5 improvements that a GTA 4 remaster could have introduced

While a GTA 4 remaster is probably off the cards for now, there's still hope that Take-Two would consider making one in the future. It would undoubtedly make a majority of GTA fans happy, as Grand Theft Auto 4 is often regarded as the best game in the series. The 2008 game was revolutionary for its time and introduced several elements that would become a staple of the series.

However, as all first-time attempts go, GTA 4 wasn't without its issues, some of which were improved in the next game. With a remaster, Rockstar could've addressed most of these problems. In light of that, here's a list of things the developers could have improved in a GTA 4 remaster.

Note: This article is subjective and only reflects the writer’s opinion.

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5 improvements Rockstar could have brought in a GTA 4 remaster

1) The terrible PC port

Running GTA 4 on PC, even in 2024, can be a frustrating experience. Rockstar seems to have rushed over the PC port and as a result, the game has performance issues and graphical glitches on almost every computer. Later patches fixed some of these problems, but the game isn't anywhere as optimized as the PC edition of GTA 5.

Thankfully, modders have fixed some of these issues and the community has come together to find ways to run the game better, including using Vulkan runtime for a better framerate. A modern-day GTA 4 remaster could've made a more optimized version of the game on PC.

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2) Cut content restored

GTA 4 was quite ahead of its time back in 2008, and Rockstar had some ambitious plans for the game. Unfortunately, not all of these plans made it into the final product, and as such, we've been left with several cut features that would've made the game more interesting. For instance, the game was supposed to have haircuts, phone customization, additional weapons, and much more.

Some of these can still be found inside the game, in some test maps. Some unused features found here are telephone poles with rungs for climbing and a mailman with a schedule for checking mailboxes around the city. Several restaurants were also removed or, in the case of some Cluckin' Bell outlets, made inaccessible.

GTA 4 mods have restored some of this cut content, but there's so much more that an official GTA 4 remaster could do.

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3) Quality-of-life improvements

Grand Theft Auto 5, which came out in 2013 and has been getting frequent updates for its online mode even today, brought with it several different quality-of-life improvements. The most basic ones are the radar, the weapon and radio wheels, and the mobile phone.

A GTA 4 remaster could use all these upgrades to bring it to modern-day standards. Although the mobile phone has to have limited features due to the game being set in 2008, Rockstar can still make it feel new by adding more phone models as they had originally planned. The remaster would also have benefitted from an interaction menu like in GTA Online.

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4) Expanded map

Much like the GTA 5 map, Rockstar was also planning on adding countryside areas in Grand Theft Auto 4. At one point, the game was supposed to have a massive region entirely based on New York State. Several different towns would've been added to the game in addition to Liberty City.

However, they eventually went with just one small, but highly detailed city, which was probably because of technical limitations. A GTA 4 remaster can expand the map to some extent, with some countryside areas around Liberty City, if not new towns.

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5) Vehicle customization

Vehicle customization was one of the major features of GTA San Andreas, but it was glaringly absent in Grand Theft Auto 4. This might also have been a removed feature that didn't make it to the game. With a new GTA 4 remaster, Rockstar could have featured a deep and enjoyable car customization feature like in Grand Theft Auto 5 and its online counterpart.

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