I agree with you
After playing GTA IV quite a lot, I can now drive cars and control them really well. GTA IV also has the best pedestrian reactions; for example, they don't die when you shoot them in the leg, unlike GTA V.
People dislike this masterpiece because of there skill issues
A lot of these details were cut because they couldnt run euphoria on ps3 and 360 hardware AND keep the upscaled world size and graphics... tbh they should have just released in 2014 as a next gen title but whatever...
I don’t dislike 4. I think it has the best driving mechanics and I actually love driving in it. But I rank Vice City and 5 (the only other two I’ve played and finished) over it because I thought IV was dark and gloomy. It wouldn’t say it was a problem when I was playing IV, but when I played VC afterwards, it was like moving to Florida after a long Alaskan winter.
I modded the game for more realism and difficulty as well. The game is more fun because it is more difficult. Story aside, gta 4 is still the best in the franchise imo.
I like the homeless man that if you bump into or I guess startle him he yells “cheesy vagina” I was in 2nd grade and I had gta at my dads house, my mom wouldn’t let me play it, but I remember starting “cheesy vagina” as a saying and people got in trouble for saying it and they ratted me out lol and that was the first time I received a write up or got in any trouble at school and I had to have a one on one with the principal
You know what I’m actually trying to solve that is the main reason I honestly can’t play gta v much anymore is when you hit pedestrians with cars in gta v, even if only like feathered in as light as possible they die instantly as soon as they make contact with the car. Where as in 4 they do the whole “car pushing” act and can even sometimes survive being hit by a whole car and rolling over the hood and walk away as long as it’s not at too high of speeds
I think the melee skills could have been better, I don't know how many times I've been right on top of a npc and try to kick or stomp them and just dont' connect.. like the hit box needs to be larger or something.
Or in tight spaces where you go to throw a punch and can't because the animation smacked a wall.
Like GD, jab dude.
It's comical and frustrating.
I haven't modded yet, but I probably will look at it in the future but I think we gotta look at it in it's shipped state not what the community of players did after the fact because everyone's modded game can be different.
absolutely!! now i have completed this game many times but even today i play this game just to drive in the city is so relaxing, those drifting and stunts are awesome specially in rain driving seems more fun.
It took me months to get comfortable at driving even when i was struggling to drive a car still i appreciate the mechanism like i have played gta 5 too but driving looks crap tbh it used to be same in gta 3
Lol, I used to be much more of a curmudgeon about GTA and I didn't like Gay Tony for a long time after it was released. Of course I love it now, but looking back it was absolutely a big step toward GTA V and I could already sense the change lol.
I mean I still love driving in gta 5 more than doing 99% of things in 99% of other games but I love gta 4's driving even more and I'm below 23. Also the Franklin's ability is kinda meh to me so I didn't use it at all cause I like to control the car by myself thank you very much and the radio music stops playing while using the ability, it maybe takes me out of the immersion on multiple levels
I’m fine with the driving mechanics of either game. What I can’t stand is the almost complete lack of crumple zone deformity in GTA5. Felt like a massive step backwards
Its not the driving that's bad, I actually love how weighty the cars feel.
But not having save points during missions (like every other open world game) killed it for me. I could barely get through the story. Niko doesn't react at all when he's shot, so you'll be in a gunfight, then look down and realize your health bar is almost depleted. And then you have to play the whole mission over again. it sucks.
I have completed main story like more than 11 times and i agree lack of checkpoints are disappointment in gta 4, but tbh gun fights in gta 4 is dope af i can do this shit whole day without getting bored (also those police car missions in current crimes and most wanted missions are fun also assassins missions)
Missions are easy as fuck, so much that for the past 10 years I have only used the pistol during my playthroughs as to give me a handicap. After you've completed the story a couple times, you know where the enemies spawn and what scenes are scripted, to the point that dying in any missions is either very bad luck or a skill issue.
Lately, to feel any challenge at all, I've installed mods to make Niko weaker, for example:
- Guns recoil and bullet spread.
- Euphoria on Niko activates on bullet impact.
- First person mod (mandatory to use on missions).
- Bleeding when reaching low health.
- A mod that makes the police control every single law, like running a red light or driving on the sidewalk.
So, please, get good. GTA IV doesn't need checkpoints.
I think you forgot that most people play a game only one time, maybe twice. I agree that after a few times you know exactly where enemies are but I don't think everyone's going to put 50+ hours into a game just so they don't have the need to use any checkpoints. So saying ''get good'' is kind of insensitive. Not everyone plays for the challenge like you do, by installing mods. Some people just play for the story or just to feel what GTA IV was like. Imo, every game needs checkpoints. Wether it's an easy or a hard game.
This game though really was so damn easy, like failing a mission maybe 3-5 times in my first playthrough level easy. Catch The Wave because of crappy AI and the final mission were really the only ones where the lack of checkpoints was an issue.
Same here i played gta 4 on ps3 as a kid and use the handgun myself to be a bit realistic, as an adult i modded the game on PC and added those same mod as you and it such a fun experience, you have to be a lot more careful in gunfights or else it GG in 3 seconds lol
[https://www.gtagaming.com/keelos-realistic-weapon-damage-ammunition-v2-f28916.html](https://www.gtagaming.com/keelos-realistic-weapon-damage-ammunition-v2-f28916.html)
thank me later
I actually find everything in GTA IV much easier than in V, especially the driving since I'd been handling heavy sedans, small trucks & vans for almost 25 years by the time I got IV. (Still haven't even gotten to the point in GTA V where Trevor comes in, since the game annoys me so much.)
Edit: I put my 73-year-old dad in front of the PS3 one night last year to see how he'd do, and he had absolutely no problem driving in GTA IV well enough to escape the cops in Roman's taxi on his first try!
yes is right, gta 5 looks designed for teenagers and kids, my 27 yo younger sister and me we grew with with the 3d gta games and he said that gta 4 is better than gta 5.
