GTA 4’s driving physics absolutely SHIT on GTA 5’s and it’s not even close. 5’s is dog shiii. You actually had to fight the car, control it, respect turns, and think before flying around corners. It felt gritty, dangerous, and real.
GTA 4 is a masterpiece! Meanwhile GTA 5 watered everything down. The cars feel too light, too arcadey, too easy. Every vehicle grips the road like it’s on rails, and after a while it gets boring because there’s barely any challenge
or personality. You can take insane corners at ridiculous speeds and the game barely punishes you. It lost that raw feeling GTA 4 had.
And it wasn’t just the driving — GTA 4’s entire atmosphere was darker, colder, and more grounded. Liberty City felt dirty, depressing, and alive. The rain, the fog, the muted colors, the brutal story, the lonely vibe — everything had this gritty realism to it. Niko Bellic actually felt like a real person with trauma and depth.
GTA 5 went in the opposite direction. Bright colors, goofy tone, less grounded physics, over-the-top Hollywood energy. Fun sometimes? Sure. But compared to GTA 4 it felt watered down and mediocre. GTA 4 had soul. GTA 5 felt like Rockstar trying too hard to make everything accessible and “fun” at the cost of realism and immersion.
To this day, nobody has made driving physics feel like GTA 4 again.