GPS is a bit of a joke in most places here. New roads are completed so quickly you will struggle to keep your map up to date. My advice is to learn classical navigation. Learn to read a map, learn to estimate distances traveled and to navigate by sun position. You can depend on Google maps on your phone for basic directions, but forget about turn-by-turn directions.

Most larger city centers mark main roads in pinyin characters as well, which helps, but if you're like me, the names all sound the same and turn into soup in your head. Pick out landmarks and navigate based on them - rivers, big hotels, squares, etc. Plan in some time to get lost a bit, and enjoy the serendipity that occasionally ensues.

To live on the Chinese roads, understand that the Chinese are the most uneducated, selfish drivers on the planet. Expect everyone to do the most ignorant, unlikely and unsafe thing possible at every moment and you might be alright. I am not joking and I am not exaggerating. All political correctness aside, the roads here are a nightmare of selfishness, entitlement and plain ignorance. If you can avoid driving here as a new arrival, do so. I rode a bike for over a year before I went and got my drivers license, just to learn the patterns.

If you want to brave the stupid, understand that driving here is pretty similar to downhill skiing in the West. You are basically responsible for what is in front of you - no matter how quickly it got there, what direction it is heading or what you think the law in that particular situation might dictate. Nobody understands the use or function of a mirror or a turn signal. I am not talking about the law, which is basically irrelevant and useless to a foreigner, because you will ALWAYS be in the wrong. This is just a summary of the habits of local drivers. Expect them to turn without signalling, stop without warning, reverse in the middle of a highway and talk on the phone constantly. I have never seen a Chinese driver capable of safely operating a vehicle of any shape or size, period.

Good luck - I hope you live, but please be aware that the stress of driving here will quickly outweigh the enjoyment you get from experiencing a new culture.