Why size does matter in GTA

This time we are looking at the sizes of the maps in Grand Theft Auto.
Are you a person that loves to drive a lot of miles or do you just hate driving?

Check out our article about the map sizes in Grand Theft Auto, and what do you think?
Does size really matter?

We are looking at San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV in this article, keep that in mind.

[Focker420]

Of course it does, bigger = better. Bigger and more diverse environments please.

[W1ckeD]

But you wouldn't believe how many people hate that 'bigger = better' I think the exact same thing so I hope for more diverse stuff.

[NecrumSlavery]

Bigger Maps are nice, the variety in scenery, ect. But if there is no life or reason to explore, then why? You can have a huge world, but if it's not filled with things to do, then it's a bust.

[nickjkl]

san andreas world was big but had that huge wilderness and dessert valley with nothing in it

[Dee_91]

haha i remember the bigfoot and ufo rumors on gta san andreas made the game that more exciting\i would love to see moutains cities and deserts but i would to see vice city on tis gen graphics too

[DaTruth]

I really loved that in San Andreas, but I hated it in JC2. Sometimes it felt like you were flying a jet plane for 20 mins just to reach your destination in JC2. The San Andreas map was smaller, but much more detailed than JC2, I actually enjoyed driving the distances in SA and flying the Harrier or jet anywhere would take only 5 mins.

[rockleex]

If GTA5 allowed you to hunt animals like in Red Dead Redemption.

San Andreas had some landscapes that were ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for animals!

But then again we might get donkeyladies, cougarmen, and flying people along with it. O_o

[DA_SHREDDER]

Want bigger or better? Then the next GTA isn't gonna be on dvd9 thats for sure. I mean cmon, how in the hell did Microsoft release next gen hardware with less space on disc last gen?

[bjornbear]

come on. who cares about dvd9. let R* do their magic I'm sure now they they have the engine up they'll blow us away with GTA5.

I see GTAIV as GTAIII was for last gen. I think GTAV will be this gen's GTA San Andreas.

[palaeomerus]

Just Cause 2 was on a DVD 9 and the island it takes place on is WAY WAY bigger than Empire City is in inFamous(which is on blu-ray). (It's also way larger than San Andreas was, and for that matter, so is Far Cry 2, on DVD 9!)

http://www.giantbomb.com/fo...

Fuel's map (Also on DVD9) is even bigger than that!

Guild Wars Nightfall is STILL bigger and it's on a DVD too.

So, maybe your stupid assumptions about game size and content based on storage size are completely worthless?

[Dee_91]

@palaeomerus yea it was big but just cause map really didnt have that much stuff on it
and infamous map probably would be bigger if he had a car or something
you have to run/glide/ slide around

[1942]

if you really think more space doesn't mean a bigger map and more content then you're just dumb. yeah those games might be bigger but with blu ray you can do far more then that. anyone with a brain would rather have a 50gig game over a 9gig game for the same price. plus there is no point in arguing over if dvd is enough anyways rockstar already said M$ has to find a solution for the space issuse if they want gta5 to work.

[palaeomerus]

" 1942 8h ago
@palaeomerus
if you really think more space doesn't mean a bigger map and more content then you're just dumb. yeah those games might be bigger but with blu ray you can do far more then that."

Except NOONE does. Not even in PS3 exclusive games. EVER WONDER WHY?

" anyone with a brain would rather have a 50gig game over a 9gig game for the same price."

Not if it doesn't mean more content. And often it frankly does not. 50 Gigs does not mean 50 gigs of content. Much of that is filler to increase streamability, marginally better sound, voice overs, movies, or other such things. It almost never means bigger textures (since the GPU and RAM can't actually handle that) bigger areas, more geometry(hardware can't handle it well), more stuff(takes too much time to make) or ANY of the other grandiose claims that were made for blu-ray.

About the only time it matters at all is when a game has multiple DVD's vs. one Blu-ray(minor convenience at best) or when someone like Square Enix does a rushed crappy port that looks significantly worse than most games for the 360 and has lots of empty space on the DVD's.