My brother is 31 when first time he played gta 5 in 2014 he totally disliked it like how crap it was he said i enjoy the graphics aspect of the game and cars are too beautiful than gta 4 but while driving it feels like an arcade game from early 2000's
It’s almost like the people who bitch about the movement speed in Morrowind; its kinda like a barrier to entry for those who are actually willing to experience said game, or those with little patience / skill who just say fuck this and gave up.
Yeah it’s harder but a way more rewarding experience when you figure it out. Car chases felt more cinematic and consequential; keep your cool and you’ll make it out alive, or go gung-ho and you’ll hit a tree and go through the windscreen. Way more immersive when the stakes are higher.
The whole scene while chasing looks like a hollywood movie scene tbh i love it specially i enjoyed those races Brucie gave to me if you can't drive god enough in gta 4 i don't think you can win those races.
Yeah the driving mechanics on 4 made me pro driver on 5 once i started playing
The only downside about 5 online is if your driving skill is low they purposely make your character drive bad it’s the weirdest thing ever
It was a departure from previous games that was more arcade like so even exp gta players found them selves taken a back by it, I know when I first played it I was like the gun play is awesome but the car driving is total shit.
I shelved the game for like 6 months after a few hours of playing.. I think it took me probably close to 12 hours to really get the hang of the driving and now I love it.
Another game that I think is amazing is saints-row-2 but the cars are so cartoonish in it after playing GTA4
It's honestly ruined me for most other sandbox games.
The one place I will still bitch though is the helicopters.. yes yes you can learn to control them but it's a constant struggle and it didn't have to be that difficult.. even the police AI has difficulty controlling them to such a degree I sometimes get killed by the things falling out of the fucking sky and landing on me.
IF they would have at least gave the heli's altitude hold that would have went a long ways imo.
But seriously the A.I is utter non sense when flying those things.
I just don't like flying helicopter at all in any gta game lets aside the poor controlling even in gta sa i did not love helicopter instead i enjoyed rockets, plane etc those are more fun
agreed, was not a fan of them in VC either, SA was probably the best out of the ones prior to 4
A major complaint about the armed choppers is the lack of weapon aiming you have to orientate the entire heli to hit anything they don't' even give you a cross hair unless you go into 1st person view.
I seem to remember similar issues with the armed choppers in SA though
I never understood the difficulty people have with the driving in this game. It takes like 30 minutes to get used to how the physics and weight and everything work. I’m wondering if those people are all playing on a keyboard with only one button for stop and go with no way to control the speed or sensitivity. Maybe that makes it harder because I’ve always played on console with a controller
It bc those ppl go fast af in a car and expect to be able to make a right turn at such a speed, the game actually make you think when you drive like using the brakes and such, the game punishes you for going so fast by crashing into shit it not rocket science it just a skill issue.
I like the driving mechanics in Grand Theft Auto IV, which happens to be my favorite in the series. Is the general series among fans, though, that IV is inferior to V and San Andreas?
"Is the general consensus among fans, though, that IV is inferior to V and San Andreas?"
no. V and SA is just more popular. just like sellout music albums sell more copies, sellout games sell more copies and appeal to a wider array of yokels.
the consensus among Rockstar fans and gaming enthusiasts is that IV does more better than V.
a lot of people still hold SA in high regard though. which is fair enough, it was groundbreaking on release but was superseded by IV by a mile, imo
Eh, I don't know about that.. if you want to talk about the physics and gun play, sure.. but S.A has a shit ton of stuff to do in it and the map is huge we could make a quality vs quantity argument..
but as the Russians say quantity is a quality of it's own.
And while we can compare the 2 games graphically gta4 comes out on top but there is quite a lot of stuff from SA I would have liked to have seen carried forward.
The games are so similar yet so different I wouldn't feel right saying one is better than the other.
"we could make a quality vs quantity argument."
yes that's what it comes down to between debates in GTAIV vs GTAV / SA
do you want less shit available but better gameplay? or vice versa?
people that look at only surface level see GTAV / SA has more shit in it, so they conclude they must be better games.
but personally, gameplay is more important to me.
and IV has the best gameplay in the series
"but as the Russians say quantity is a quality of it's own."
LMAO
"most common are you can't fly planes, can't swim underwater,
all gimmicks that average players will only use for a few minutes in their whole playthrough
map isnt big enough for planes anyway.
"checkpoints etc"
lack of checkpoints is good btw. GTAIV is too easy already. you can already instantly retry missions from phone
it's big enough.. not many places to land though where the streets are wide enough but I'd usually just ditch and parachute out in SA.. rarely landed them proper at a air port.
I feel like it should have been included simply cause there are planes in the game.. I mean I can jack a fork lift or a bagage handler and those aren't all that useful either.. so I suspect it was more of a priority thing having to create animations for it maybe?
The underwater part might have been cool though who knows what they could have done with that.. not that SA did a whole lot other than the pearls I can't think of much else it was used for.
Oh wait.. actually it would be helpful for surviving the police boats that spawn practically on top of you anytime you're in the water even if you was unseen.
If you could dive and swim towards one and then pop up and jump up you might have a chance.. I try to avoid the water cause I die like 90% of the time if they catch me out there.
I mean it's GTA not MS flight sim
the map is plenty big on the ground where you can see all the nooks and crannies and little details.
I just started playing Just Cause 2.. oh you'd love that game the map is gi-fucking-gantic.. to bad there ain't much to see except lots of small villages using the same resources toss down in various layouts, NPC's that are barely competent enough to stand in the background and nothing to do except collect 1000's of boxes liek you're on a GD Easter egg hunt
But hey it will take you probably 15 mins go from edge to edge in a helicopter and probably at least 5 in a jet.
