GTAV world size vs. GTAIV.

[Alvarez]

So how big is the world being loaded, in square kilometers or miles?

Is there a way to measure it?

 

Long ago, i saw a video of a guy achieving a high enough speed flying circles with endless acceleration of a Cargo Plane to get to the border of the world (past the breakdown border, he was too fast for the script to kick in)

I guess that acceleration glitch was patched, but judging from video, would you still be able to calculate the distance?

[Radius95]

Its 3 gazillion square miles

[Cutter De Blanc]

Someone ran the math a while ago, it's around 28 sq. miles.

[ABCDOGGY ginette]

If you're talking about the net land mass of Blaine County and Los Santos County, it is about 18 or 19 square miles. It was calculated alot of times around the time of release in 2013.

 

If you include the ocean surrounding, I guess it would be the 28 square miles @Cutter De Blanc is talking about.

Edited December 13, 2014 by ABCDOGGY ginette

[CarnageRacing00]

It's way bigger, that's all I really know. I made a comparison video to show the difference in map size between GTA San Andreas, GTA IV, and GTA V.

 

The only thing the video shows is that ALL of GTA:SA's map is roughly the size of GTA IV's map, maybe bigger, maybe smaller (I've heard that it's bigger)... and that GTA V's map appears as if it's roughly DOUBLE the size of GTA:SA's map AND GTA IV's map combined. Now, bear in mind we're talking about actual land mass, so this includes all dry land, not just cities and roadways. Even if we WERE only counting the actual city, then V's Los Santos by itself, not counting anything beyond the Vinewood sign, STILL appears to be larger than IV's ENTIRE map and maybe even SA's entire map.

 

http://youtu.be/dHSLuUDUTRE

Edited December 13, 2014 by MichiganMuscle77

[Crimson Flam3s]

For some reason Liberty city as a whole feels much bigger than los santos.

 

Probably has to do with the higher top speed and the city layout that's all packed in.

[DEERxBanshee]

For some reason Liberty city as a whole feels much bigger than los santos.

 

Probably has to do with the higher top speed and the city layout that's all packed in.

Yeah Los Santos is more stretched out and has a lot of major roads (straight aways) Liberty City is a lot more compact with more minor roads and such.

[mr quick]

Also, 90% of V's map is mountains on which there are no activities.

[CarnageRacing00]

Also, 90% of V's map is mountains on which there are no activities.

 

90%? Really?

 

Also, I guess i'm playing the game wrong, I've had some of teh most fun I've had in this game on the mountains.

[Crimson Flam3s]

Also, 90% of V's map is mountains on which there are no activities.

Gotta agree with this sadly.

 

Most of the mountains are lame, except for chilliad and maybe mount gordo.

 

They got little vegetation and nothing interesting.

 

They should have used all that space for some deep forest maybe with a cave or something that makes you wanna explore. Hell make phone signal and radar not work there.

 

Even police will be affected and choppers can't look for you since some magnetic force ala bermuda's triangle affects their instruments therefore cops will look for you on foot and maybe use k9's..

 

Idk but it sounds epic lol

[79'Blazer4x4]

 

Also, 90% of V's map is mountains on which there are no activities.

Gotta agree with this sadly.

 

Most of the mountains are lame, except for chilliad and maybe mount gordo.

 

They got little vegetation and nothing interesting.

 

They should have used all that space for some deep forest maybe with a cave or something that makes you wanna explore. Hell make phone signal and radar not work there.

 

Even police will be affected and choppers can't look for you since some magnetic force ala bermuda's triangle affects their instruments therefore cops will look for you on foot and maybe use k9's..

