Asking on behalf of newcomers rather than for myself since I already bought it.
My instinct is no. The extras are cosmetic plus some businesses with side missions, and if you have never played one of these you already have eighty hours of content in the base game and no frame of reference for whether the extras matter.
Would anyone argue the other way?
Right, and that is a fair distinction. Vintage pack is a preorder question. Ultimate is not, and people keep merging them.
The counterargument, weakly: preordering either edition gets you the Vintage pack, so if you want that you have to decide before launch. But that is about preordering, not about which edition.
Buy Standard, and if you are still playing in December buy the upgrade then. The upgrade path exists precisely so nobody has to decide now.
Agreed and I would go further. For a first GTA the extras are actively unhelpful, because cosmetic unlocks and extra businesses give you options before you understand what any of the options mean.
Good thread for the newcomers group. This is the only decision anybody has to make before November and it is smaller than it looks.