Probably depends on how you engage with GTA. “Drive on the street simulator” along with arrays of weapons and explosions is the majority of my hours in GTA.
I despise the creative and artistic vision of GTA online, but I’m clearly in a minority there gauging by how much money they’ve made off it.
I assumed the opposite because I haven't heard about GTA's story in ages, but could be a sampling bias. It's hand-wavy, but last I recall most of the microtransactions didn't show up in single player (like if you bought a car, you couldn't use it in single player) so the people spending money on it are doing it for online, not the story.
I didn't think the story was earth-shattering; it was fine, but no Baldur's Gate.
Edit: In retrospect, the characters were fairly iconic. I still distinctly remember Trevor.
I despise the creative and artistic vision of GTA online, but I’m clearly in a minority there gauging by how much money they’ve made off it.