First you could buy your car and buy armor which makes it hard to damage. Damage is not like gta 4 but your car still gets damage. It's not like gta 4 where if you just bump a car your bumper gets dent. But you do get scratches on ur car and if you hit a car at fast speed your car will get damage depending what kind of car your driving. And handling on ur car in gta 5 is way better then saint row it feels like a racing game almost with that handling. Coming from me which I play forza and nfs. I also been playing a legit copy of the game for 3 days. But I guess this is my opinion.