I haven't really followed this game (Not that big of a GTA fan), but apparently there are reports over the internet of the game running horribly slow (think 10-20fps on top hardware). I'm asking anyone who took one for the team and bought this game to tell me how does it run. I really don't want to have a 30-fps-consolesque experience on my PC.

From what I've read there are issues with Radeon 4XXX cards, on 3XXX card the game works fine at medium/high settings (so long as you max out the draw distance) and on Nivida cards GTA4 runs well except for the GX2.

One reoccurring theme has been very bad performance on the 4870X2 and the 9800GX2 so it's reasonable to assume there are SLI and Crossfire issues to sort out.

I hope this is true and there will be a fix for this. The game looks and runs Terrible at medium settings at any resolution at and below 1680x1050.
I was waiting all year for this game so it's very disappointing. If there is a problem with the 4xxx series once it's fixed hopefully this game scales well with crossfire so I can pick up an extra 4850.

I would say that you are going to be in for a slideshow at the moment.

What draw distance have you got the game set to?

You guys might want to read this


THE GRAPHIC SETTINGS OF GRAND THEFT AUTO IV PC

Most users using current PC hardware as of December 2008 are advised to use medium graphics settings. Higher settings are provided for future generations of PCs with higher specifications than are currently widely available.

Graphics settings are limited by system resources by default. 256MB video cards force minimum settings by default. If a user bypasses these safety measures using command line arguments and exceeds their system resources, the users gaming experience may be compromised.


Video Mode
Resolution scaling effects water, reflections, shadows, mirrors and the visible viewable distance. The resolution settings relate to the amount of available video memory. At 2560*1600 the game will require 320MB of video memory in addition to all the memory required for content. At 800*600 the game will require 32MB of video memory in addition to the content. Medium resolution settings are recommended for most users as higher settings are only usable if there is available video memory.

Texture Quality
Texture quality affects the visual quality of the content of the game. High setting for textures will require 600MB of video memory at a setting of 21 View Distance in addition to the memory taken by the Video Mode. A medium texture setting is recommended for most users.

Render Quality
Render quality is the texture filter quality used on most things in the world rendering. Most people would know this as anisotropic filtering. Medium settings are recommended for most users and will provide filtering beyond what the console versions can execute.

View Distance
View distance scales the distance in which different objects in the world such as building and cars are seen. Raising this option increases the distance in which high quality objects must be loaded and will increase the memory it requires. Restrictions are established to ensure the game runs optimally for most users. A setting of 22 or more will provide PC users an enhanced experience over the console versions.

Detail Distance
Detail distance scales aspects of the environment that the View Distance setting does not including vegetation, trash and other moveable objects. A setting of 10 would be the equivalent to the performance on a console. This setting has little effect on memory.

Vehicle Density
Vehicle density scales the traffic density of the traffic in the game. It has no effect on the mission vehicles or difficultly of the game, but can have a significant impact on CPU performance

Shadow Density
Shadow Density controls the number of shadows generated for positional lights in exterior environments. These shadows are exclusive to the PC version and can have a major impact on CPU and GPU performance.

Crossfire/SLI
With the latest ATI driver (8-11 series) the game supports crossfire modes (ie. 4870x2)
SLI is currently unsupported. Support will be added through a future game patch as well as an updated Nvidia driver.


NOTE: Background Processes
Certain background processes can have a detrimental effect on system performance when playing GTA IV, especially on systems with minimum required system memory. Users should ensure they disable their Virus scans when running the game to maximize performance


I found it here - http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?showtopic=30840

one thing to say: everybody complained about the bad graphics of the older games. bacause they had to be playable on the console (ps2)

now gta4 is the total opposite. almost nobody can play it on high settings?

It ran great at default settings. As soon as I turned up the settings and benchmarked it, it crashed. It has not loaded since. I see that this is a common problem and perhaps Net framework 3.5 might solve some of the issues. I will try this this afternoon. I am thinking that a driver update will fix the problems...... hurry up ATI...... In the meantime I will kill some zombies.

It does look much better than the xbox 360 version. (which I sold because I can't get used to the controller with FPS's).

The game won't even install on my machine.

Says that my machine isn't compatible with '%P' whatever that is. If they mean XP, they're right. I've got Vista.

Any other Vista users having problems?

Well, at least they admit that SLI (and therfor, the GX2) is not supported right now...

Blimey. I thought about picking this up over the weekend but i didnt realise the issues were this bad.
Nice article on the amount of GPU usage per graphical variable, would be nice to see that for more games.

man i really need some new parts!!! hey you p4 3.4 user (wetjustice), did you try to play the gta on your rigg?

I installed catalyst 8.12 and improved my average FPS by 5. I was averaging 29 fps now I am getting 34 fps at the following settings:

Below is what I get with the 8.12 official driverss, E8500@4.0GHZ, and a pair of 4850s in crossfire.

Statistics
Average FPS: 50.47
Duration: 37.27 sec
CPU Usage: 93%
System memory usage: 56%
Video memory usage: 100%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1920 x 1200 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: High
View Distance: 11
Detail Distance: 11

Since I only have 512MB of memory I turned down the View Distance and increase the resolution to as high as it will go. Game now looks and plays very good.
The FPS sometimes dip into the low 30s but mostly stay in the high 30s to low 40s.

^I do not see any stuttering. Sorry for not being clear. I meant to say 512MB of Vram not system memory. When you are in the graphics settings the game only sees the 512MB (497 in my case due to Vista taking some) that is available to the graphics card. From what I have read I believe that should be correct because when you crossfire or sli the memory is not shared. That is also the case with the 4870X2. Users only have 1024 of Vram available in the graphics options.

when ever i paly gta 4 it runs well enough except I can't see further then a meter away form niko often less. no matter what settings I put the graphics to there is no diffrences. I tried increasing the view distance but it did nothing.
Please help