Grand Theft Auto IV: Is the PC version the best?

If you haven’t played Grand Theft Auto IV yet, you missed out on one of the best games that released this year. Don’t just take our word for it. Critics across the board lavished GTA IV with perfect scores and glowing compliments. So we’ll assume you haven’t been living under a rock and know the gist about what Rockstar’s latest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series is all about, and focus about what’s in store for the upcoming PC version of the game.

Let us be perfectly clear. We’ve played the 360 version. And we’ve played the PS3 version. But GTA IV on the PC looks better than its console counterparts by leaps and bounds. There’s a much longer draw distance for starters. You can see buildings and structures further in the background, allowing you to drink in the thick and gritty atmosphere of Liberty City. The PC version is also capable of handling more vehicles on the screen at once. More traffic means more fun as you rip and tear through streets and alleyways.

But it’s the little details that stood out the most. Rockstar went through great lengths to create a living and breathing city- and Liberty City looks best on the PC. Gone are the fuzzy billboards and signs that were easy to gloss over as you sped through town. The satirical ads for fake products like Pisswasser beer stand out with vibrant colors and a level of detail that’s much sharper than the 360 and PS3 versions.

Above: The explosions are brighter and Niko’s grizzled face looks grittier. But our eyes were drawn to the little details, like the way the signs in China Town stand out so clearly

If you’ve played either of those versions, you’ll also have noticed how facial features on characters are much sharper. After viewing a demo of ‘The Three Leaf Clover’ mission, the one where Niko and company rob a Liberty City bank, our eyes were drawn towards a large scar running down Packie’s cheek that we never noticed before in the cutscenes. Add up all these little details that the PC version highlights, and it’s hard to imagine going back to GTA IV’s console predecessors.

However, PC versions of games that were originally released on consoles are notorious for demanding more from your rig when it comes to running them on the highest visual settings, which begs the question…

It’s good to keep in mind that the PC version will allow you to adjust sliders for all kinds of visual settings to improve performance and frame rates. Rockstar let us turn down all the settings to give us an idea of what GTA IV might like on a less-than-stellar rig. Even with all the details, traffic levels, and effects turn down, the game still looked decent. And with that in mind, we present you the minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC version of GTA IV.

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz
Memory: 1.5GB, 16GB Free Hard Drive Space
Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900

Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows Vista - Service Pack 1 / XP - Service Pack 3
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4Ghz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1Ghz
Memory:  2 GB (Windows XP) 2.5 GB (Windows Vista)
18 GB Free Hard Drive Space
Video Card: 512MB NVIDIA 8600 / 512MB ATI 3870


Above: If you’ve got a powerful PC, GTA IV will look amazing. But can your rig handle it?

We were surprised to see that the minimum system requirements ask for at least an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Even games like Crysis and Fallout 3 don’t require a Core 2 Duo processor to run the game.