At best it seems like the shooting is functional, but not very fun. You can get the job done when you need to, but it's not particularly engaging. Perhaps it's unfair of me to call the gun combat "shit", since it at least works. But much like driving, it seems like more of a chore than anything else. Auto-target, blast a few rounds, flick-target to next dude, blast a few rounds, flick-target to other dude, shoot him until he dies, etc, etc. When you tried to auto-target in previous games it felt like a total crapshoot as to whether the targeting would work or whether you would target the guy you meant to -- that's been fixed, but there's still nothing really visceral or exciting about a shootout. It's just like gunning down sacks of potatoes.
Maybe the problem is that I haven't gotten access to any of the heavy weapons yet, I dunno. Right now I just have an SMG and a standard handgun.
If the game wanted to get serious points for being more realistic, why didn't they make running stoplights something that makes the cops pull you over.
Have you played Mafia? The cops in that game are nit-picky as fuck about shit like red lights and speed limits. I guess you can give it points for realism, but it's not very fun.