Grand Theft Auto is easily one of the most popular game franchises out there, having won over millions of fans through its humorous story and very well-polished gameplay. Its latest installment, Grand Theft Auto IV, took the whole series to new heights in terms of realism and sold very well, making quite a lot of profit for Rockstar, the company behind the game.

But sadly, although the title shined through its intricate story and elaborate game mechanics, it was plagued by a few annoying glitches, and, with the recent PC version, it has caused users quite a lot of problems. From the fact that the SecuROM DRM (Digital Rights Management) software caused errors or did not recognize some serial number to the fact that the game performed very poorly on high-end machines, plenty of issued surfaced and various users were even shown numerous error codes.

So far Rockstar only said that the problems would be fixed and that users shouldn't worry, but customers were very angry at the company. Now, it seems that a patch for the PC version has already been made, though it is currently undergoing a certification process at Microsoft, which needs to test it in order to verify its effectiveness. This trial period can sometimes extend for quite a while, and, until the patch gets the seal of approval from the software giant, users can only check the list of improvements that it will bring to the game.

“-A fix to the crash after legal screen that some German customers were reporting.

-Numerous improvements to the video editor: Smarter naming of videos, improved rendering quality, better fx during replays

-Fix to bowling while using certain sensitive mice

-Fix for ATI 1900 shadows

-Overall savings to memory

-Graphic improvements to particle systems and mirrors

-Multiplayer character settings are preserved

-Support for DirectInput controllers. Note: The current hack way of supporting these controllers may not work with the improved functionality. So we recommend you remove the hack before upgrading to the patch.”

Rockstar has also collaborated with Nvidia and Ati, the popular graphics board manufacturers, which have recently released new driver versions that will enhance the gameplay of GTA IV, so it really seems that the company is doing everything it can in order to offer players a great experience. Let's just hope that other problems won't appear.