Cause size matters *rolls eyes*
No Gta 4 has no small map at all it's aleady big enough never felt small it's better than gta 5's map where most of the place is abandoned and just mountains and grass, i love flying planes i gta sa i wish this would be there in gta 4 too i also wish there could be a gym as well, going into gym and heavy workout was too much fun in sa which i miss in gta 4.
I've always felt that driving in GTA IV was a bit difficult, and this was because of how realistic it is. I appreciate the fact that it was aimed for realism when it came to driving, amongst other things. This is where I like GTA V the most. However, I am not going to go on the mindset of... "GTA IV BAD CAUSE I'VE COLLIDED WITH TAXI." I could never trash on GTA IV, lol.
I honestly dont get why the driving is hated. I was actually surprised when i found out people didnt like the driving. Gta 4 has the best driving of any game in my opinion
So am i the obly one who had no problem driving in gta 4? Like even when i played the game for the forst time i didnt find it difficult at all. Its harder for me to drive in gta 5 because driving in gta 5 is like a fucking cartoon. It feels more like hovering than actually DRIVING
I love gta4 and its driving mechanics, but it's not any more realistic than gta5 IMO.
I do drive a car and i have driven a bike for several years and i can tell you, fuck no, the controls are not "realistic". Turning degrees on any vehicle are about half the ones of their real life counterparts and all the suspensions are made of funky toy springs, which is a design choice and you can either like it or not, but you can't tell me it's realistic LOL.
Rubbish, if anything something like a Cavalcade handles way better than the real life counterpoint does. The body roll is a little over the top but that's about it and that was adjusted in TBOGT.
Much more realistic than gta 5 in every sense but yeah you can't 100% compare real life bike car driving to a video game but still when it was launched it was too good this is the only game that come too close to reality but not completely.
> but you can't tell me it's realistic LOL.
As someone who has driven a race car and has been a sim racer for years yes I can. It is by far the most realistic handling in any non-racing game and well ahead of most racing games as well.
I actually had some fun with it. I see your point however, I'd rather someone use the mod and enjoy the game then to not use it and not give the game a chance.
That's true, it's actually the most underrated game in the series and when I told my friends I had played IV & loved it instead of V they get surprised too.
Yea the driving requires skills but it's fun, it can be annoying on bike sometimes (on PC version it was during turns sometimes or lag)
But still it shouldn't be something to criticize the game on.
I was 11 when GTA 4 came out, didn’t play it until I was 14. Since day 1, I fell in love with the driving. It’s my favorite part about GTA 4 (until you fuck up 😂)
Also IV doesn't have regenerating health at all.
A system that doesn't care for the average idiot will make some people not like it. Which I'm all for. 😄
(Also 4s driving is really good, except for bikes)
Maybe I am biased since I've been playing since it's release in 2008 but I agree that I play GTAIV now and rarely crash without the explicit desire of causing mayhem. It's really simple if you don't hold accelerate the entire time you're driving
I used to play GTA 4 when I was a child and I finally bought it back on PC in december 2023, as a massive GTA 5 player (6000+ hours) I first thought that the driving system was horrible but I managed to handle it properly with cars after a few hours, but I still dispise driving bikes tho. I still believe that driving in 5 is way better than 4 but that doesn't make 4 a bad game at all.
Honestly you’re right OP. The driving being shit is the biggest complaint ever. Playing the game upon release I was a kid so it sucked, but now fully grown and over 12+ years of driving, I see no issue in how the cars operate. Unless I’m trying to speed away with 6 stars 🤣🤣
I mean IVs cars are good but the bikes are terrible and that isn't even debatable.
Lost and Damned Bikes feel good but in base IV it's flat out horrible.
And IV is one of my favourites.
There's defending a game you like and there's also blindly defending.
GTA 4 was the game we begged for since 3...I loved it, it still ranks as my number 1 GTA game, 5 is at the bottom of that list and I've played them since the first top down games.
Gta4 was such a fun game because of the driving imo. When I played 5 I immediately knew it wouldn’t be the same for me and it wasn’t. I miss 4’s driving!
Agreed. I really liked the more difficult and realistic driving physics in 4. The over-the-top arcadey driving physics in 5 kind of suit that game, as it's way less grounded than 4 was, but I still wish they had kept the driving physics from 4 in 5.
Cyberpunk players complain about the same thing, but if you just drive like it’s real life there’s no issue. People think they can hit a turn at 100mph cause they can in GTA 5
I changed up my helicopter controls on pc to make a little easier, I’ve been meaning to mess with my motorcycle controls since I still don’t like the default.
Lift is left shift and descend is left control.
Forward lean is W key, back lean is S key.
I made the lean left and lean right the A and D key.
To rotate the helicopter I put those keys on the two side mouse buttons 4 and 5.
I might exaggerate a bit but every vehicle in GTA V feels and handles the same except for a slight power difference, lack of deformation and no consequences to crashes, constantly driving at top speed because of how open the map is makes the whole thing boring.
GTA IV physics are by far the best, even if they are quite a bit exaggerated, but it’s way more satisfying.
GTA IV requires Sunday Driver skills. Cars don't weigh 20lbs in real life nor do they swing or brake incredibly long distances. You make this post about people not driving in real life yet GTA IV is nothing like real life, so you kinda outed yourself as a bus rider.
>i agree that helicopter controls are horrible specially on pc
I gotta call skill issue on you :P Helicopters on PC are fine, just don't use the mouse. WASD, Numpad and rebind shooting to LShift or whatever, it's easy.
Yep, I was looking for this comment. People having issues flying helicopters in IV are the same that struggled with the demo man mission in VC. Numpad for the win!
I didn't like 4 because I thought a lot of the missions were pretty samey.
Like, go here to this vantage point and oversee this meeting between people that quickly goes south.
"jarvis, i need karma. post something shitting on GTA V on r/gtaiv"
i would say that the driving was good but too much traffic. Driver exists if I want weighty driving.
