I'll be pre-ordering GTA IV this weekend and have noticed play.com are doing a special edition pack. I cant justify spending 70 quid on this as I'll probably lose all the other bits that come with it,but i'm loving the sound of the soundtrack CD as rockstar have always got the music spot on with previous installments. What do you reckon

i think i would begrudge paying £70 for a game.

i'm not really a fan of the gta series but if you like the previous ones then perhaps it would be money well spent.

the retorical question i have is, what you going to do with the other stuff that comes with the game???

I've got it pre-ordered too (just the boring "cheapo" version tho- if £39 is "cheap")... if only for multiplayer

dont worry about buying it for the soundtrack, they always release that as a separate audio cd, eg:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Thef ... ck_Box_Set

£70 is a fair bit, but a load of extras in it, but what can you do with a bag and a big metal safety-deposit box? Do find it a bit money-grabbing with all these "limited edition" versions of any game - just bung in a "making of" dvd, change the case artwork colour a little and roberts your mother's brother.

Think I'll be paying about £25 for mine.

'tis v good, but v different from previous ones.

spend a lot of time in the car (it's gta after all) and the handling is a LOT different. not better, or worse, just different. cars now feel like they have a mass, so take time to slow down and turn, which makes sense, but they just feel wrong... I tried out a number of cars and the slower ones were fine, cool even, rocking on the shocks and displaying a decent degree of weight-transfer around bends - but, the sports-cars are, just, wrong... Almost as if they have the same floppy shocks as the family station-waggon you were driving 5mins earlier... Tried a few of the "premium" cars and even as slow speeds they were rocking all over the place

Basically they're trying for something deeper, but is a world away from something like Forza or Gran Turismo so just feel false.... So you almost prefer the comic-book e-brake slide around bends at full pelt of the older games...

at least drive-by shootings are now an art of skill - f-ing tricky to drive & gun at the same time (and still cant work out how to aim while driving without having to fire the gun at the same time). Almost have to turn the camera/view with you, as you turn, all the time (new to someone used to just driving a car around a track )

but the new physics-system and touches are great... even to the degree of braking a fire-hydrant and having water spraying everywhere - just drive you car over the top and it lifts that part of the car off the ground.

You really could loose time playing this game. Its so easy to finish a mission taking an addict to his dealer and back home, then call Roman and shoot Pool for half hour, the scale of options is staggering. In reply to the last comment, I agree the car handling is different to previous GTA's, yet after a while you get used to braking yards before turning. After a lot of thought, I don't think it would be right of Rockstar to push the realism through the roof and keep the arcade stop-on-a-penny handling of previous gta's. In fact it gives a better sense of satisfaction when you nail a handbrake turn and keep your momentum. I may incur a lynching for this, but I cant help but be reminded of Driv3r for the PS2, in terms of realism and car handling. If it was the old physics, I couldn't lose control of my Merc, catch the corner on a pylon and send myself hurtling through the windscreen, easily the best rush I have had since turning the power on. this is an all-round upping of realism, warts and all. Simply the best reason for a sick-day off work.

Must agree about the car handling, but it is much more engaging than the old games. It does take thought to get round corners fast, but it is SOOOO good when you nail it. The realproblem is flying a helecopter with the SIXAXIS, now that is really tricky! LOving this game, AND its got me off COD4 for now!

havnt really had a chance to play this for any length of time... usually i do a mission or 2 and then get sidetracked and try to wreck things / kill people!!

i actually prefer having the cars like they are though, makes it harder and as Blueboy said, when you nail it, you do feel good!!