Game Informer just dropped a bunch of new GTA 6 details and the map size is actually insane

So Game Informer's newest issue has a whole spread on GTA 6 and there's some stuff in there that finally clears up a few things we've been arguing about for months. The story setup is interesting. You start as Jason while Lucia is still locked up. Once she gets out, they're both trying to live better so they take on what's supposed to be an easy score. Obviously it goes sideways and then there's some bigger mystery that stretches across all of Leonida. Classic GTA setup but I like that we're getting Jason first, even if it's probably just a short intro section.

The map size confirmation is the big one for me. They're saying Leonida is twice the size of GTA 5 and it's the largest map Rockstar has ever made by some degree. That's wild when you think about Red Dead 2's world. I was already expecting something huge but hearing it's double Los Santos and Blaine County combined is a lot to take in. And they've split it into six regions: Vice City, Leonida Quays, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park. Vice City is the Miami stand-in, Grassrivers is the Everglades, Port Gellhorn is the tourist trap towns, Ambrosia is the industrial heart with factories and distilleries, and Mount Kalaga has off-road stuff plus some wealthier areas. I'm curious how they'll stitch it all together so it feels like one continuous state instead of six separate zones.

There's also a rideshare app called RydeMe. You can actually chat with NPCs while you're riding, hang out, listen to music, just get from A to B. Sounds like they took GTA 4's cab mechanic and turned it into a whole social feature. I could see myself wasting hours just taking rides and listening to random conversations.

Weather got a lot of attention too. It's dynamic and localized, so you might be flying a plane and see a thunderstorm off in the distance while it's sunny where you are. Rainbows can form if conditions are right, and the rain leaves actual evidence like puddles, wet pavement, maybe NPCs with wet hair. That level of detail is exactly what I wanted from this game.

Between this and the Love Magazine feature from a while back, we're finally getting concrete info instead of just trailer analysis. I'm still not convinced the map will feel as dense as RDR2's, but Rockstar hasn't let me down yet.

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Source: GameSpot · Curated content.