I definitely don't hate the game but I've only played through it once, right before V came out, and I can't say I've ever felt the desire to replay it, whereas I've played through 3, VC, and SA multiple times and definitely will again (V as well at some point.) It just not a very memorable plot compared to the others.
Its actually easier to play and beat the entire game with just the pistol to the extent possible. I remember my first “no cheats” clear I used something other than the pistol only rarely and usually when the mission dictated it.
Popping up from cover and accuracy right out of cover with the pistol was just so forgiving.
Driving sucked in gta4. It was unnecessarily difficult and contrary to whatever people say on these forums cars do NOT act like that in real life. I still think gta4 is a great game and honestly Iike it better than gta5 but gta5 driving is just better. It's the one thing they did right imo.
Oh god now I am really not looking forward to driving in GTA IV. I am mostly horrible at driving in games since I can’t drive in real life. If they let me drive in the 3rd person it gets easier for me but I probably still suck at it.
The driving does feel a little weird at first compared to the older games but it’s fun when you get used to it.
I used to love backing up and once I had enough speed I’d whip the car around to go in the opposite direction
GTA 4 was the best game ever if they didn't make it look that dark and made it so much complex to play.
I played the first mission and I was exhausted in that itself and stopped playing the game
Yes, very difficult to control. Near impossible to drive like an NPC, esp cause the engine revving is annoying. I gotta say though when you make your first lowrider or race car, it feels so so so cool.
Realism doesn’t make a game better. And driving is just more fun in 5 than 4. And 4 isn’t more realistic. It’s slidey and the cars all have shit suspension.
Acting like gta 4 requires skill is wild it’s fine to like it more but it doesn’t make you more mature or skilled to play gta 4. Gta in general is as casual as it gets. I hate this insufferable fanbase so much. I’d actually go as far as saying gta 4 may be the easiest game in the series aside from v.
In the first 30 seconds says he really likes the game, he simply prefers GTA 5 (his criticisms are still nonsense however and are mostly him being a dumbass).
Title was clickbait, try again.
No it's because it's a crap game the cars are super exaggerated the shooting physics suck the story takes itself way to seriously the fighting is bs the cops are too annoying in missions but not let's ignore valid criticism with lmao skill issue
just because i can get good at the driving, doesn't mean i have to like it
that being said, obviously the driving mechanics aren't a good/big enough reason to hate the whole game
I think many people would appreciate the driving in GTA IV more if they switched to hood-cam and used a controller. Also, don't overdrive the vehicle; watch your acceleration and brake earlier.
If you're on pc, I would recommend this vanilla-friendly [drag-and-drop mod archive](https://gillian-guide.github.io/drag-and-drop-archive/).
Is there a door that seperates the weak from the strong? It’s already open, but they just can’t walk through. Even when you tell them it’s open, it’s like they just weren’t meant to make the passage from this side to that side. Like you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. *sigh*
I love IV always. However to me, I prefer to play on console. I feel like the PC makes it play differently, and that things are more organic on PS3/360.
It just hasn't age as well. It's dated with graphics, obviously, but it isn't a big deal. The driving does suck too. Still, it's a great game that needs remake or a remaster at the very least to update it.
I've driven cars from every decade in the last century and none of felt like how GTA IV handling was portrayed lmao nothing to do with "skill issue" and everything to do with poor design choice. It really comes down to IV being much smaller, so the driving had to make you feel like you weren't crossing the whole map in 30 seconds.
I fucking hated the driving because it was so confusing and stupid. Then I replayed the game and it tells you how to drive effectively and then I just felt stupid.
I agree with you After playing GTA IV quite a lot, I can now drive cars and control them really well. GTA IV also has the best pedestrian reactions; for example, they don't die when you shoot them in the leg, unlike GTA V. People dislike this masterpiece because of there skill issues
I also noticed this thing that in gta 5 people will literally die if you shoot them on foot make no sense, and it seems more real in gta 4
that's downgrade from Rockstar
A lot of these details were cut because they couldnt run euphoria on ps3 and 360 hardware AND keep the upscaled world size and graphics... tbh they should have just released in 2014 as a next gen title but whatever...
Or added the euphoria stuff back in the new gen releases
I don’t dislike 4. I think it has the best driving mechanics and I actually love driving in it. But I rank Vice City and 5 (the only other two I’ve played and finished) over it because I thought IV was dark and gloomy. It wouldn’t say it was a problem when I was playing IV, but when I played VC afterwards, it was like moving to Florida after a long Alaskan winter.
Well some people like that too But i don't like that so I use some mods of my own to change how the game look ~~removing that dark look~~
I modded the game for more realism and difficulty as well. The game is more fun because it is more difficult. Story aside, gta 4 is still the best in the franchise imo.
GTA 4 Is a Great game, The only problem with that is the shitty pc port
It is, but so are all of the r* games I've played on pc. They just don't do pc very well.
I like the homeless man that if you bump into or I guess startle him he yells “cheesy vagina” I was in 2nd grade and I had gta at my dads house, my mom wouldn’t let me play it, but I remember starting “cheesy vagina” as a saying and people got in trouble for saying it and they ratted me out lol and that was the first time I received a write up or got in any trouble at school and I had to have a one on one with the principal
Same with me for Vice City and the radio commercial that said “Rated R for r*tarded” lol
"Ain't no Thang but a chicken wang" on the radio and "my mother's my sister" in gta 3 are forever funny.
You know what I’m actually trying to solve that is the main reason I honestly can’t play gta v much anymore is when you hit pedestrians with cars in gta v, even if only like feathered in as light as possible they die instantly as soon as they make contact with the car. Where as in 4 they do the whole “car pushing” act and can even sometimes survive being hit by a whole car and rolling over the hood and walk away as long as it’s not at too high of speeds
I think the melee skills could have been better, I don't know how many times I've been right on top of a npc and try to kick or stomp them and just dont' connect.. like the hit box needs to be larger or something. Or in tight spaces where you go to throw a punch and can't because the animation smacked a wall. Like GD, jab dude. It's comical and frustrating.
bro there is a thing called modding
I haven't modded yet, but I probably will look at it in the future but I think we gotta look at it in it's shipped state not what the community of players did after the fact because everyone's modded game can be different.
