you may end up without it after loading - particularly, when you are far from the parking. Then you may look for it at the Police Parking Lot for 250$, but bear in mind it has only 2 slots. Also you should not start main missions with stolen cars you would like to keep for later, beacuse after mission they may be gone forever.

If you want to do something that you expect it may require many attempts it is better to rely on quicksaves.