Does GTA 6 really need a huge map?

Everyone knows this map. Even if you aren't a gamer, you might recognize it. It's undoubtedly one of the most iconic maps in gaming, amongst other classics from Rockstar.

Just looking at them brings back nostalgic memories of countless hours driving around these places, and you can probably name a good few areas out of your mind, since they're all relatively small, but packed with details. This is how Rockstar created their iconic maps, which we know so well today. It's why wishing for a massive GTA VI map might miss the mark entirely.

If you can point out one negative thing about GTA V's map, you're probably quick to point out that the map is clearly split into two areas, with the busy city center in the lower part of the game, and the mountainous countryside that served little purpose with most of its areas feeling empty and not worth exploring. Despite Rockstar's efforts to populate the entire world, you will see most players always sticking to the city center, because up in Blaine County, there's little to do. The place doesn't encourage you to stay there, other than some missions forcing you to go there, despite it taking two thirds of the map.

The mountainside is greatly underutilized, and it only helps make the map feel bigger than it is. Which, don't get me wrong, Rockstar is a master at creating maps. Los Santos being an already 10 year old map is an incredible perception of its real life parody Los Angeles.

There is no neighborhood that feels like it was neglected during its development. You can arguably say that they just prioritized the wrong things, and made some flawed decisions with the layout. Too much countryside, not enough city.

Too many barren mountains, not enough forests, and a massive lake with no exploration. In the end, GTA V was developed for the PS3 and Xbox One generation, which greatly contributed to the fact that the upper part of the game feels like it had so much potential, but didn't achieve it. Even in beta screenshots, you can see there was way more vegetation planned, but it was ultimately scrapped in the final game, which would certainly favor the open spaces.

You can tell that the map wasn't made to be played on for 10 straight years, speaking for GTA Online then. Apart from a map expansion whose main purpose was for a heist, there weren't many additions to the map other than reworks of some buildings. Even with the next gen version of GTA V, we still have yet to see any real map expansion, which a majority of the player base had hoped for.

Since Rockstar was able to build an entire city just for two story mode missions, similar to how Guarma in Red Dead Redemption 2 was also used for a couple of missions, although it is set in a different setting, Red Dead Redemption 2 in terms of map design was a huge improvement over GTA V, with every area greatly utilized. Looking at past GTA maps, especially San Andreas, it stands out as the better choice for many. Despite being half the size, it may even feel larger than GTA V's map, mainly because everything was so well spread out and diverse, encouraging exploration.

Traveling from point A to B would always get you in an area that doesn't feel dull, which is also thanks to its square map, whereas in GTA V, you will always find yourself moving in the same direction. Hopefully, Rockstar will combat these issues in GTA VI, its map which is confirmed to be set in a fictional version of Miami, Florida, already solving the mountain problem as there are none in Florida. Although Rockstar never explicitly said "Only Vice City" but labeled the entire state as Leonita, it's safe to expect that there will be more than just one city.

One user compared the game trailer and leaked footage locations with their real-life counterparts and pinned them on Google Maps, which really puts in perspective how many cities and how diverse the map could be. It will undoubtedly make the game's waters more exciting and using boats more meaningful, as there wasn't really a reason to use boats in GTA V due to its landmass. Based on the trailer, and primarily the 2022 leaks fans were already able to map out a good portion of what could be the GTA VI map, and with that data, they created this detailed concept map.

Of course, the concept map was inspired by Florida's overall shape, but this is still subject to change, since some areas lack data and are therefore kept blank. Some trailer scenes took place in these locations on the concept map, whilst other areas were realized with the help of the leaked footage and the world events, which consisted of over 1,000 event names, similar to GTA V Strangers and Freaks missions. If we compare GTA V to GTA VI's concept map, they overall look similar.

They're both islands surrounded by waters, which also seems like the only logical thing for a GTA game, as you have to count in aircrafts as transportation instead of horses. This concept map may be disappointing for some, as there were long speculations and hopes for a huge map. One popular discussion was to combine all previous cities into one, or even to include the entire United States since the crew too managed to achieve this, which is overall an absurd thing to hope for.

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Going for a smaller map allows Rockstar to recreate Miami and parts of Florida more accurately and in-depth without other areas having to suffer from it. Another thing that some fans didn't appreciate was GTA V's unlocked map at the start, unlike previous games where some areas were closed until you completed certain missions. For those fans, the locked areas might return, as one popular theory suggests that Lucia's ankle monitor portrayed on the cover art indicates that parts of the map will be restricted again.

In a 2012 notes document, Rockstar wrote down the ideas for the next GTA, which along with Miami and a "small town" included making all buildings accessible with modeled interiors, something that's high on the wish list for many, or at least the majority of buildings accessible, which is really only a viable outlook by going for a smaller map size. Back in 2019, Rockstar was even scouting places in Florida where they wanted to take pictures of some interiors for research purposes. In GTA V, just a handful of buildings were enterable, which greatly contributed to a lack of player exploration and interaction, especially for the single player, as upon completion there wasn't really any interesting thing to do other than purchasing properties.

For most, it was seen as a downgrade from the past GTAs. It is for whatever reason they did not include more accessible buildings like the iconic fast food places and gyms. Luckily, GTA VI already looks like it will incorporate many activities.

If we go by the leaked world events, we're going to be getting a lot more compared to GTA V, such as fishing, street races, and the return of basketball. In the same article that revealed large parts of North and South America were cut, we also got to know Rockstar will add new areas to the map over time. Perhaps the canceled story mode DLCs for GTA V would have refined the map.

Starting from a smaller map than initially planned will certainly benefit everyone, both the players and the developers creating it. Even back in October, a former Rockstar developer told in an interview that he hoped for GTA VI's map to be smaller and denser, boasting memorable navigation in less wide open spaces than we had with V. In terms of what I'm hoping for, I personally would like it to bring in a little bit in terms of size of the world.

I think a smaller, but more densely packed location would maybe bring back some of that memorable navigation that I loved from the original. GTA VI really doesn't need a huge map. Just a logical increase over GTA V's map should already be enough, but it should learn from the weak points of GTA V's map, which had the potential to be better.

Ultimately, the size of the map doesn't really matter if your perception tells otherwise. No map can be perfect. But if Rockstar can achieve the same level of city density, immersiveness, and balance throughout the entire map, making each area an interactive place worth returning to, we might be getting close to a perfect open world map.