RickR

PSN account is free and needed if you want to buy stuff from the store. PS Plus is what you need for online gaming, and that's a paid subscription.

GTA is a highly regarded series. I haven't played any of the GTA games.

I initially thought GTA 4 would be too violent for my taste...but the story kind of sucks you in.  It feels like our hero is "reluctantly" violent.  That gives it depth that I wasn't expecting. 

GTA IV is actually more "tamed" than 3 was.  I haven't beat it but what I have played of it I enjoyed.  If you like GTA then definitely keep an eye out for any Saint's Row games.  3, 4, and Gat out of Hell are the better ones in the series.  And I would recommend GTA 5 if you liked 4.  

Of course, if you like driving games, there's some sort of law that says you can't have a PlayStation without picking up Gran Turismo.  I had GT5 and was blown away!  I have ModNation Racers.  It's kind of along the lines of Mario Kart except you can build your own race tracks.  You use to be able to share your creations online but I think Sony shut those servers down.  I had a blast with that one as well.

I tried a demo to Uncharted once.  It was fun but I never had a PS3 long enough to get those. I wanted to try The Last of Us because it looked like it would be good but I missed it.  Yep...the PS3 when I had one was a great console.  I only went with XBOX 360 because when I tried to get another PS3 (while they were still in production) no one had one locally.  All I could find was a 360.