San Andreas had that weird getting strong or fat thing I never really used when I played it and I didn't really get negatives from it tbh
For me an example of an actual action RPG would be Cyberpunk more so than GTA since it has skill trees and such. In GTA you just get a few new guns or something and that's about it, no levels or upgrades except for cars.
I absolutely despise what I call "Bookkeeping" otherwise known as writing stuff for the sake of having more words