GTA IV fans just got one of the biggest holiday gifts in years—literally called “Christmas” by some in the community. A massive pre-release build of Grand Theft Auto IV from late 2007 has leaked online, and dataminers are already uncovering a treasure trove of features Rockstar almost shipped but ultimately cut. From fully modeled working ferries to zombie minigame assets and altered radio tracks, this leak is giving us a rare peek behind the curtain of one of gaming’s most beloved titles.
Xbox 360 devkit bought for $5 at car boot sale came with 2007 beta build of GTA IV with unreleased assets — Version includes cut ferry system, zombies, and more | Tom's Hardware
The story starts with an unassuming car boot sale in Edinburgh. GTA Forums user janmatant scored a white “phat” Xbox 360 development kit (XDK) for just £5 from a scrapyard seller. It still had the original Rockstar North sticker on it. He dumped the entire hard drive—around 118GB of files—onto the Internet Archive, and the beta hunting community went into overdrive. The build dates back to roughly November 2007, just months before the game’s April 2008 launch. It’s playable with debug tools on real hardware, and the files are now being dissected in detail.
Working Ferries That Almost Made It Into Liberty City
One of the coolest discoveries? The Liberty Ferries were actually functional in this build. Remember seeing those big green-and-white boats chugging across the water in GTA IV’s very first trailer? They were supposed to move back and forth like the in-game trains, complete with proper models and textures. Dataminers like HeySlickThatsMe pulled the assets straight from the files.
Former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that the ferries were cut late in development. The main issues? Collision problems galore—NPCs and vehicles kept clipping or stacking on top of each other in weird ways. It was just too buggy to keep in the final game, even though the models were basically done. Seeing them here really drives home how much Rockstar experimented with Liberty City’s liveliness right up until launch.
Zombies? Yes, Rockstar Toyed With a Minigame
We’ve heard whispers for years about zombie assets hidden in GTA IV files, but this leak takes it to another level. Researchers Lukakion and HeySlickThatsMe found a bunch of files with “Zomb” in the naming convention—straight-up references to a zombie minigame. There are unused pickups, animations, and even hospital-style gurneys that scream undead survival mode.
Obbe Vermeij chimed in again, saying the artists were always sneaking zombies into prototypes (“artists were always trying to put zombies in things”), but it never got very far. Still, these leftover assets prove Rockstar at least played around with the idea of a bonus undead mode, maybe something arcade-style like the later GTA Online heists or club missions. It’s wild to think how different the game could have felt with a zombie twist.
Radio Stations, Cut Dialogue, and Tons of Tiny Tweaks
The audio side of the leak is equally fascinating. Over two dozen songs across 11 radio stations were swapped out or changed compared to the final release. Some placeholder tracks and intro voiceovers are still in there too. Cutscenes got a major overhaul as well—different camera angles, extended scenes, and alternate dialogue takes. One standout example: Niko and his ULP contact refer to the “FBI” instead of the in-game “FIB” in several lines.
Minor visual tweaks pop up everywhere. Some vehicles have slightly different details, NPCs sport alternate clothing, and even a few story characters look a little different in their beta models. It all adds up to a version of Liberty City that feels just a bit more raw and experimental than the polished final product we got.
This leak is still fresh, and the community is far from done digging. More details are popping up by the hour on GTA Forums, and fans are already talking about trying to make the beta build fully playable again. Whether you’re a die-hard GTA IV fan who’s logged hundreds of hours in Liberty City or just love behind-the-scenes dev stories, this one feels special.
What’s your favorite cut feature from the leak so far—the ferries, the zombie hints, or something else entirely? Drop your thoughts below, and keep an eye on RockstarINTEL for more updates as the beta hunt continues. Rockstar games never stop surprising us, even 18 years later.
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