Biggest map by your personal feel

[Ondr4H]

What map makes you feel lost? For me its definitely GTA:SA map with some of dirtiest tricks to make it feel like real deal.

 

Second map is GTA IV, because on foot with all these skyscrapers makes me feel so tiny.

 

On the other hand Vice City feels so small and GTA V map, isnt real deal by any mean, which is sad.

Edited September 5 by Ondr4H

[Algonquin Assassin]

San Andreas is an obvious choice, but for me it loses some points because it has to rely on fog to mask its true scale. 
 

For naturally feeling big this may seem like an odd choice, but GTA III’s Liberty City for three reasons.

 

1) It’s practically restricted to ground level transport making flying a non option unless you can control the Dodo I guess.

 

2) No in game map. Of course not so much now, but in 2001 not having an in game map you could refer to, to get your bearings made the city way bigger than it was.

 

3) Shoreside Vale having landmass so on the horizon especially from Portland it felt like it was far away.

 

I wouldn’t said GTA IV’s Liberty City, but it’s not quite as effective since you can fly albeit in helicopters and the map looks small from afar.

 

 

[DeltaV20]

San Andreas looked gigantic with 30 frames per second

[Ondr4H]

6 minutes ago, DeltaV20 said:

San Andreas looked gigantic with 30 frames per second

For me that trick did fog, Definitive edition videos, kinda ruined it for me...

 

It kinda funny how one route to San Fierro can last decent amount of time, and if is shortcut choosen is three-five minutes.

 

Take some old ass slow car, and definitely it feels like trip when scenic route is choosen.

 

Yeah and Mount Chilliad in GTA:SA is amazing, albeit funny looking but that sense of big mountain is there. GTA V Mount Chilliad is glorified bump.

[atay26]

22 hours ago, Algonquin Assassin said:

San Andreas is an obvious choice, but for me it loses some points because it has to rely on fog to mask its true scale. 
 

For naturally feeling big this may seem like an odd choice, but GTA III’s Liberty City for three reasons.

 

1) It’s practically restricted to ground level transport making flying a non option unless you can control the Dodo I guess.

 

2) No in game map. Of course not so much now, but in 2001 not having an in game map you could refer to, to get your bearings made the city way bigger than it was.

 

3) Shoreside Vale having landmass so on the horizon especially from Portland it felt like it was far away.

 

I wouldn’t said GTA IV’s Liberty City, but it’s not quite as effective since you can fly albeit in helicopters and the map looks small from afar.

 

 

I agree 

[universetwisters]

San Andreas. There was nothing quite like it when it first came out

[Space Cowboy]

There's not that many maps to begin with, so naturally it will be San Andreas for most people . For me one of the main contributing facts to SA feeling the biggest is the storyline itself, it feels like an actual journey. When you are dropped in the Angel Pine by C.R.A.S.H. it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, far away from the city. And then you work your way through many other diverse environments, towns, San Fierro, Las Venturas, with all of them feeling very distinct.

I feel like that a person who is used to huge modern open worlds may eventually find SA small after freeroaming, but if they stick just to the story, they might still retain the illusion of being in a much larger world. No other GTA pulls that off, and it doesn't seem like VI will either. It would be nice if this feeling was replicated one day, but this time on an actually large scale.

[jazzbone]

After playing all of the maps, GTA3-GTA5, I pick GTA5. My number 2 is San Andreas. I picked
GTA5 because it is large, and the amount of detail along with traffic and npc density adds to the feeling
of size.

San Andreas felt huge after prior plays of GTA 3 and VC. The 3 cities seemed so far apart.
GTA5 felt large after playing GTA4, but not the size jump going from VC to San Andreas felt like.

I replayed San Andreas about a year ago, original on PS4, and it now seems smaller, but still has
the feeling of a large map.

[Midnight Hitman]

San Andreas' map design was pure perfection. It matters how the map feels while you play the game, and it felt (and STILL feels) like a state. People can like or dislike GTA SA's story, but the map was (and STILL is) pure magic. Along with the fog, haze, and different effects+skyboxes per location, GTA SA's map was perfection. The countryside feels like a countryside, cities have their own atmosphere, the towns had charme and atmosphere. In my opinion absolutely no GTA map can hold a candle to GTA SA's map (along with its' design choices like fog, haze, and so on).

Edited September 7 by Midnight Hitman

[Ondr4H]

18 hours ago, Midnight Hitman said:

San Andreas' map design was pure perfection. It matters how the map feels while you play the game, and it felt (and STILL feels) like a state. People can like or dislike GTA SA's story, but the map was (and STILL is) pure magic. Along with the fog, haze, and different effects+skyboxes per location, GTA SA's map was perfection. The countryside feels like a countryside, cities have their own atmosphere, the towns had charme and atmosphere. In my opinion absolutely no GTA map can hold a candle to GTA SA's map (along with its' design choices like fog, haze, and so on).

I still vividly remember how I daydreamt in school which part of map I choose today to visit...

 

My favourite was San Fierro, it was magical place for me...

 

I used to think completely clueless how amazing city it is in real life  .

Okay it was in 2007 not current state.

[Krooked_]

San Andreas hands down. I used to take a Journey RV and pretend I'm going on a trip around the whole state - stopping in some of the small towns to take a break for the night, taking pictures with the camera etc. San Andreas' map really evoked a sense of wonder.

 

HD Liberty City also feels gigantic in scale, especially when you play the game for the first time - I used to constantly get lost and resorting to the waypoint to find my way around the city. But, yeah, once you get into a helicopter and get high enough you can see the map is not as big as it may seem.

Edited September 8 by Krooked_

[Ondr4H]

1 hour ago, Krooked_ said:

San Andreas hands down. I used to take a Journey RV and pretend I'm going on a trip around the whole state - stopping in some of the small towns to take a break for the night, taking pictures with the camera etc. San Andreas' map really evoked a sense of wonder.

 

HD Liberty City also feels gigantic in scale, especially when you play the game for the first time - I used to constantly get lost and resorting to the waypoint to find my way around the city. But, yeah, once you get into a helicopter and get high enough you can see the map is not as big as it may seem.

I used to take homies on tour, mostly with camper. But I once take whole tour bus,  I fit in all recruited homies at one time. We take tour across whole map, scenic route, stops for photos and eating. If I get luxurious I take them with Helicopter, we landed on Mt Chilliad for example. Good times, very simple, but fun.

 

Another game with same scale and possibility? There is none...

[GhettoJesus]

San Andreas is the obvious choice. It's not just the fog. The road design was masterfully done. The highway isn't just a simple circle, there are plenty of roads, both paved and natural and the map feels huge considering the variety of vegetation and town structures. You don't just have a big city and 2 sh*thole towns. You have 3 big cities, some sh*thole towns, some quite decent towns all with their own unique charm and possibilities.