As a gamer I don't really enjoy recent GTA games, they've been exactly the same since the third one. If you want to put a child off it, you could probably find a teenager or adult who could tell them that older people find them puerile.
The violence in them isn't ever really unpleasent. It's more the immature attitude towards women that I find offensive, there is rarely a positive female character and there is open drug use in the game, lots of missions revolve around cocaine. In general I don't see the appeal to younger kids other than peer pressure as most of the games charm would be lost if you weren't familier with the Pacino, Deniro and other gangster films it parodies. I think in general "No" would be the best answer because they're somewhat unsuitable and there are videogames they could appreciate properly as opposed to GTA which they probably won't understand any of the themes. The idea that playing them makes you go and rape women is ridiculous considering how popular the game is.
I've always thought as an AS that some people with AS have a very strong sense of inner morality and would easily understand that the actions within the game are wrong.
