I just bought my PS3 yesterday. I bought GTA 4 with it and I can't tell if something is wrong with my tv settings or if the game environment is suppossed to be dark. Everything is normal in the game when your out in broad day light, but when Im like under an overpass or it is night time, the game is so dark I can hardly see what is going on...example: in the beginning of the game you have to fight the two bookies in that park or whatever it is...its so dark I can hardly see them...is this how the game is or am i just an idiot?

Since your ps3 is new I'm not sure this will help you, but make sure your RGB is set to limited and not full in the display settings. I usually have my ps3 on full but changed it to limited for GTA 4 because it was almost completely dark and while hard to see at night still it is alot better with RGB set to limited.

Yep, that's how the game is. It's dark for me as well, doing missions at night is quite quite frustrating cause half the time you can't see anything. I recommend that you up the contrast and brightness in the Main menu settings.

Yep, that's how the game is. It's dark for me as well, doing missions at night is quite quite frustrating cause half the time you can't see anything. I recommend that you up the contrast and brightness in the Main menu settings.Yeah, you definitely need to mess with the image settings in the GTA IV options menu. This is just as true with the 360 version as with the PS3 version (except for opposite reasons).

I had to turn the brightness almost all of the way up....and contrast about 2/3 of the way up...my eyes were seriously bugging out when I would play a long time.

I had RGB set to full and, because I had already previously calibrated my TV for RGB full, I had no problems with GTA the first time I popped it in.

Use the "hot-weather" cheat then cycle through them all (9 different schemes I think)to see how you like the settings as well. You might have to wait until night for the dark settings.

Turning up the brightness and contrast a bit in the options seemed to work for me.

It looks pretty good now.

^^I will have to try that as well.

problem with turning up brightness and contrast is you tend to lose detail if it's done too much. Things become washed out, like in a bad picture.

the lighting is realistic. what would be useful is if they provided niko with a flashlight. or maybe a swat style light on some of the guns. patches ftw.

problem with turning up brightness and contrast is you tend to lose detail if it's done too much. Things become washed out, like in a bad picture.

Then don't do it too much.

Do what YOU think looks best to YOU.

Yeah, you definitely need to mess with the image settings in the GTA IV options menu. This is just as true with the 360 version as with the PS3 version (except for opposite reasons).

Interesting that the 360 is brighter. I was surprized by how bright my neighbors 360 GTA was compaired to my PS3 GTA. I doubt if could be configuration either because I know my neighbor just rented it a few hours before I saw it.

Interesting that the 360 is brighter. I was surprized by how bright my neighbors 360 GTA was compaired to my PS3 GTA. I doubt if could be configuration either because I know my neighbor just rented it a few hours before I saw it.

You mean your neighbour's 360 on YOUR tv or his? If his, it isn't a fair comparison. His TV may not be calibrated as well as yours (likely still in showroom "torch mode").

Interesting that the 360 is brighter. I was surprized by how bright my neighbors 360 GTA was compaired to my PS3 GTA. I doubt if could be configuration either because I know my neighbor just rented it a few hours before I saw it.Like I said, you do need to calibrate using the in-game image settings. The PS3 version needs the brightness and contrast cranked up; the 360 version needs the brightness and saturation turned down. A side effect of calibrating them correctly is that the two versions will look more alike in terms of color palette, lighting effects, and brightness.

I'll suggest going to www.*******************.com or www.lcdtvbuyingguide.com and checking out their review section to see if they've done an article on your particular set. They've provided me with the best possible settings for my plasma a year and some change ago and I haven't had to adjust the settings on my set ever since. Even during GTA4 every scene is well lit and the graphics to me is quite impressive.