Holy Crap! Grand Theft Auto 5’s Map is Huge

GTA 5’s map is huge—like really huge. Here’s how big it actually is, in scale. The image is a fan-made map based on information provided by Rockstar Games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Theft Auto 5‘s map is huge. It’s a fact that comes as little to no surprise to anyone who’s been following Rockstar Games’ progress over the years. It’s bigger than any of the previous games in the series, and that’s just what we’ve seen of the game. It spans from the ranges of Mount Chiliad all the way down to whatever the name of the bay area is in Los Santos, whereupon you can opt to go diving out into the open sea for even more vast locations to explore—underwater.

 

Heck, the area in the game is so big that Rockstar has described it to be five times larger than Red Dead Redemption‘s map. According to the studio, Grand Theft Auto 5‘s Los Santos map is bigger than Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV combined. As I mentioned before, there’s wilderness, a military base, and even an ocean floor for you to explore underwater. It’s just that huge.

To give you some sense of scale, a redditor named C-Ron has underlaid fan-made version of GTA 5‘s map beneath those of previous games in the series to showcase just how large the game actually is. If you shoved everything to one side, you could find room to fit in Red Dead Redemption‘s map, and then some.

Keep in mind that the map scale is just an estimation of how big the game’s area actually is. Until Rockstar themselves release an official map, all we can do is speculate as best we can.

Contributed by Ian Miles Cheong

 

Related articles

• Play the market, race bikes, flush body parts in Grand Theft Auto 5 gameplay trailer (polygon.com)
• GTA V: Rockstar Reveals 5 Minutes of Gameplay Footage & a Look at Los Santos (grizzlybomb.com)

GTA 5 Release: Beautiful UI Sounds

Something we have been thinking about lately is how the sounds of GTA V will resonate with us.

There are two types of sounds we’re looking forward to in Grand Theft Auto V.

UX or user interface sounds and ambient sounds.

GTA 5 UI Sounds

The user interface sounds of GTA have always struck a chord with me. It’s something we usually overlook despite how prominent it is.

We still get a nostalgic feeling when we hear that “merp” sound from selecting something in the SA map.

We also loved the sounds of GTA IV.

That symphonic interlude that plays when you complete a mission.

Really, we can’t wait to hear the sounds of GTA V.

It’s usually the first thing you notice about a GTA.

If you stand in the center of Liberty City and pay close attention you will hear the ambiance of the streets.

The sounds of car tires driving over the pavement and the wind whisking through the buildings.

Even when there are no cars or pedestrians these ambient sounds will play. We really can’t wait to be standing in GTA V’s desert hearing the caws of vultures over head, or in the forest hearing the gentle hum of crickets, or on Del Perro pier hearing the seagulls and the tide.

We think it’d be sweet if the “mission complete” music was different depending on which area you’re in.

So, in the ghetto you’d hear something similar to San Andreas’, in the Vinewood areas some classy music, desert some western music like Red Dead Redemption etc.

In terms of ambient sounds, something GTA IV missed was background chatter. There was the occasional guy commenting on perverted things but not any constant talking.

One thing Sleeping Dogs actually did alright was ambient sounds. There was this area where you could hear everyone talking, and some kitchen equipment clashing together and everything, it was quite nice.

We think that the repeated UI sounds that we hear in the games that we play get imprinted on our brains along with the emotional and intellectual impulse that represents the event, so that hearing those sounds even years later evokes a bit of that same impulse.

Indeed, most people generally liked the choices of UI sounds in the GTA games (and Red Dead Redemption and even L.A. Noire).

The ambient sound design in the Rockstar games is great. We liked the echo-y, hard-surfaced urban ambient sound in GTA III.

And GTA IV does indeed sound like the living breathing city, as was mentioned above.

These subtle details, urban sounds and traffic noise really do make any game or film come alive and are what we love about Rockstar, we cannot wait to hear Los Santos.

 

Related articles

• ‘GTA 5’ will feature advanced police tactics, new screen released (Photos) (read360.wordpress.com)
• ★ GTA 5 – 9 NEW Screenshots w/ Analysis & PS3 GTA V Bundle (datumart.com)