Now mind you, I played this on a 32" 720p tv for about 25 minutes before I had to head back to work and this is what I noticed.

The pop ins where none existent... Maybe they did appear but I didn't notice any... no buildings or trees popping out of thin air.

If you where like me and thought that you would be blindly driving into structures, then wash away your fears cause the game runs just fine!

Now I'm just counting down the hours till 5pm rolls by, so that I can get back to running folks over!

Are you talking about the same pop-in issues as Dead Rising? You used to walk in to a store and nothing loads until a second or two after you are in?

I don't think Rockstar could've survived releasing another GTA with severe pop-in issues (which frankly is the only description for III, VC and SA).
But perhaps it'll change through the game as more cars, ped's and generally things appear?
Pop in is usually the worst then there's a lot of AI work going on or when you hit very high speeds, forcing the engine to load quickly between several areas (see Morrowind and Oblivion, two other titles with massive pop-in issues).

I actually never noticed it, only when you look carefully and about 200 meters in front of you you could see some houses and trees popping up, although textures sometimes didn't immediately appear (most noticeable when it start a cut-scene)

There are pop in issues they are just really minor and you really have to be looking for them. I saw some textures in some weeds in the abandoned rollercoaster lot pop in but not entire bushes other than that I haven't seen anything. (Also running 720p HDMI)

EDIT: this was the PS3 version btw, it could be worse on the 360.

Please move this conversation to the GTAIV thread.

Ι'm happy to read such statements from users with at least a well accepted creditability. I wouldn't state my impressions cause it would be taken as an anecdotal evidence. But it's enough for me that people like you crash the 5 days existent MYTH. Now, back to the game
I'm in a no-job period, so I have almost 24 hours available during the day!!! Heads In!