I did it once after Michael told me to the first time, and then Trevor sent me another message. I might end up doing it any way because I thought the shooting range was actually kind of fun, but is Franklin's shooting skill going to actually come into play? Or is it just that he's at two bars and Trevor and Michael both are full?

I'm kind of more just curious than anything.

It's just the game's way of telling the player how they can raise Franklin's shooting skill.

@hailinel: I guess I should have figured. Thanks!

Auto locking does all the work for you. Does not really come into play.

Fuck that, free aim or DIE!

The shooting range is a pretty quick way to max out your shooting skill if you're interested. Just wait until you have all of the guns unlocked because some of the challenges are basically impossible without some of the higher level guns.

Yea the thing about the skills is that it's not as if an empty bar makes that particular skill unplayable, the game starts you out as pretty playable and only slightly increases what feels like little perks along the way. Both good and bad, it's only bad cause it doesn't feel at all necessary or satisfying to level anything up other than seeing the bar show you that you leveled up.

I thought the skill leveling system was incredibly undeveloped. Like many other such mechanics, it was obviously put in as another throwback to San Andreas (and to help each character feel ever so slightly more distinctive over one another), but whereas in San Andreas it actually felt like CJ was improving and building upon his skills, in GTAV it's easy to forget it even exists and you can max out most of the attributes really easy without even realising it.

Yeah tried free aim for a while, did not feel as good as maxpayne3 so i switched back to auto aim. Maybe raising the shooting stats benefits free aim?

Actually i believe that's the game's way of saying there's a section coming up where you're going to need to be doing shooting with Franklin. Either with a sniper or some other rail shooting section where you have to do the aiming.

I actually maxed out Frank's shooting before even meeting Michael. I went through all the shooting challenges cause they were quick and when I came out of it, I realized I had maxed out his shooting.

But as others have said, the stats seem negligible. The only stats that receive a noticeable benefit are strength and stamina.

I did all the gold medals with Frank, took about an hour. By then he has maxed out his shooting skill. Up from about 30%. Increasing the shooting skill lets you carry more ammo. 9999 bullets for most guns, up from about 700. So no, it doesn't matter much.

But you earn a 25% discount on all purchases at AmmuNation. I believe for all 3 characters. And the shooting gallery stuff is a lot of fun at that.

Bingo, gringo.

Not really, only for the sniper.

It's weird that they didn't touch up on this small detail since they tell you this stuff regardless. The moment flight school opened up I went there as Michael by pure accident and golded all of it - which in GTA V apparently doesn't give you anything? Then I started getting texts from Trevor telling me to train flying. In an otherwise really meticulously thought out game that kind of stood out.

Also what the heck Rockstar, nothing for golding all that stuff?

If memory serves, CJ's skills could be built up to nearly Saints Row levels. Like, you could bunny hop over traffic signals and some small houses if your bicycling skill was high enough.

Oh no, I don't ever recall it getting that ridiculous. You could eventually leap over cars and such, but not traffic lights and houses. It would often simply increase your effectiveness with whatever the skill is. Guns were the most noticeable, since you had to build up your specific weapon skills just to be able to move and shoot, and would sometimes allow you to dual-wield certain weapons ect. Driving would be tighter, you'd be able to hold your breath underwater long and so on.

Of course, the reason why it actually felt like you were growing as a character in San Andreas was because CJ was relatively restricted in how he could perform, like not being able to even move and shoot. I understand they couldn't go the same route with GTA V, making the characters noticeably sub-par in terms of mechanics so as to give a progression, since how CJ ended up is what is now pretty much considered the norm for GTA at the outset. But they should have done something that's a little more meaningful; an example would be allowing you to possibly pick up a pedestrian (realistically speaking; not the Saints Row calibre of hurling someone across a street) should you get your strength skill high enough. The least they could have done is include more actual skills. Skills related to bicycling, tennis, golf, darts, and other such stuff. Some sort of skill that allows you to withstand more damage would have been neat, considering how surprisingly fragile you are in this game.