I was never a GTA fan, but I picked up IV and gave it my best...
Technically, GTA IV was a joke to me. By the time I picked it up (still before RDR's launch), I was cringing all the time while playing. When I eventually got used to the horrendous visuals (Oh, PS3 btw), then I tried to get stuck in the game. The first shocking thing was how the cars handled. I just got so little entertainment out of the game that I sold it after 4 hours of gameplay. It was really that bad.
When RDR came out to the same critical acclaim as GTA IV, I was obviously a little apprehensive. This is just like GTA but in the desert right? I don't know what difference it made that I played the 360 version, but I have to say that it was a stunningly gorgeous game. Just one thing, EVERYONE who isn't a total wuss MUST turn auto-aim off! The shooting mechanics are really cool and I loved the horse riding. There were some minor bugs and it didn't end up being the 10/10 game everyone said for me, but it was still a 9.5/10 game 
Read Dead Redemption by a country mile.
