GTA 6 map is ‘twice as big’ as GTA 5

Rockstar has shared new details about Grand Theft Auto VI in the latest digital issue of Game Informer, confirming that Leonida is the studio’s biggest map to date and roughly twice the size of GTA V’s Los Santos. The team is also leaning heavily into dynamic weather systems to make the world feel more reactive and immersive.

In a new feature, Rockstar Games’ head of development and co-studio head, Aaron Garbut, describes Leonida as the largest world the studio has ever built “by some degree”, noting that it is roughly twice the size of GTA V’s map and significantly more detailed:

“This new world is different. We obsessed about every part. The rooftops, the alleys, the internals and everything in between to the point we hit a critical mass with the numbers of our interiors, and you start to feel the buildings are more real inside and out. This world is a cohesive whole with the density of content and a hand-crafted quality to every bit.”

While GTA V was set in Los Santos, Rockstar is returning to Vice City for GTA VI, alongside surrounding regions inspired by Miami and other parts of Florida. The expanded scale and increased interior density should give players a much more seamless and reactive open world compared to previous entries.

Owen Shepherd, vice president of art for lighting and rendering at Rockstar also shared a bit more about weather system improvements, saying: “We have re-engineered our weather system to make everything much more localized and persistent, and really wanted the world to feel dynamically solid and achieve a sense of scale we haven’t felt before”.

The team has developed fully dynamic cloudscapes that roll across the map, enabling a wide range of weather patterns. According to Shepherd, players can expect everything from clear blue winter skies to towering cumulonimbus clouds and sporadic lightning during Florida’s humid summer and autumn months.

Grand Theft Auto VI is set to release on the 19th of November for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. A PC version is expected to arrive later, potentially in 2027, although the wait could extend further as Rockstar will likely prioritise launching the next iteration of GTA Online on consoles first.

KitGuru says: Are you planning to jump in on console at launch, or will you be waiting for the eventual PC version?

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