Prerelease:Grand Theft Auto IV

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Grand Theft Auto IV.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Come on. There must be some more stuff to be covered. Info from here VERY early map sketch! https://gtaforums.com/topic/735829-grand-theft-auto-iv-beta-hunt/page/79/?tab=comments#comment-1071535196

Developmental Timeline

2004

• Nov. Development of Grand Theft Auto IV begins after the initial release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which was where their core team's main focus.

2006

• May. 10 - The game is revealed at E3 2006, in the form of Peter Moore showing a tattoo with the game's early logo.

2007

2008

• Apr. 29 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and Europe.
• Oct. 30 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in Japan.
• Dec. 3 - Grand Theft Auto IV is released for Windows.

GTA IV Website

There are images from GTA IV's official website that contain changes from the final.

(Source: GTA IV Screenshot Gallery)

2004

Development Beginnings

After the development of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had officially ended, Grand Theft Auto IV started development in November 2004.

They decided to go for Liberty City because of how "amazing, diverse, vibrant, cinematic city it is". In order to accurately capture the style of New York, two trips were made to the location, one at the beginning and another small one further through development.

Map Draft

The initial map draft of Tri-State Liberty City was drawn, using the map of San Andreas State from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to scale. It was even bigger than what the final game ended up delivering, most notably with the presence of fields and mountains.

The developmental team thought it was too big, so it had to be downgraded. The idea of a Grand Theft Auto game focusing on an entire state would be revisited as Leonida, in Grand Theft Auto VI, over fifteen years later.

(Source: https://www.coroflot.com/niktaylor/GTA-IV)

New Engine

After experimenting with the RAGE engine in Rockstar Games Presents: Table Tennis, they wanted to further experiment with it, using elements from Euphoria.

2006

May

E3 2006

Grand Theft Auto IV was officially unveiled at E3 2006, where Peter Moore revealed a tattoo on his arm containing the game's logo. He said that the game would be for next-generation systems and would have downloadable DLC.

2008

February?

Screenshots

Bellic Enterprises/Broker Navy Yard

Pre-release	Final

• Next to Roman's Cab Office, there was a hot dog stand and newspaper stands in the pre-release. In the final, the newspaper stands moved closer to the building, a couple of barrels were added, the hot dog stand was moved down the street, and the street light moved across the street.
• The newspaper stand's name was changed from the Daily Globe to the Liberty Tree.
• The bridge in the background was absent.
• Roman's Taxi has some differences too.

Vehicles

• The license plates didn't say "LIBERTY CITY" in some instances, implying that a randomized license plate number generator was planned for the cars but wasn't implemented until the sequel.

Annihilator

Pre-release	Final

• The Yellow stripe was moved down.
• "LC12345" was changed to "LC270881".
• The number was moved onto the door.
• The logo by the rotors was removed.
• The logo was redone.
• The doors were made open.

Comet

Pre-release	Final

The logo was mirrored and added "PFISTER" in the final. "Comet" was made smaller.

Marquis

Pre-release	Final

There were two steering wheels in the pre-release.

Roman's Taxi

Pre-release	Final

The car's brand name and logo were added later. A red light was also added on the grill.

References

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