Perhaps a better word to describe IV's driving is 'detailed' - you feel the differences between the different vehicles, the contours of the road, you can't magically turn perfect corners without braking or come to an instant stop at 100mph so you have to engage more to control the car by braking earlier etc, extra small details like being ejected from the window or being able to deform the car extensively or having the option of being able to leave the engine on or off etc are present, the physics of the game in general are more detailed and this extends to driving.
But is driving a car in any GTA game like real life? Also no. Is it like driving a car in real life? No.
