Map doesn't feel big

[Ferocious Banger]

Hello, people, I just wanted to know whether I am the only person on the internet not saying "The map is huge!!". Seriously, the maps of San Andreas and Red Dead Redemption felt bigger to me. Now, I know that the map is, in actuality, of the size that is the summation of the sizes of GTA IV, GTA:SA and RDR combined. However, I believe that there are two factors that are working against the illusion of "bigness" GTA V is trying to project onto us:

 

-The draw distance:

The draw-distance in the game is simply incredible! I just can't fathom how the game is drawing such distances running on these now nearly out-dated systems. But this is the first hindrance to the "illusion" that I was talking about earlier in this thread.

 

GTA:San Andreas benefited from the poor draw distance. Every corner of the map felt far apart from each other, for there was no way of seeing one corner from another.

 

Red Dead Redemption, athough it drew distances almost as much as V does ( correct me if I am wrong ), it had a clever enough map design; you cannot see the Nekoti rock from most of the Mexican part of the game, and the deserts felt really far away from the snowy northern part of the game. It also had the luxury of relatively slower mode of transport - horses. Everything felt bigger due to the aforementioned reasons.

 

With GTA V, however, everything can be see from everywhere. I don't get the "isolation" that I get from the deserts of RDR and GTA:SA in the Grand Senora desert. Why? Because, for examples:

-The radio tower near Vinewood: That can be seen quite easily.

-Mount Chilliad. The forested mountain can be seen in some detail from the desert of Sandy Shores. It doesn't even feel like it's a "miles away" mountain.

 

Leave that. Climbing up the Mt.Chiliad and seeing the whole of Los Santos. Yes, whole of it - even the Vincent Thomas bridge in the distance - is illusion shattering. The "lost in the country" feel will simply not be there so long as the incredible draw distance is in a game with a game with a scale that doesn't match it.

 

-The in-game GPS meter:

This shrinks the whole game down exponentially more than the first major reason does. A total of 9 miles from North-South; that includes the "metropolitan" city, the desert AND the forests. Does this not break anybody else' illusion? Couldn't they have had distances that fit into the internal logics of the game? Or hell, couldn't they have not not included the distance meter in the first place? When two different logics - one that is consistent with the real world and the other that is consistent with the in-game world and lore - collide, it really isn't pleasant.

 

So, yeah, what do you feel?

Edited September 22, 2013 by Ferocious Banger

[ceIozzip]

ok

[baskerwil]

I must admit, I never look at the distance meter. I do remember that a drive from downtown LS to Paleto Bay felt like a proper long drive, so I was very content with that. I have no complaints. Well I do, but none map-related

[Ferocious Banger]

ok

Was this even necessary? or was this written to look "funny"? Well, it doesn't.

 

Anyway, any way to bind the illusion back, guys?

[StarVisitor]

Yes, you are the only person along with 3 trolls on this forum. Congratulations.

[dimitrispgr]

Actually it DOES.

 

The map has the IDEAL size.

 

Not to big, not to small.

 

And so many different paths to drive from one location to other.

 

I LOVE IT.

[ryan_J]

ok

He actually made some good points, I think the map feels good enough but the guys points are actually quite well structured and valid.

[GTAspotter]

I agree, it feels huge but small at the same time.

[Punk Noodles]

Map is perfect in every way. Climbing Mount Chiliad on a dirt bike was an amazing experience.

[grantelicious]

Yeh I've been playing GTA:SA MTA and the map feels so much bigger than V. There are less locations and less density in V and only one city makes it feel smaller too. The scale is a lot grander, everything is bigger so it feels like there is less there and most of the map is nothing. They needed at least another city in the game, the map could have fitted it easily, though there is nothing stopping them from adding more in GTA Online.

 

All my friends who I've talked to said the game is disappointing after hearing all the statements of how big it was, yet it feels smaller some how.

 

There is also not a lot to do, the lack of interiors is very disappointing.

Edited September 22, 2013 by grantelicious

[Ferocious Banger]

Yes, you are the only person along with 3 trolls on this forum. Congratulations.

Oh, please. I'm not one of those trolls who have flooded the forums in the past month. I'm just expressing my honest opinion here. No harm intended.

 

The game is absolutely brilliant in every other way!

[ZZCOOL]

the map is tiny but it's so diverse that it's hard to tell but when you are flying with a helicopter you can see how tiny it is theres two or three big mountains at the end of it thats it then theres nothing more of it

 

the entire countryside all of it can be seen in one screen

[Ferocious Banger]

I agree, it feels huge but small at the same time.

This I feel too. Some times, the game feels big, but it doesn't quite feel "right" most of the times.

[Equity]

The map feels huge! I don't know how you can see it as small, it takes a lot of time to go from LS to Mt. Chiliad.

[ryan_J]

 

I agree, it feels huge but small at the same time.

This I feel too. Some times, the game feels big, but it doesn't quite feel "right" most of the times.

 

 

Another think that contributes to this is that V has a more realistic transition between the different areas of the map, the change fro city to country side and visa-versa is quite gradual. In Sanandreas it was very forced and the transition happened quite fast so when you was in the desert for example you instantly felt worlds away from the City of LS.

[Juzt]

I always thought they got the distance counter wrong. what the game counts as a mile feels up to double it's estimation to me. Hell I'd even go more than that sometime. 1 measly mile seems to take forever.

