Rockstar has never brought Grand Theft Auto IV to PlayStation 4 or PS5. Xbox players have had backwards compatibility on Xbox One and Series X/S for years, but Sony console owners have been completely locked out. A fan project has now changed that, at least for those willing to go down the jailbreak rabbit hole.
Graphic designer Ruben Ripalda ported OZORDI's Liberty Recompiled project to jailbroken PS5 hardware. The setup reads an Xbox 360 disc image to run the game, and it goes further than just getting it to boot: the port includes custom DualSense haptic support, PS5 Trophies, and PlayStation button prompts. It also accepts existing Xbox 360 save files, so anyone who still has their old saves sitting around can carry them over.
Here's the thing, though. The underlying Liberty Recompiled project is legitimate fan work. The PS5-specific additions, the DualSense integration, the Trophy system, the button remapping, all of that was built using vibecoding, meaning AI tools like Claude handled the code generation rather than a developer writing it by hand.
What vibecoding actually means for a project like this
Vibecoding is the practice of prompting AI tools to write functional code without the creator having deep programming knowledge themselves. The output can work, but it tends to be patchwork. AI-generated code often lacks the optimization and structural consistency that comes from a developer who understands what every line is doing. The result is software that runs less efficiently than it should, is harder to debug, and becomes increasingly fragile when patches are applied.
For a port like this, where the foundation (Liberty Recompiled) is solid community work, the vibecoded PS5 layer sits on top of something reliable. That may cushion some of the worst performance issues. But it does not eliminate them, and the framerate inconsistencies and resource overhead that typically come with AI-generated code are still a real concern here.
The broader picture for GTA IV fans on PlayStation
The demand driving this project is real. GTA IV has never received a proper remaster, and Rockstar pulled it from Steam in 2019 before relisting it as the Complete Edition. The PS3 version is not backward compatible on PS4 or PS5. For PlayStation players who want to revisit Niko Bellic and Liberty City on modern hardware, there is no official path.
That gap is exactly what makes a headline like "GTA IV running on PS5 via Xbox 360 discs" travel so fast. The novelty is genuine. A 2008 Xbox 360 game running on a PS5 with haptic feedback and Trophies is a genuinely odd technical achievement, and the save compatibility detail makes it feel more complete than a typical proof-of-concept demo.
What most players miss when these projects go viral is the longer-term picture. Fan ports of major Rockstar titles have a short shelf life. Takedown notices tend to follow attention, and a project this visible is not likely to stay accessible for long.
Where this leaves PS5 players right now
If you are a PS5 owner hoping for a clean, stable way to play GTA IV on modern Sony hardware, this port is not that. It requires jailbroken firmware, an Xbox 360 disc image, and tolerance for the performance unpredictability that comes with vibecoded software. The official options remain Steam (where the Complete Edition is available) and Xbox backwards compatibility.
For everything else about GTA IV on current platforms, the Grand Theft Auto IV guides cover what you need to know about getting the most out of the versions that are actually supported. Rockstar's silence on a proper PS5 release or remaster means the fan community will keep filling the gap, for better or worse, until that changes.
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