Highlights

  • GTA 4's dark and gritty story focuses on corruption and betrayal, while GTA 5 is a comedic satire on American excess and consumerism.
  • GTA 5's expansive map includes diverse landscapes like mountains and deserts, while GTA 4's sandbox is smaller and primarily focused on urban environments.
  • GTA Online in GTA 5 offers a wealth of activities and customization options, while GTA 4's multiplayer is more limited and lacks MMO elements.

2013's long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 5 marked a significant departure from its 2008 predecessor, GTA 4. With GTA 6 on the horizon, it's worth looking at the many differences between the previous two games in the series. Perhaps a similar level of disparity can be observed between it and GTA5. Grand Theft Auto 4 was the first GTA game to be released on the seventh generation of consoles. On the graphical front, it represented a massive leap forward for the series, while also reflecting the conventions of the time.

2008's Liberty City is awash with the beige, gray, and brown tones that characterized so many AAA releases of that generation. GTA 4's focus on gritty realism is evident in its narrative, which is dark, unforgiving, and emotional. These fundamental aspects of GTA 4's tone and identity stand in stark contrast to the vibrant, colorful, sometimes over-the-top personality of its successor, but it's not the only major difference between the two seminal titles.

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The Most Significant Differences Between GTA 4 and GTA 5

GTA 4's Story Is Gritty, GTA 5's Is Funny

Honing in on the most obvious difference between the two, the tone, essence, and general personality of GTA 4's main campaign is considerably more serious than GTA 5's. Indeed, it could be argued that GTA 4's story is more akin to Red Dead Redemption than GTA 5, as it's defined by themes like corruption, death, and betrayal, whereas GTA 5's story is more about shining a critical light on American excess, consumerism, and phoniness through comedy and satire. Overall, GTA 4's gripping narrative is more grounded and arguably more genuine.

That's not to say that Grand Theft Auto 5's story is lesser, only that it is different. The saccharine, oversaturated aesthetic of Los Santos is the backdrop for Rockstar's lambasting of modern American culture, and the three protagonists of GTA 5 are not as well-defined or unique as Niko Bellic.

Rather, they are more like archetypes of stereotypical Americans: Franklin represents the impoverished youth striving for the "American Dream," Michael represents the middle-aged, jaded husband living beyond his means, and Trevor represents the repressed darkness of the country unleashed on the world. GTA 4 provides social commentary, but it is more focused on one man's struggles. Niko is the star of GTA 4, but America is the star of GTA 5.

GTA 4's Sandbox Is Smaller, GTA 5's Map Is Sprawling

Released 15 years ago as the first game on Rockstar's RAGE engine, Grand Theft Auto 4 is noticeably hampered by the hardware of the time. Key technical considerations like draw distance and memory, along with creative design choices, played a role in limiting GTA 4's map, both in its scope and level of detail. As a result, the game is considerably smaller than GTA 5, with an obvious lack of natural landscapes and a greater focus on urban environments.

GTA 5, by comparison, is massive with a map that extends far beyond the city of Los Santos to include scenic mountainscapes, deserts, valleys, and dense forests. These more rural and natural areas are some of GTA5's most iconic, as they are brimming with personality and detail, and the juxtaposition between the urban and small-town cultures serves as fertile ground for additional social commentary. With GTA 5's map being decidedly bigger and more varied, it seems to hold up a bit better when compared to GTA 4's sandbox, which feels much more dated, despite being released during the same console generation.

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Online Multiplayer in GTA 4 Vs. GTA 5

The most enduring element of Grand Theft Auto 5 is Grand Theft Auto Online, which Rockstar is still updating over ten years after the game's initial launch. The online game mode is beloved by many due to its wealth of available activities, endless customization options, and long-term support and content refreshes. On the other hand, many resent the mode for its abundant microtransactions, while arguing that Rockstar has been too focused on long-term support. Many of these detractors feel that games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 6 would have come sooner if not for the focus on GTA Online.

Whatever someone's thoughts are about GTA Online, it's hard to argue that it isn't ambitious, at least when compared to GTA 4's multiplayer component. While GTAOnline has grown exponentially since its release, GTA 4's online multiplayer is much more limited. The multiplayer only offers a handful of game modes and doesn't feature anything resembling the MMO or life-sim elements associated with GTA Online. Additionally, the free roam portion of the multiplayer in GTA 4 is much more barebones, serving more as a sandbox to explore and experiment with friends, rather than an active and reactive open world, like that of GTA Online.

Other Differences Between GTA 4 and GTA 5

While there are obvious and pervasive elements of GTA 5 that set it apart from the game that preceded it, there are plenty of more specific differences between the two titles, including:

  • Single-player DLC:GTA 4 featured two post-launch single-player expansions, while GTA 5 received none.
  • Driving: cars are heavier and more realistic in GTA 4.
  • Physics: across the board, the physics of GTA 4 are more weighty, with the Euphoria physics system offering more varied animations than in GTA 5.
  • Aircraft:GTA 5 features a much wider array of aircraft than GTA 4.
  • Cell phones and the internet: phones make a return in GTA 5, but they have more features, especially when it comes to social media and the internet.

While they are both excellent games, Grand Theft Auto 5's focus on comedic, larger-than-life storytelling and world-building seeps into just about every aspect of its design. This makes it a far more bombastic and feature-rich game than GTA 4, though with significantly less realism and immersion.