"plus there is no point in arguing over if dvd is enough anyways rockstar already said M$ has to find a solution for the space issuse if they want gta5 to work."

It POTENTIALLY MEANS a bigger map, but as you can see it HAS NOT ACTUALLY meant a bigger map yet.

There is NO CORRELATION between bigger maps and more storage in sandbox games. The phenomena you predicted due to blu-ray has thus far spectacularly failed to occur. Therefore you are probably full of crap or else filled with stupid unrealistic expectations that no game developer has ever yet bothered to address in any way.

No game developer seemingly WANTS to generate 25 or 50 GB worth of unique content, probably because a $60 price tag doesn't come close to JUSTIFYING the expense of time, labor, and money. In short it is pie in the sky nonsense from people who don't know dick about game development who have been fooled by 5+ marketing hype.

Nor does the current state of sandbox game maps show that a DVD9 is too small for upcoming sandbox games.

Anyone with a brain can see that you are completely wrong and if you can't see it too then perhaps it is YOU who are dumb.

Rockstar is currently working on Max Payne 3, Mafia 2, and came out with Red Dead Redemption ALL without any significant storage problems and other devs have already made far bigger maps than Rockstar using DVD9.

Also they haven't really said ANYTHING about GTA V yet or even if the next GTA game WILL BE GTA V instead of GTA-subtitle. All we have heard is that some Rockstar people were recently scouting Hollywood for some reason.

If Rockstar are thick enough to only release it on the PS3 though it will automatically see GREATLY REDUCED sales compared to a multiplatform release because 360 only owners will not be able to purchase it. I doubt Rockstar thinks of that as a good thing. Probably that is also why the once exclusive LA Noir is now going to be a multiplatform release.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I loved the size of San Andreas.I thought it was fun to hang around Los Santos doing missions, fighting for territory and whatnot.

When i got bored of that, i could take a few minutes to drive through the countryside, blasting the radio all the way to las venturas to hit up the Casinos.

Bigger maps = more diversity = more fun.Keyword is "Fun".Something that GTAIV lacked in my opinion.

[W1ckeD]

Thanks for the comment, I describe almost the exact same feeling in my article, it's great to read other players have that feeling.

[nickjkl]

woah woah its fun to drive through a barron landscape when you could of taken the bridge

thats not fun that just you wasting time to get to a place where you could have fun

[W1ckeD]

Well that's an interesting opinion.
Like I said: At the time I could have fun with that 'boring' landscape, if I revisit San Andreas now I'm a little more bored then I used to be, but after 300+ hours of San Andreas I think that's normal.

The awesome thing about the big San Andreas world is the things you could pull of.
Some people fooled around in the city and others in the desert or country side.

It was about choices.

Sometimes I liked there was nothing to do, just driving and listening music, there is no need for things to happen every time.

[DaTruth]

If you really feel that way, then RDR would drive you crazy! I didn't even buy RDR and I know that. Parts of SA are similar to RDR, but RDR has wildlife, something that shouldn't be lacking in GTA games like it is.

Police dogs and guard dogs in GTA would be amazing and their should be various wildlife around in the rural and back country areas of GTA!

[W1ckeD]

True that, but when San Andreas was released people were more focussed on the size.
If they used the random events introduced by RDR it could be a really awesome game, when you have a road trip you will encounter awesome stuff.

[bjornbear]

Monster trucks,
buggies,
quad bikes,
dirt bikes,
construction vehicles,
tanks,
bicycles (all types),
huge off road jeeps,
jet ski's,
snow bikes,
SKI'S!
SNOW BOARDS!
snow trucks,
paragliders,
planes,

and please let me still be able to kill a hooker with a dildo.

that is all.

I also think in multiplayer EVERY SINGLE SKIN AND VEHICLE IN THE WHOLE GAME should be an unlockable (vehicles would be unlockables say in your "garage" to start of a match in for example)

this would make the multiplayer actually have a huge award system (something even RDR seems too lack =/)

[ThanatosDMC]

Hahaha! You can do all that and more on the pc San Andreas. Make sure you download the fan mods. I wonder if they finished the zombie mod.