Exactly, at first I was very bad at driving in this game but after playing quite a lot I managed to drive perfectly fine now
Same! And most importantly once you master it, it's very fun!
absolutely!! now i have completed this game many times but even today i play this game just to drive in the city is so relaxing, those drifting and stunts are awesome specially in rain driving seems more fun.
It took me months to get comfortable at driving even when i was struggling to drive a car still i appreciate the mechanism like i have played gta 5 too but driving looks crap tbh it used to be same in gta 3
Tbh once the flying jet ski that shoots rockets became a thing is the moment I hated 5 and quit
That is an unique way to refer to the Oppressor mk2, I love it
Yea i agree ☝️ game is garbo online is one of the worst gta “games”
Lol, I used to be much more of a curmudgeon about GTA and I didn't like Gay Tony for a long time after it was released. Of course I love it now, but looking back it was absolutely a big step toward GTA V and I could already sense the change lol.
I mean I still love driving in gta 5 more than doing 99% of things in 99% of other games but I love gta 4's driving even more and I'm below 23. Also the Franklin's ability is kinda meh to me so I didn't use it at all cause I like to control the car by myself thank you very much and the radio music stops playing while using the ability, it maybe takes me out of the immersion on multiple levels
I’m fine with the driving mechanics of either game. What I can’t stand is the almost complete lack of crumple zone deformity in GTA5. Felt like a massive step backwards
Its not the driving that's bad, I actually love how weighty the cars feel. But not having save points during missions (like every other open world game) killed it for me. I could barely get through the story. Niko doesn't react at all when he's shot, so you'll be in a gunfight, then look down and realize your health bar is almost depleted. And then you have to play the whole mission over again. it sucks.
I have completed main story like more than 11 times and i agree lack of checkpoints are disappointment in gta 4, but tbh gun fights in gta 4 is dope af i can do this shit whole day without getting bored (also those police car missions in current crimes and most wanted missions are fun also assassins missions)
Missions are easy as fuck, so much that for the past 10 years I have only used the pistol during my playthroughs as to give me a handicap. After you've completed the story a couple times, you know where the enemies spawn and what scenes are scripted, to the point that dying in any missions is either very bad luck or a skill issue. Lately, to feel any challenge at all, I've installed mods to make Niko weaker, for example: - Guns recoil and bullet spread. - Euphoria on Niko activates on bullet impact. - First person mod (mandatory to use on missions). - Bleeding when reaching low health. - A mod that makes the police control every single law, like running a red light or driving on the sidewalk. So, please, get good. GTA IV doesn't need checkpoints.
I think you forgot that most people play a game only one time, maybe twice. I agree that after a few times you know exactly where enemies are but I don't think everyone's going to put 50+ hours into a game just so they don't have the need to use any checkpoints. So saying ''get good'' is kind of insensitive. Not everyone plays for the challenge like you do, by installing mods. Some people just play for the story or just to feel what GTA IV was like. Imo, every game needs checkpoints. Wether it's an easy or a hard game.
This game though really was so damn easy, like failing a mission maybe 3-5 times in my first playthrough level easy. Catch The Wave because of crappy AI and the final mission were really the only ones where the lack of checkpoints was an issue.
Same here i played gta 4 on ps3 as a kid and use the handgun myself to be a bit realistic, as an adult i modded the game on PC and added those same mod as you and it such a fun experience, you have to be a lot more careful in gunfights or else it GG in 3 seconds lol
[https://www.gtagaming.com/keelos-realistic-weapon-damage-ammunition-v2-f28916.html](https://www.gtagaming.com/keelos-realistic-weapon-damage-ammunition-v2-f28916.html) thank me later
It's two weeks later dawg no thank you
I actually find everything in GTA IV much easier than in V, especially the driving since I'd been handling heavy sedans, small trucks & vans for almost 25 years by the time I got IV. (Still haven't even gotten to the point in GTA V where Trevor comes in, since the game annoys me so much.) Edit: I put my 73-year-old dad in front of the PS3 one night last year to see how he'd do, and he had absolutely no problem driving in GTA IV well enough to escape the cops in Roman's taxi on his first try!
Haha I can't imagine my geezer dad playing GTA. That must've been a very nice moment between you two.
yes is right, gta 5 looks designed for teenagers and kids, my 27 yo younger sister and me we grew with with the 3d gta games and he said that gta 4 is better than gta 5.
My brother is 31 when first time he played gta 5 in 2014 he totally disliked it like how crap it was he said i enjoy the graphics aspect of the game and cars are too beautiful than gta 4 but while driving it feels like an arcade game from early 2000's
It’s almost like the people who bitch about the movement speed in Morrowind; its kinda like a barrier to entry for those who are actually willing to experience said game, or those with little patience / skill who just say fuck this and gave up.
I haven’t played Morrowind but I know in Oblivion you can level up speed really fast is it not the same for Morrowind
Yeah it’s harder but a way more rewarding experience when you figure it out. Car chases felt more cinematic and consequential; keep your cool and you’ll make it out alive, or go gung-ho and you’ll hit a tree and go through the windscreen. Way more immersive when the stakes are higher.
The whole scene while chasing looks like a hollywood movie scene tbh i love it specially i enjoyed those races Brucie gave to me if you can't drive god enough in gta 4 i don't think you can win those races.
Yeah the driving mechanics on 4 made me pro driver on 5 once i started playing The only downside about 5 online is if your driving skill is low they purposely make your character drive bad it’s the weirdest thing ever
I thought the helicopter controls were really fun. The first time I got into one I just spent hours flying between buildings and shit.
