Direct2Drvie has a sale on all Rockstar Games ending this weekend and since GTA 4 is really cheap I am considering buying this game. But if the game is still broken as it was at launch it would be a waste of money. So how well has this game been patched since the release?

It was always playable for me, so I dunno.

It runs fine on mine, especially with the latest patch I gained over 10 fps.

bought and downloaded it

my impressions after 20 minutes of playing (latest patch applied)
ugly as hell, textures are of piss poor quality, shadows look like shit
everything looks like it has been done using the spray can in paint and changing graphic settings does not seem to change this impression
graphically this game looks like it is in beta 0.5

control wise it seems like one can only use a Microsoft official controller and the keyboard + mouse combo really sucks ass

gameplaywise its to early but considering the graphics and control this is one shitty port

"bought and downloaded itmy impressions after 20 minutes of playing (latest patch applied)ugly as hell, textures are of piss poor quality, shadows look like shiteverything looks like it has been done using the spray can in paint and changing graphic settings does not seem to change this impressiongraphically this game looks like it is in beta 0.5control wise it seems like one can only use a Microsoft official controller and the keyboard + mouse combo really sucks assgameplaywise its to early but considering the graphics and control this is one shitty port"

changed resolution to native (1900x1200) and the game does look better now

any possible way to turn all shadows off?

current settings:
Statistics
Average FPS: 28.81
Duration: 37.28 sec
CPU Usage: 90%
System memory usage: 81%
Video memory usage: 68%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1920 x 1200 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Very High
Reflection Resolution: Medium
Water Quality: Medium
Shadow Quality: Low
View Distance: 65
Detail Distance: 100
Definition: Off
VSync: Off

Hardware
Microsoft® Windows Vista" Home Premium
Service Pack 1
Video Adapter: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Video Driver version: 7.14.10.630
Audio Adapter: Högtalare (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6750  @ 2.66GHz

edit:
scaling was turned off in my display settings

now using:
Statistics
Average FPS: 30.04
Duration: 37.05 sec
CPU Usage: 95%
System memory usage: 80%
Video memory usage: 58%

Graphics Settings
Video Mode: 1440 x 900 (60 Hz)
Texture Quality: Medium
Render Quality: Very High
Reflection Resolution: Medium
Water Quality: Medium
Shadow Quality: Low
View Distance: 75
Detail Distance: 100
Definition: Off
VSync: Off

Hardware
Microsoft® Windows Vista" Home Premium
Service Pack 1
Video Adapter: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Video Driver version: 7.14.10.630
Audio Adapter: Högtalare (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     E6750  @ 2.66GHz

File ID: Benchmark.cli

I saw many people complaining about the game on Amazon and I was scared to buy it, but I finally picked up a copy and I'm really enjoying, even more so than the console version, I really don't know where all the complaints are coming from and my computer is pretty run-of-the-mill.

Edit; Also I don't know where you guys are coming from with texture and shadow problems, they look much better than the Xbox 360 version of the game. The shadows are very, very impressive on all versions of GTA.

You're the lucky one, mate. My computer needs heavy doses of exlax to even walk the character out the door. I can run Crysis alright, but not GTAIV. What is the world coming to..?