GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition vs Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition is an open-world racing game from Rockstar North while Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure FPS game from Rockstar Toronto (2013).

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition

· Rockstar North

8.0GamingPickz Score

Not listed

Steam: Very Positive

Grand Theft Auto V

2013 · Rockstar Toronto

8.0GamingPickz Score

$19.79

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Steam files Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, it files Grand Theft Auto V under Action-Adventure and FPS.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition

PLEASE NOTE: Microsoft no longer supports creating Games for Windows-LIVE accounts within Grand Theft Auto IV. You can create an account through and then log into your account in game. This standalone retail title spans three distinct stories, interwoven to create one of the most unique and engaging single-player experiences of this...

Description from its Steam store page

Grand Theft Auto V

Experience entertainment blockbusters Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online — now upgraded for a new generation with stunning visuals, faster loading, 3D audio, and more, plus exclusive content for GTA Online players.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionGrand Theft Auto V
GamingPickz Score8.0/108.0/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (83%, 202,491)Very Positive (83%, 218,663)
Critic aggregate90/100No aggregate
PriceNot listed$19.79
Install size105 GB
Steam Deckplayableunsupported
Released2013
DeveloperRockstar NorthRockstar Toronto

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition vs Grand Theft Auto V, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionOpen-world racing game
    Grand Theft Auto VAction-adventure FPS game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionOpen World, Action, Automobile Sim
    Grand Theft Auto VOpen World, Action, Crime

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionScore 8.0 · 83% on Steam · 90 critic
    Grand Theft Auto VScore 8.0 · 83% on Steam

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition202,491 reviews
    Grand Theft Auto V218,663 reviews · 105 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionNot listed
    Grand Theft Auto V$19.79

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionPlayable
    Grand Theft Auto VUnsupported

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition and Grand Theft Auto V on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularityGrand Theft Auto IV: Com…

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Multi-platform
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • Better on a Steam Deck: Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition (playable)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

Open WorldActionAutomobile SimMultiplayerCrimeThird PersonAdventureThird-Person Shooter

Where they differ

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition is also

SingleplayerPhysicsClassicDark HumorGoreSatire

Grand Theft Auto V is also

MatureFirst-PersonRacingSexual ContentComedyPvP

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Grand Theft Auto V is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

System requirements, side by side

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete EditionGrand Theft Auto V
Minimum GPU256MB Nvidia 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1630 (4GB
Minimum CPUIntel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4GHzIntel® Core™ i7-4770
Minimum RAM1.5 GB8 GB
Install size105 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition · Grand Theft Auto V.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition and 1 for Grand Theft Auto V. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition and Grand Theft Auto V in scope?

Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition has drawn 202,491 Steam reviews. Grand Theft Auto V has drawn 218,663 Steam reviews and installs in 105 GB.

Is Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition or Grand Theft Auto V better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition rates higher (8.0 to 8.0). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition or Grand Theft Auto V?

One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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