 

Idk but it sounds epic lol

 

I agree. Of course the 90% thing is a huge exageration but way too much of V's map consists of mountains. I think it would've been fine to completely get rid of Mt. Chilliad and make Mt. Gordo a bit bigger to compensate for that, then just have one huge dense forest in the place of Mt. Chilliad that has a larger logging facility, the occasional cabin(including some abandoned ones with interiors like SA had, though obviously more detailed and not just one big blank room) and maybe even a hidden farm around the middle of the forest with a few Fieldmasters, a tractor(old style) and a Combine. There shouldn't be too much in this forest though or it would just be overcrowded like the rest of V's map and constantly feel like you're 10 feet away from a major settlement or road.

Of course none of this would ever happen(would it even be possible to have that many trees on screen at once?) but a man can dream.

Edited December 14, 2014 by 79'Blazer4x4

[Crimson Flam3s]

 

 

 

Also, 90% of V's map is mountains on which there are no activities.

Gotta agree with this sadly.

 

Most of the mountains are lame, except for chilliad and maybe mount gordo.

 

They got little vegetation and nothing interesting.

 

They should have used all that space for some deep forest maybe with a cave or something that makes you wanna explore. Hell make phone signal and radar not work there.

 

Even police will be affected and choppers can't look for you since some magnetic force ala bermuda's triangle affects their instruments therefore cops will look for you on foot and maybe use k9's..

 

Idk but it sounds epic lol

 

I agree. Of course the 90% thing is a huge exageration but way too much of V's map consists of mountains. I think it would've been fine to completely get rid of Mt. Chilliad and make Mt. Gordo a bit bigger to compensate for that, then just have one huge dense forest in the place of Mt. Chilliad that has a larger logging facility, the occasional cabin(including some abandoned ones with interiors like SA had, though obviously more detailed and not just one big blank room) and maybe even a hidden farm around the middle of the forest with a few Fieldmasters, a tractor(old style) and a Combine. There shouldn't be too much in this forest though or it would just be overcrowded like the rest of V's map and constantly feel like you're 10 feet away from a major settlement or road.

Of course none of this would ever happen(would it even be possible to have that many trees on screen at once?) but a man can dream.

Nice idea lol and yeah that's the feeling I hate, you are never too far from civilization. Maybe I have been playing too much far cry 4...

 

Having that many tress at once is indeed possible. Hell just cause 2 from 2010 did it and it was back on ps3, I know they wanted to emulate that CA feel but they should have done something like that.

 

The baren landscape plus no interiours made this map pretty uninteresting to explore compared to others.

 

You can argue that the map is better designed and more detailed, but the actual wilderness is not that good.

[PhillBellic]

I felt that V's map consisted of way too many mountains.

[Eurotrash]

It's bigger, though it might be difficult to tell at times cause the vehicles are also slightly faster.

[NintendoFanboy]

I'm not sure, but IV's map was too small and got boring real quick. Probably my biggest single disappointment with the entire series was IV's map.

Edited December 14, 2014 by NintendoFanboy

[woggleman]

No matter what your opinion IV's map is obviously smaller.

[woggleman]

People who say V is 90% mountains sound just as ignorant as those who said LC was all grey buildings that looked the same.

[Soadisthebest]

If it had less mountains and more forests then people would complain there aren't enough mountains.

[ManularChimera]

If it had less mountains and more forests then people would complain there aren't enough mountains.

Because of haters.

[DaRkL3AD3R]

It's way bigger, that's all I really know. I made a comparison video to show the difference in map size between GTA San Andreas, GTA IV, and GTA V.

 

The only thing the video shows is that ALL of GTA:SA's map is roughly the size of GTA IV's map, maybe bigger, maybe smaller (I've heard that it's bigger)... and that GTA V's map appears as if it's roughly DOUBLE the size of GTA:SA's map AND GTA IV's map combined. Now, bear in mind we're talking about actual land mass, so this includes all dry land, not just cities and roadways. Even if we WERE only counting the actual city, then V's Los Santos by itself, not counting anything beyond the Vinewood sign, STILL appears to be larger than IV's ENTIRE map and maybe even SA's entire map.

 

http://youtu.be/dHSLuUDUTRE

Thanks for the video. Really puts things into perspective. People always said San Andreas has the bigger map all because it has 3 spread out cities but what they don't account for is the fact that scale is horribly wrong in SA while being only wrong in V.