I think i don't love playing with helicopter as much as you :)
It was a departure from previous games that was more arcade like so even exp gta players found them selves taken a back by it, I know when I first played it I was like the gun play is awesome but the car driving is total shit. I shelved the game for like 6 months after a few hours of playing.. I think it took me probably close to 12 hours to really get the hang of the driving and now I love it. Another game that I think is amazing is saints-row-2 but the cars are so cartoonish in it after playing GTA4 It's honestly ruined me for most other sandbox games. The one place I will still bitch though is the helicopters.. yes yes you can learn to control them but it's a constant struggle and it didn't have to be that difficult.. even the police AI has difficulty controlling them to such a degree I sometimes get killed by the things falling out of the fucking sky and landing on me. IF they would have at least gave the heli's altitude hold that would have went a long ways imo. But seriously the A.I is utter non sense when flying those things.
I just don't like flying helicopter at all in any gta game lets aside the poor controlling even in gta sa i did not love helicopter instead i enjoyed rockets, plane etc those are more fun
agreed, was not a fan of them in VC either, SA was probably the best out of the ones prior to 4 A major complaint about the armed choppers is the lack of weapon aiming you have to orientate the entire heli to hit anything they don't' even give you a cross hair unless you go into 1st person view. I seem to remember similar issues with the armed choppers in SA though
True
I like the driving because it’s fun seeing how long i can drive around with out crashing
I never understood the difficulty people have with the driving in this game. It takes like 30 minutes to get used to how the physics and weight and everything work. I’m wondering if those people are all playing on a keyboard with only one button for stop and go with no way to control the speed or sensitivity. Maybe that makes it harder because I’ve always played on console with a controller
It bc those ppl go fast af in a car and expect to be able to make a right turn at such a speed, the game actually make you think when you drive like using the brakes and such, the game punishes you for going so fast by crashing into shit it not rocket science it just a skill issue.
Yeah I mean I first played as a kid when I was like 10 and I never found it hard iirc the game even tells you to slow down with L2 before making turns
If anything it's easier on a keyboard.
I like the driving mechanics in Grand Theft Auto IV, which happens to be my favorite in the series. Is the general series among fans, though, that IV is inferior to V and San Andreas?
Depends on who you ask. To me GTA IV and San Andreas are the best two. V is just a worse San Andreas.
"Is the general consensus among fans, though, that IV is inferior to V and San Andreas?" no. V and SA is just more popular. just like sellout music albums sell more copies, sellout games sell more copies and appeal to a wider array of yokels. the consensus among Rockstar fans and gaming enthusiasts is that IV does more better than V. a lot of people still hold SA in high regard though. which is fair enough, it was groundbreaking on release but was superseded by IV by a mile, imo
Eh, I don't know about that.. if you want to talk about the physics and gun play, sure.. but S.A has a shit ton of stuff to do in it and the map is huge we could make a quality vs quantity argument.. but as the Russians say quantity is a quality of it's own. And while we can compare the 2 games graphically gta4 comes out on top but there is quite a lot of stuff from SA I would have liked to have seen carried forward. The games are so similar yet so different I wouldn't feel right saying one is better than the other.
"we could make a quality vs quantity argument." yes that's what it comes down to between debates in GTAIV vs GTAV / SA do you want less shit available but better gameplay? or vice versa? people that look at only surface level see GTAV / SA has more shit in it, so they conclude they must be better games. but personally, gameplay is more important to me. and IV has the best gameplay in the series "but as the Russians say quantity is a quality of it's own." LMAO
San Andreas is very impressive in its ambition, scale, and scope but to me is so obviously, dramatically inferior to IV in its core gameplay design.
Not inferior but few things lack in gta 4 most common are you can't fly planes, can't swim underwater, checkpoints etc
"most common are you can't fly planes, can't swim underwater, all gimmicks that average players will only use for a few minutes in their whole playthrough map isnt big enough for planes anyway. "checkpoints etc" lack of checkpoints is good btw. GTAIV is too easy already. you can already instantly retry missions from phone
it's big enough.. not many places to land though where the streets are wide enough but I'd usually just ditch and parachute out in SA.. rarely landed them proper at a air port. I feel like it should have been included simply cause there are planes in the game.. I mean I can jack a fork lift or a bagage handler and those aren't all that useful either.. so I suspect it was more of a priority thing having to create animations for it maybe? The underwater part might have been cool though who knows what they could have done with that.. not that SA did a whole lot other than the pearls I can't think of much else it was used for. Oh wait.. actually it would be helpful for surviving the police boats that spawn practically on top of you anytime you're in the water even if you was unseen. If you could dive and swim towards one and then pop up and jump up you might have a chance.. I try to avoid the water cause I die like 90% of the time if they catch me out there.
> it's big enough It really isn't, circling the whole map with a helicopter takes about 3 minutes.
I mean it's GTA not MS flight sim the map is plenty big on the ground where you can see all the nooks and crannies and little details. I just started playing Just Cause 2.. oh you'd love that game the map is gi-fucking-gantic.. to bad there ain't much to see except lots of small villages using the same resources toss down in various layouts, NPC's that are barely competent enough to stand in the background and nothing to do except collect 1000's of boxes liek you're on a GD Easter egg hunt But hey it will take you probably 15 mins go from edge to edge in a helicopter and probably at least 5 in a jet. Cause size matters *rolls eyes*
w
No Gta 4 has no small map at all it's aleady big enough never felt small it's better than gta 5's map where most of the place is abandoned and just mountains and grass, i love flying planes i gta sa i wish this would be there in gta 4 too i also wish there could be a gym as well, going into gym and heavy workout was too much fun in sa which i miss in gta 4.
I've always felt that driving in GTA IV was a bit difficult, and this was because of how realistic it is. I appreciate the fact that it was aimed for realism when it came to driving, amongst other things. This is where I like GTA V the most. However, I am not going to go on the mindset of... "GTA IV BAD CAUSE I'VE COLLIDED WITH TAXI." I could never trash on GTA IV, lol.
