5 things in GTA 4 you can't do in GTA 5

Modified Mar 21, 2025 21:34 GMT

Here are some GTA 4 features that are absent from GTA 5 (Images via Rockstar Games)

Rockstar Games released GTA 4 back in 2008. The title is set in Liberty City and features Niko Bellic as the protagonist in the midst of a mature, gritty narrative. Five years later in 2013 came its successor, GTA 5. This title is set in the southern state of San Andreas, featuring Los Santos and Blaine County, and has not one but three playable characters: Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips, and Franklin Clinton.

Being a successor, Grand Theft Auto 5 naturally improved upon quite a few aspects of Grand Theft Auto 4. However, it cannot be denied that the latter does some things a lot better than the newer title.

Here are 5 things that you can do in GTA 4 but not in GTA 5

1) Crouching freely

Niko and Packie McReary crouched behind a car (Image via Rockstar Games)

Crouching is one of the most basic mechanics in video games. In Grand Theft Auto 4, players can crouch at will and move around freely in that stance just as they would normally.

Rockstar Games, for some reason, did not include this mechanic in Grand Theft Auto 5. The protagonists can enter a crouched stance when taking cover behind an object of low height, but not anywhere outside of this.

2) Visiting restaurants

GTA 4 lets players eat at restaurants like Burger Shot and Cluckin Bell. Several interactable street vendors can also be found across the map. This does not affect Niko Bellic's physique as it would with Carl "CJ" Johnson in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, but the mechanic still contributes to in-game player immersion.

While Burger Shot and Cluckin Bell outlets can be spotted across Los Santos and Blaine County in Grand Theft Auto 5, they all are inaccessible. Street vendor carts are present at some locations in this title too, like at Del Perro Pier, but they aren't interactable in any way.

3) Picking up and throwing small objects

One of the most fun GTA 4 features is that players can pick up things, like cups and bricks, and throw them in any direction they want. It is always hilarious to mess with NPCs in this manner and see them react, especially with the Euphoria physics in action.

Unfortunately, this feature is not a part of Grand Theft Auto 5. Although the exclusion didn't affect the 2013 title's overall gameplay significantly, it did take away, to an extent, from how one gets to interact with the game's open world.

4) Pushing NPCs

Pushing is yet another feature unique to Grand Theft Auto 4. It is a part of the game's melee combat mechanics and can actually be pretty useful during fights to create some space between players and their enemies.

Grand Theft Auto 5 does not allow pushing. In fact, this title's overall melee combat is quite the downgrade from what we got to see in 2008. Fighting in GTA 4 was much more nuanced, with a variety of moves, combos, and even the ability to disarm adversaries. Fighting in GTA 5 is a lot more simplified, and sluggish in comparison.

5) Playing story mode DLCs

Johnny Klebitz (left) and Luis Lopez (right) are protagonists of The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony, respectively (Image via Rockstar Games)

Rockstar Games released two story mode DLCs for GTA 4: The Ballad of Gay Tony, and The Lost and Damned. Both are thoroughly enjoyable, have good characters, and add greatly to the lore of Liberty City. In fact, you get to play with new protagonists in them, with their storylines intertwining with the base game's events at certain points.

On the other hand, there are no GTA 5 story mode DLCs. Rockstar had announced plans for this back in 2014, but they were never realized.

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Edited by Niladri Roy