 

1 mile = more like 2 or 3 to me. put that judgement into the in game counter and it would feel a lot bigger

[morx555]

don't know that you think I drove today about 30 min just travelling around the map and it felt big.

Not big as I wanted but still bigger than 2 SA map

[Paradoxical]

I agree that the draw distance does give the illusion the map is smaller, along with the fact the GPS makes it feel even more smaller. But yeah, it's still a big map. I've completed the main storyline and still haven't explored much of the map in detail, it just feels smaller because of that draw distance.

 

Of course, if you've ever played Just Cause 2 you'd know that its massive draw distance didn't make you feel the same. It made you feel how massive the whole map was rather than like GTA V's makes you feel.

 

The in-game GPS's mileage system is a major factor, but if they had done like 200 miles from north to south instead of 9 miles, you'd be traveling a whole mile every few meters which would kill the immersion even more. You could argue that yeah, maybe they should've just left that feature out, but I'd disagree on the fact that most like to know the distance between them and their objective.

 

By the way, nice detailed thread rather than just going "duh map feelz small yo".

Edited September 22, 2013 by Paradoxical

[Osho]

Map is big enough, the draw distance equally better than GTA in past!

It feels small but it isn't if you reach from one point to other.

Cars are meant to drive you fast around the map but even in real life, look around the world around you it's kind of realistic image draw distance captures unlike any other GTA.

[IveGotNoValues]

Nope. This map feels way bigger than San Andreas ever did. I just can't understand the people that are calling this map small...

[Boxman108]

I think it could have done with some mixing up. It's certainly big but I feel it is almost too obvious it was designed specifically for being in a video game. I found how the world in San Andreas to be designed a bit better, outside the fact that it was all boxed in. I liked how the freeways and highways split off into other directions rather than simply going along the outer edge of each island. V wouldn't necessarily need island or anything like that, but I think they could have done something a bit more ambitious with stuff like roads.

[GR7]

Another thing is the cars seem much faster this time around, so even with los santos which is technically bigger than liberty city it feels much smaller since you get around it much faster.

[Ferocious Banger]

 

 

I agree, it feels huge but small at the same time.

This I feel too. Some times, the game feels big, but it doesn't quite feel "right" most of the times.

 

 

Another think that contributes to this is that V has a more realistic transition between the different areas of the map, the change fro city to country side and visa-versa is quite gradual. In Sanandreas it was very forced and the transition happened quite fast so when you was in the desert for example you instantly felt worlds away from the City of LS.

 

Agreed. I appreciate the fact that Rockstar have tried to make it realistic this way, but that realism here means that the map reaches it's limit before we know it.

[Smith John]

Yes, you are the only person along with 3 trolls on this forum. Congratulations.

 

Wow, such an insightful and provoking contribution.

 

I have to agree with the OP here. Red Dead Redemption DID feel bigger to me too, as did San Andreas. I can't really add anything to give my opinion that OP hasn't already explained. I still love the game, but pre-release, I was expecting a much larger scale *pun intended* of world isolation and mass.

[ArcherTheGreat]

Here's a tip. Buy LA Noire, and the moment you finish the first few missions, just free roam around the map. Drive from Central LA, on the bridge over the LA Storm Drains, and drive up all the way to Hollywood Boulevard.

 

You'll thank Rockstar for optimizing the size of the map.

[Dope_0110]

I'm glad you're not one of those ''OMG IT'S SMALL!!!!'' guys. You have a point with what you said, SA felt huge because of poor distance and also because it had three cities.

In people's mind three cities of SA will always look bigger than V's one because it's hard for people to grasp the actual scale cities.

[Savo7en]

the map is tiny but it's so diverse that it's hard to tell but when you are flying with a helicopter you can see how tiny it is theres two or three big mountains at the end of it thats it then theres nothing more of it

 

the entire countryside all of it can be seen in one screen

 

You can also see all of the Sun from earth but does that mean the Sun is tiny too?

[TheKrigeron]

I think you're right, and I hate you for it

 

I haven't broken the illusion, now the magic is gone, GONE!

[Smith John]

Here's a tip. Buy LA Noire, and the moment you finish the first few missions, just free roam around the map. Drive from Central LA, on the bridge over the LA Storm Drains, and drive up all the way to Hollywood Boulevard.

 

You'll thank Rockstar for optimizing the size of the map.

 

LA Noire - bland and copy 'n paste looking map

 

GTA - detailed and variable environmental map

 

I'm glad you're not one of those ''OMG IT'S SMALL!!!!'' guys. You have a point with what you said, SA felt huge because of poor distance and also because it had three cities.

 

In people's mind three cities of SA will always look bigger than V's one because it's hard for people to grasp the actual scale cities.

 

Yeah, I remember seeing one of those draw distance mods for San Andreas on YouTube, where you could see the whole map from the air, and it looked freakin' tiny compared to how it felt on my PS2!

 

Still, I prefer having a great draw distance over blurry fog any day. The views you get of the map in V...RDR too, are f*cking spectacular and beautiful, especially at night. Compare that to San Andreas - standing on Chilliad, you couldn't see sh*t.

[73duster]

If there was an 1850's cheat, where the entire map's vehicles were replaced with horse and carriages a la RDR, I bet nobody would say the map wasn't so big.