Details about the forthcoming GTA have long been speculated about, and the release of the promo video only served to add fuel to the fire, but now leaked details from the next issue of Game Informer have painted a clearer picture about GTA IV.

Among the pieces of information is that the game will be set in Liberty City, albeit a Liberty City modelled on New York. Of course there’ll be all the jokes and approximate names to familiar objects – The Statue of Liberty will be called the Statue of Happiness, the MetLife building is going to become the GetaLife.

It also appears that it’ll be a smaller game than San Andreas but with less open space to give gamers a true feel of a metropolis.

There’s been word on vehicles as well … or lack of them - there’ll be no planes. You can draw your own conclusions but it seems that Rockstar don’t want anybody pulling a 9/11 in their game.

Also now known is that the lead character will be an Eastern European called Niko Belic who is enticed to the US by his cousin, Roman, who promises him riches. You hardly need to be told that from there he’ll descend into a life of crime.

To improve character fluidity, GTA IV will use the new RAGE engine, also used on the Rockstar Presents Table Tennis. At that isn’t limited to playable characters. Non-player characters (NPC) will also be more complex is movement and behaviour, even down to ethnic and class speech patterns.

Another bonus is that characters will be able to enter and leave building without loading times, and that there’ll be a multi-player angle to it as well.

>> Read - New York mayor rages against Grand Theft Auto IV trailer
>> Link - Official Site/GTA IV