I'm being advised to stay away from the GT road bikes as not many people ride them.
GT is owned by Dorel Industries. Dorel owns Cannondale and Schwinn. Cannondale continues to make top quality road bikes. Schwinn markets very good quality road bikes sold through Performance and LBS shops. They also make department store level road bikes sold at Target and WalMart.
From the small search I did, I found two good quality GT road bikes sold by REI. I'm not aware that GT is marketing any department store level bikes. So I see no reason to avoid GT. They appear to be no better and no worse than many other brands out there.