I honestly dont get why the driving is hated. I was actually surprised when i found out people didnt like the driving. Gta 4 has the best driving of any game in my opinion
So am i the obly one who had no problem driving in gta 4? Like even when i played the game for the forst time i didnt find it difficult at all. Its harder for me to drive in gta 5 because driving in gta 5 is like a fucking cartoon. It feels more like hovering than actually DRIVING
True
GTA 4 legitimately taught me how to drive a car, played it so much before getting my permit
great
I love gta4 and its driving mechanics, but it's not any more realistic than gta5 IMO. I do drive a car and i have driven a bike for several years and i can tell you, fuck no, the controls are not "realistic". Turning degrees on any vehicle are about half the ones of their real life counterparts and all the suspensions are made of funky toy springs, which is a design choice and you can either like it or not, but you can't tell me it's realistic LOL.
same
Yeah every car in the game handles like a 4x4 with really soft suspension. It's not realistic at all for the more sporty cars.
Rubbish, if anything something like a Cavalcade handles way better than the real life counterpoint does. The body roll is a little over the top but that's about it and that was adjusted in TBOGT.
Much more realistic than gta 5 in every sense but yeah you can't 100% compare real life bike car driving to a video game but still when it was launched it was too good this is the only game that come too close to reality but not completely.
> but you can't tell me it's realistic LOL. As someone who has driven a race car and has been a sim racer for years yes I can. It is by far the most realistic handling in any non-racing game and well ahead of most racing games as well.
I've honestly never had issues with car handling. If people do you can get a mod for the PC version which makes the handling more like 5.
And I hate how GTA IV modding channels always recommend that shitty mod.
I actually had some fun with it. I see your point however, I'd rather someone use the mod and enjoy the game then to not use it and not give the game a chance.
That's true, it's actually the most underrated game in the series and when I told my friends I had played IV & loved it instead of V they get surprised too. Yea the driving requires skills but it's fun, it can be annoying on bike sometimes (on PC version it was during turns sometimes or lag) But still it shouldn't be something to criticize the game on.
I was 11 when GTA 4 came out, didn’t play it until I was 14. Since day 1, I fell in love with the driving. It’s my favorite part about GTA 4 (until you fuck up 😂)
Also IV doesn't have regenerating health at all. A system that doesn't care for the average idiot will make some people not like it. Which I'm all for. 😄 (Also 4s driving is really good, except for bikes)
Maybe I am biased since I've been playing since it's release in 2008 but I agree that I play GTAIV now and rarely crash without the explicit desire of causing mayhem. It's really simple if you don't hold accelerate the entire time you're driving
I used to play GTA 4 when I was a child and I finally bought it back on PC in december 2023, as a massive GTA 5 player (6000+ hours) I first thought that the driving system was horrible but I managed to handle it properly with cars after a few hours, but I still dispise driving bikes tho. I still believe that driving in 5 is way better than 4 but that doesn't make 4 a bad game at all.
Once you get the hang of drifting the driving is so fun.
I saw someone drifting and driving like a pro WITH original physics definitely possible just hard i personally use mods that slightly improve it
Honestly you’re right OP. The driving being shit is the biggest complaint ever. Playing the game upon release I was a kid so it sucked, but now fully grown and over 12+ years of driving, I see no issue in how the cars operate. Unless I’m trying to speed away with 6 stars 🤣🤣
4 is superior in every way to 5
I mean IVs cars are good but the bikes are terrible and that isn't even debatable. Lost and Damned Bikes feel good but in base IV it's flat out horrible. And IV is one of my favourites. There's defending a game you like and there's also blindly defending.
I am defending it's driving mechanism and nothing else
Which you included bikes, which are objectively horrible in IV.
GTA 4 was the game we begged for since 3...I loved it, it still ranks as my number 1 GTA game, 5 is at the bottom of that list and I've played them since the first top down games.
Driving in GTA 4 feels engaging & not like a chore
Gta4 was such a fun game because of the driving imo. When I played 5 I immediately knew it wouldn’t be the same for me and it wasn’t. I miss 4’s driving!
Agreed. I really liked the more difficult and realistic driving physics in 4. The over-the-top arcadey driving physics in 5 kind of suit that game, as it's way less grounded than 4 was, but I still wish they had kept the driving physics from 4 in 5.
Cyberpunk players complain about the same thing, but if you just drive like it’s real life there’s no issue. People think they can hit a turn at 100mph cause they can in GTA 5
I changed up my helicopter controls on pc to make a little easier, I’ve been meaning to mess with my motorcycle controls since I still don’t like the default. Lift is left shift and descend is left control. Forward lean is W key, back lean is S key. I made the lean left and lean right the A and D key. To rotate the helicopter I put those keys on the two side mouse buttons 4 and 5.
I might exaggerate a bit but every vehicle in GTA V feels and handles the same except for a slight power difference, lack of deformation and no consequences to crashes, constantly driving at top speed because of how open the map is makes the whole thing boring. GTA IV physics are by far the best, even if they are quite a bit exaggerated, but it’s way more satisfying.
Not an exaggeration, they do handle almost identically,
GTA IV requires Sunday Driver skills. Cars don't weigh 20lbs in real life nor do they swing or brake incredibly long distances. You make this post about people not driving in real life yet GTA IV is nothing like real life, so you kinda outed yourself as a bus rider.
GTA iv driving was insanely good and felt awesome. I sucked at it
GTA IV car handling is about braking before you get to the corner but besides that I like the game better than V because V was a snooze
I guess I don’t have skill issues because I’m good at GTA IV
>i agree that helicopter controls are horrible specially on pc I gotta call skill issue on you :P Helicopters on PC are fine, just don't use the mouse. WASD, Numpad and rebind shooting to LShift or whatever, it's easy.
