GTA 6’s map fixes the biggest problem with GTA 5’s Los Santos
Rockstar Games softened the blow ofGrand Theft Auto 6’s delayby dropping a second trailer and revealing a ton of screenshots. It’s given us a better look at Vice City and the state of Leonida, and it’s clear that Rockstar has learned from GTA 5’s biggest mistake.
There’s so much variety inGTA 6’s map. Pearly white beaches, a dense urban metropolis, neon-lit party strips, serene forests, tropical islands, and vast marshlands – it has it all.
These areas look gorgeous, but more importantly, they’re distinct. You’ll know exactly where you are on the map, and it’ll feel totally different from anywhere else.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved GTA 5, but GTA 6 has highlighted its biggest problem: the map.
GTA 6’s map is a major improvement over GTA 5
The city of Los Santos is a marvel, but Blaine County… eesh. This barren desert wasteland has almost no variety.
There’s a forest, there’s a desert, a desert with some buildings, a desert with a lake, and a desert with a mountain. Maybe I’m being overly critical to make a point, but you get it.
It feels like a waste of California’s diverse geography, but Rockstar nailed it with Leonida.Based on Florida, its wildly varied landscape is perfect for keeping a video game fresh and distinct.
We’ve seen lots of differentactivitiesin the trailer and images, and the wide range of biomes perfectly lends itself to these. You can scuba dive in the colorful coral reefs, fish off the coast, kayak through the national park, track game in the forest, and even hunt alligators in the wetlands.
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With each region being so distinct with its own unique activities, it’s almost going to feel like a different game each time you travel to a new one.
They nailed this inRed Dead Redemption 2, and it’s the same reason San Andreas felt so much bigger.
It had Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco), and Las Venturas (Las Vegas), all surrounded by very different terrain, with a sandy desert to the north, grassy farmland to the southeast, and a lush forest to the southwest.
They were all connected by winding roads that took time to navigate through, and this had the incredible effect of making the smaller map feelbigger.
With so little variety, GTA 5 didn’t feel like you were actually visiting different locations, which made the (objectively quite big) map feel small.
GTA 6 won’t have this problem. We don’t know what size the map will be (although it looks enormous), but no matter how large it is, the variety is going to make it feel bigger, more interesting, and a major improvement over Grand Theft Auto 5.
If you’re looking for more GTA 6, you can check out10 details you missed in Trailer 2,the soundtrack so far, and anunannounced location revealed through a screenshot.
