Former Rockstar technical director Obbe Vermeij says he wasn't a big fan of GTA 4 due to it scaling things back.
GTA: San Andreas is still everyone's favorite for a reason. It's absolutely massive and took that PS2-style of GTA game to its natural conclusion. And following that up for the first at the time next-gen GTA would undoubtedly be a hard task for anyone, which is likely why Rockstar ended up taking the series into a more realistic, character-driven route with GTA 4, leading to an entry that's somewhat divisive… and it wasn't just from the fanbase.