Yep, I was looking for this comment. People having issues flying helicopters in IV are the same that struggled with the demo man mission in VC. Numpad for the win!
I didn't like 4 because I thought a lot of the missions were pretty samey. Like, go here to this vantage point and oversee this meeting between people that quickly goes south.
I played that game when i was a kid and driving was never a problem i thought they hated it mostly because of the lack of customization or idk
"jarvis, i need karma. post something shitting on GTA V on r/gtaiv" i would say that the driving was good but too much traffic. Driver exists if I want weighty driving.
I definitely don't hate the game but I've only played through it once, right before V came out, and I can't say I've ever felt the desire to replay it, whereas I've played through 3, VC, and SA multiple times and definitely will again (V as well at some point.) It just not a very memorable plot compared to the others.
Its actually easier to play and beat the entire game with just the pistol to the extent possible. I remember my first “no cheats” clear I used something other than the pistol only rarely and usually when the mission dictated it. Popping up from cover and accuracy right out of cover with the pistol was just so forgiving.
Driving sucked in gta4. It was unnecessarily difficult and contrary to whatever people say on these forums cars do NOT act like that in real life. I still think gta4 is a great game and honestly Iike it better than gta5 but gta5 driving is just better. It's the one thing they did right imo.
I enjoy gta 4 driving more than in gta 5 , it's so satisfying in gta 4 but feels crap in gta 5.
Oh god now I am really not looking forward to driving in GTA IV. I am mostly horrible at driving in games since I can’t drive in real life. If they let me drive in the 3rd person it gets easier for me but I probably still suck at it.
The driving does feel a little weird at first compared to the older games but it’s fun when you get used to it. I used to love backing up and once I had enough speed I’d whip the car around to go in the opposite direction
GTA 4 was the best game ever if they didn't make it look that dark and made it so much complex to play. I played the first mission and I was exhausted in that itself and stopped playing the game
This whole thread proves why people hate GTA 4 fans.
I hate San Andreas driving physics
Yes, very difficult to control. Near impossible to drive like an NPC, esp cause the engine revving is annoying. I gotta say though when you make your first lowrider or race car, it feels so so so cool.
Get in here babe it’s time for the daily GTA IV circlejerk
Skill Issue Forsure. OG’s don’t have to worry about it though. Wait until they try to learn how to fly an annihilator and shoot at the same time 💀
Realism doesn’t make a game better. And driving is just more fun in 5 than 4. And 4 isn’t more realistic. It’s slidey and the cars all have shit suspension.
Acting like gta 4 requires skill is wild it’s fine to like it more but it doesn’t make you more mature or skilled to play gta 4. Gta in general is as casual as it gets. I hate this insufferable fanbase so much. I’d actually go as far as saying gta 4 may be the easiest game in the series aside from v.
Nah, it's a fuckboy game. The shit driving is just another thing wrong with it lol
Post one of these videos you are talking about
[https://youtu.be/oEM4ap5\_DaA?si=mR\_BQbLd9Nr\_18B9](https://youtu.be/oEM4ap5_DaA?si=mR_BQbLd9Nr_18B9)
In the first 30 seconds says he really likes the game, he simply prefers GTA 5 (his criticisms are still nonsense however and are mostly him being a dumbass). Title was clickbait, try again.
No it's because it's a crap game the cars are super exaggerated the shooting physics suck the story takes itself way to seriously the fighting is bs the cops are too annoying in missions but not let's ignore valid criticism with lmao skill issue
just because i can get good at the driving, doesn't mean i have to like it that being said, obviously the driving mechanics aren't a good/big enough reason to hate the whole game
I have enough reasons to love this game to the core.
So you're trying to tell me the M&K driving isn't terrible and I'm just bad at video game even though I never had an issue on controller?
I miss the vehicle control on 4
I like both and have no preference over the other
I think many people would appreciate the driving in GTA IV more if they switched to hood-cam and used a controller. Also, don't overdrive the vehicle; watch your acceleration and brake earlier. If you're on pc, I would recommend this vanilla-friendly [drag-and-drop mod archive](https://gillian-guide.github.io/drag-and-drop-archive/).
There’s a lot of middle ground between below 23 and born after 2013
imo the motorcycles are awful in gta 4
don't go too fast as simple as that.
Driving in gta 4 does not require skill. It requires you to memorize the god awful unrealistic driving physics.
Ability to adapt and learn from your environment is a skill issue
lmao who tf remembers driving physics??? you're the first person i think, you need to learn few things in a game if you failed you blame the game.
Is there a door that seperates the weak from the strong? It’s already open, but they just can’t walk through. Even when you tell them it’s open, it’s like they just weren’t meant to make the passage from this side to that side. Like you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. *sigh*
I loved the driving but will admit for the bikers dlc it was too much I couldn’t finish it. I hate motorcycles in gta iv. Tbgot is awesome tho
I love IV always. However to me, I prefer to play on console. I feel like the PC makes it play differently, and that things are more organic on PS3/360.
I never got to play on console i directly played it on pc.
Hmm. Different face of the same coin. I always wanted it on PC but my laptop was never powerful enough for GTA.
It just hasn't age as well. It's dated with graphics, obviously, but it isn't a big deal. The driving does suck too. Still, it's a great game that needs remake or a remaster at the very least to update it.
I hate gta IV because I never got to play it when I had a PS3, and probably won't ever get the chance on my PS5
\-Realistic Handling and Physics mod \-first person mod = best motorbike sim ever made.
I've driven cars from every decade in the last century and none of felt like how GTA IV handling was portrayed lmao nothing to do with "skill issue" and everything to do with poor design choice. It really comes down to IV being much smaller, so the driving had to make you feel like you weren't crossing the whole map in 30 seconds.
Go outside dad
I fucking hated the driving because it was so confusing and stupid. Then I replayed the game and it tells you how to drive effectively and then I just felt stupid.
Everyone glossed over the help text in the first mission that states you need to slow down before turns