[thebudgetgamer]

three months after i beat san andreas i was just flying around when i found a mountain i hadn't seen before, so i decide to parachute down and i found downhill mountain bike racing.

[ThanatosDMC]

I found that before i finished SA.

[NegativeCreepWA]

I think its stupid that people expected GTA IV to to have the same amount of content as San Andreas.

GTA IV was rebuilt from the ground up which takes time. It was easy for them to make San Andreas when all they had to do was add more stuff to the game. They pretty much went back to its roots making the game play much better, I enjoyed GTA IV it handled better and they paid more attention to the little things. The only thing they left out that bugged me was tanks, something thats been in every GTA.

If RS releases another GTA this gen then i'll expect more from them. GTV IV is great the way it is.

[thebudgetgamer]

with that said it was a step back in terms of simple fun.

i do think they made a step in the right direction with TBOGT.

[1942]

they left out a lot more then tanks in gta4. also they didn't make anything better but the physics everything else was the same. if they could do all that in a last gen game there of been any problems having them now especially since they were working within the limitations of dvd like they did last gen.

[fooltheman]

San andreas was a great game...
but damn that flying mission, where'd you needed to fly in a circle..pissed me of...

Next mission, fly a circle and land.... grrrrr

[adonis183]

i hate driving in gta i always took a taxi lol

[ThanatosDMC]

Agreed. Well, my only gripe was that they didnt keep the camera fixed behind the car when turning. It was a hassle moving thw camera around to make proper turns during a chase.

[GeoramA]

GTA IV was a huge step backwards.

[Spartan DL]

GTA:San Andreas is still the best GTA. The scale of the world, the freedom, and the amount of customization was awesome and hope they bring it back some day.

[Redempteur]

well it's true that while GTA 4 world was full of place to discover "that" feeling of discovery present in SA was never here

This comment is coming from me who finished gta4 twice and both add-on (100%)
i don't regrets these hours and i think gta4 is a great game ..only lacking in precision online .

and while GTA SA is awesome this doesn't mean GTA4 is less cool

[enigmaticheretic]

I agree with everything he said except that gta 4 isn't awesome, its and good game at best what saves gta 4 is the multiplayer other than that the game is ok.

[Pootangpie]

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[Pootangpie]

and are probably going to report me Love this site :I

[thebudgetgamer]

http://metalaficionado.file...

[Redempteur]

you have 2 bubbles and you waste them for this .???

[Nickster800]

seriously stop using New York for a setting it gets old they've used it for like four games, theres not is much to explore in liberty city, unlike San Andreas which had so much environments(City, Ghetto, Country, Dessert, Casino Plaza)and so much different things to check out. I think the next GTA should either be in San Andreas or in a different state/states/region/island/cou ntry as long as theres a lot to explore, and at least two different environments, not just freaking city!

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Silly as it may be I wonder if horses will be in the next GTA. Mounted police perhaps.

[zu4G]

a PS3 exclusive.. cmon BLURAY is the answer to that and only on PS3.. bigger maps, beautiful scenery all in one..
they can make a multi plat of course no prob, but 4 disc on 360 maybe LOL

[hazelamy]

i like bigger because it means i can spend more time cruising listening to the radio.
don't bother with missions or minigames, just go for a drive.
it's very relaxing.
san andreas with vice city's soundtrack, that would be a near perfect game.

[TheLastGuardian]

I really wish Rockstar would make San Andreas Stories for the psp but I think it's just too damn big to fit it all onto 1 umd. Here's hoping the psp2 will be powerful enough.

[ThanatosDMC]

It's probably possible now that we have more memory they could copy PW which was about 2gb+ on the Go.

[oguzsasi]

They just change the name and call it Red Dead Redemption!
Im waiting GTA6 though!

[Paradise Lost]

Now imagine what rockstar can do if they fill up a 50gb Blu ray disk.

[palaeomerus]

Yeah because your imagination is SO important to Rockstar. Wake up.