GTA IV, the latest game released by Rockstar, has already registered its first record. According to the data obtained by the British gaming site MCV from ChartTrack, the official UK gaming industry monitor, GTA IV is the fastest selling game ever in a 24 hour period.

In its first day of availability, Rockstar’s GTA IV sold 609,000 units, surpassing the previous record held by none other than GTA: San Andreas. Back in 2004, GTA: San Andreas sold 501,000 copies in its first day. 

ChartTrack also revealed that 335,000 copies were sold on Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Halo 3, released last year in September exclusively in Xbox 360, sold 266,000 units in its first day.

Sony’s PS3 scored its own record, because GTA IV sold 274,000 copies on PS3, outselling the previous record holder, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, which sold 80,000 units in its first day. ChartTrack will release the figures for the whole week next Tuesday.

Analysts forecasted that more than six million copies of the game will be bought worldwide during the first week of sale.

Meanwhile it seems like the guys from Rockstar’s headquarters do not have the time to celebrate the success of their game, because they are working around the clock to fix the freezing problem which reportedly plagues the game.

According to the various reports from the forums and blog it seems like the freezing problem occurs especially on the PS3 60GB version, but it affects also the other versions of PS3 and the Xbox 360. 

Brian Crecente from the gaming site Kotaku  reported that he has spoken with a Rockstar’s employee who acknowledged the problem and said the tech folks are working to figure out what is causing the issue. So far, Rockstar did not release any official comment about this problem.