 

Also glad to see I am not the only one with that annoying flickering sun god rays. sh*t drives me bonkers. Hoping it gets fixed in a patch soon.

[Mr_Leone]

GTA IV felt bigger to me because of how big the buildings were. Also, foot traffic seemed bigger when not going at top speeds. The little alleyways that you'd see all over the city. LS is nice, but downtown doesn't feel like downtown. I don't see the sprawl of suburbia and it makes the city feel small IMO. Paleto Bay is really nice but just too small. The mountains are nice, but they aren't useful to me and have no vegetation or wildlife. V is a great map but some of it feels useless to me.

[Ben73]

As big as V's map is, almost everything feels too small.

Except for the amount of Mountains and the rich parts of LS.

 

Things that are too small include Downtown LS, Middle Class LS suburbs, Desert, Forests, Paleto Bay.

 

I think Mt Josiah is the most pointless mountain in the game, so I'd rather see that gone to make the things I listed above a little bigger.

[wiizardii]

For some reason Liberty city as a whole feels much bigger than los santos.

 

Probably has to do with the higher top speed and the city layout that's all packed in.

Yes, but if you drive from alderney to say south bohan, it would not take more time than driving lets say, from vespucci beach to mirror park.

[Algonquin Assassin]

The only reason I can think why Liberty City feels bigger is due to being split up into islands. However both cities feel about the same size to me.

 

Of all the criticisms I have regarding Los Santos physical size isn't it. It's everything else within the area. The size IMO is spot on.

[daltontigerboy]

I thought V's map was 49 square miles?

[Osho]

I thought V's map was 49 square miles?

Yup, overall! Compared to SA 13.6 square miles, and IV 6.8 square miles ( according to online sources )

The explorerable areas will actually drop it further by few miles of all three which I think its quite difficult to estimate.

[Alvarez]

But how big are the game worlds?

I mean not the explorable maps, but map, ocean and the area behind the "engine breakdown border" till the edge of displayable graphics?

 

We have heard complaints of map size limitation in GTA4, so how much space does the RAGE allow?

And are these symmetrical in all directions? Because if not, it may be implied, that something is going to be placed in bigger areas, especially on NG.

[CarnageRacing00]

But how big are the game worlds?

I mean not the explorable maps, but map, ocean and the area behind the "engine breakdown border" till the edge of displayable graphics?

 

We have heard complaints of map size limitation in GTA4, so how much space does the RAGE allow?

And are these symmetrical in all directions? Because if not, it may be implied, that something is going to be placed in bigger areas, especially on NG.

 

Don't know about that.

 

I know in SA, you could drive a boat or a plane "forever" in any one direction, but the moment you turned around, land was always the same distance away.

 

Meaning, whether you flew a play straight North across the ocean for 10 minutes, or 30 minutes, when you finally turned around, land would still be the exact same distance away from your turn around point no matter how long you'd flown. Some think that you're not actually moving once you reach a certain distance, but i think you are - i just think the ocean repeats itself constantly, and when your turn around, the map is redrawn near your location.

[Alvarez]

In SA, you could alter your course for 45 degrees according to your compass, and if the navigation dot had passed a half of distance during a fixed amount of time, then a statement about your vehicle being stuck on invisible barrier would be true.

 

We could also measure the distance between the center of the map/shoreline to "breakdown border" using speed of vehicle and passed time.

 

This way we could find out, whether the breakdown barrier is circular, rectangular, square or even polygonal around the map.

 

This could give us a hint about reserved areas for, example, Las Venturas placement.

[CarnageRacing00]

I sincerely doubt any additions will be made to the map as it sits. I think, if LV or SF are eventually added, it will be a loading screen triggered by a marker at the airport, and for GTAO, essentially an entirely new lobby. That would be the best way to deal with it honestly.

Edited December 14, 2014 by MichiganMuscle77