I do not understand why the GTA4 trophies are not retroactive. All the stats are recorded online down to how far you have walked..... just seems lazy to me.

because on the ps3 you are able to copy save files and get other peoples save files so if someone has finished the game and gotten every trophey, you can use their save and then get them all yourself

"because on the ps3 you are able to copy save files and get other peoples save files so if someone has finished the game and gotten every trophey, you can use their save and then get them all yourself"

My assumptions would be that trophies work by an event being triggered, and they didn't program the trophy to see if sometime prior, said trigger had been activated.

yeah its probaly the coding in the game,,,

I guess it says "when this happens give out this trophy", instead of "if this happens or has hapened give this trophy"

And Im sure that if you asked the question to someone at Sony they would simply say: " that's so you can enjoy the game all over again !"

The trophies are tied to your PSN ID I believe. I have beaten the game once and don't mind beating it again to unlock the trophies.