Railfanning in Grand Theft Auto IV: Liberty City

Liberty City is patterened after New York City. The game authors went to great lengths to accurately portray many neighborhoods and scenes. Imagine my shock when I'm driving down what looks like the West Side Highway in Manhattan ("Algonquin") when I look up and see... could it be? The old West Side Freight Line, now the High Line, in the process of becoming a park. My friend had all the cheats loaded, so I spawned a helicopter and flew around it... wow, good detail, even with the tracks cutting through the buildings... just like the real thing! I landed on the High Line and started looking around. Cool! Then I spawned a Porsche and drove around a bit... the game authors actually programmed in gravel ballast (the car handles like its on gravel, not pavement). Totally awesome! The track details aren't perfect, but good!

There is also a representation of Grand Central Terminal. You can walk all the way around it, it includes the old Taxi Stand on Vanderbilt Avenue, but you can't enter the building from any door or window I could see. No marks identifying it as Grand Central.

Over in "Alderney" (New Jersey) there is an excellent replica of Hoboken Terminal. The sign outside says "Liberty Terminal" in NJT style. All the details are there, from the ferry slips to the copper facade! They removed the "DLW" lettering, though. Again, you can walk all the way around the terminal, but you can't get in. The authors really did their research, there is a long park on a pier nearby, just like in Hoboken.

The Subways are also very well done. The cars look like representations of the old Budd stainless steel cars. And there is a good representation of the elevated IRT lines in northern Manhattan- even down to where the Broadway line emerges from the tunnel and onto an elevated structure through the Manhattan Valley.

Plenty other details abound... didn't find a Penn Station/MSG complex, but haven't explored the whole city yet.

-otto-

That's very true the LTA cars look like NYCTA R33s or R38s. The only thing the were missing was express tracks but you can skip stops by picking one instead of waiting for the train to arrive there.