Well it seems a lot of people are having this issue of GTA IV freezing up on them and it seems to be getting worse instead of better, to the point were they can't even get past the loading screens.
And from my research it seems it's affecting all PS3 skews and all 360 skews but not to the extent of PS3.
So I decided to make a topic about it so we can help each other if anyone has found some way to prevent it or fix it.

Two close friends of mine, one from here ..Liquid.. and one not on this website have had issues were it has affected there consoles. Liquids Blu-Ray is messed up completely because of a faulty GTA disc and my other friends freezing issues has transcended to his other games such as Warhawk and even the MGO Beta which is not even on a disc in fact he can't even private chat with me without it just freezing up. And he's tried the no internet connection thing with no success.

So basically anyone with similar problems put it here and tell us in detail what's wrong and if anyone has any solutions it would be much appreciated if you could share them with us.

Also put what edition (special or normal) of GTA it is and what skew your console is and how long before it started happening.

Liquid's PS3 was a 60g and it was a special edition and Marcus's (my friend) was a 40g and it was a normal edition.

I haven't had the problem myself and obviously wouldn't like to endure it but i thought this was becoming a more frequent thing and I think this could be helpful.

Yes it completely destroyed my console yes. Now I have to send it tommorow, and turns out. Because I have a 60GB, I might have to wait three weeks or longer to get it back, pfftt..

i rented the 360 version cause i'm saving my ps3 one for when i can get a good tv and mgs4 bundle
but anyway the one for the 360 keeps making the console restart every few minutes,and it changed the screen color on my tv and made everything really dark and what not even though i had the brightness really high

I've had a huge problem with freezing; three times today alone and a total of ten times all together, and I just got the game last Thursday. There's also times while I'm playing that the screen will turn really dark all of a sudden and it takes a little bit of time for it to go back to normal.

None of my other games have started freezing yet, though, at least that I've noticed.

I found this at some gamer forum today, apparently a Belgium newspaper has already brought out a story about the GTA IV crises and the game destroying consoles.

lol that fucking sucks ive had no problem since i fixed my freezing issues with it but if it does mess up my ps3 im going to go nuts cause mgs4 is right around the corner..

Not once has GTAIV froze my machine. Has run perfect over 24hrs of game time. Come to think of it, it hasn't even lagged yet.

I disable my internet connection before i play Gta Iv ...

There's a v1.01 patch out today, i just downloaded, maybe that'll fix some problems? i duno wat it contains, if anyone knows can u post it please

It will fix the standard problems, not a broken BR reader.

Well apparently it fixes all the freezing issues and online issues.

From Shacknews.com


Full Article

What it does

EDIT: Well I just tried to play it online after downloading the update and it's still buggy as hell I still can't get in a match. So I think it's only fixed the freezing/destroying Blu-Ray problem but I'm still gonna play the game offline.

I got a 60 GB PS3 and I couldn't get past the loading without turning off the internet connection. :( I guess this patch should work for me.

Just downloaded patch i can now play with no problems and i dont have to disable my internet..

It sucks to hear about you guys have problems with GTA4 messing up your consoles. I have it for 360 and it hasnt messed up once so when I get my PS3 I'm not buying GTA4 for it since yall are having so many problems I'll just still with MGS4.

I have a 40 gig PS3, and standard version of GTA4, and on day one iv had problems! :angry: and on day to my console died :angry: :angry: :angry: so iv played fark all of my equal most awaited game of the year!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :handgun:

has anyone had to send theres back to sony?

I need to send back mine....

does it cost anything? do you have any idea how long it will take for them to send it back?

If you have a 60 GB it can take to 3 to 8 weeks. It didn't cost anything, first she said no more warranty, and then she went to ask. And I got it for free, i'm sending it tommorow I think.

The v1.01 patch only works for 40gb and 80gb ps3's where the problem was connecting to the network.

The 60gb have a problem with the emulation chip starting during cutscenes and cuasing the system to freeze. Rockstar doesn't know what is causing this problem or how to fix it.

never ever had a problem with freezing GTA4. I have the 40gb. The only time I ever had problems was with Oblivion. But it only froze during loads.

Yes I read that somewhere also but I have a 60g and my GTA4 works fine. It's had minor freezing issues but that was only three short times in the whole 6 hours i've been playing it.

Oblivion really pissed me off. I had it one week, and it crashed four times.

Also, I'm told that the anti alaising on the Xbox 360 is messed up.