If further proof were needed that GTA 6 is thinking big, Rockstar Games has just served up some more. Well, not Rockstar exactly, but Game Informer, which got access to a brand new presentation of the game several weeks after that carefully curated round of previews. The first thing we learn is that the GTA 6 map will be twice the size of GTA 5's, making it by some margin the largest open world Rockstar has ever built. That nugget comes from Aaron Garbut, head of development and co-studio head at Rockstar North, who described Leonida as the biggest map the studio has ever designed "by far". Rockstar hasn't simply stretched out its playground, though: it says it has worked on every part of this vast territory to give it more density, with enough interiors that buildings feel coherent both from the street and once you're inside.
"This new world is different. We've been obsessive about every part of it, the rooftops, the alleyways, the interiors and everything in between," Aaron Garbut explains. If his words are anything to go by, the approach should lend the world of GTA 6 a genuine coherence, with far more content and a far higher level of detail than in previous Rockstar games.
Cheers, Met Office!
But map size won't be the only step forward in GTA 6, as Rockstar has also completely overhauled its weather system to make conditions much more localised and persistent. In GTA 6, it will be possible to have glorious sunshine in one part of Leonida while heavy rain hammers down a few kilometres away. The idea is to recreate the notoriously changeable climate of Florida, the inspiration for the game's fictional state. The studio has also created new, fully dynamic clouds that can drift across the map and shift the weather, from clear skies to towering cumulonimbus laced with lightning.
"We've completely rethought our weather system to make each event far more localised and persistent," explains Owen Shepherd, vice president of art direction at Rockstar.
The most violent phenomena will be present too, with tropical storms and hurricanes, although we still don't know how often they might occur or what impact they'll actually have on gameplay. Game Informer does note that severe weather will come with plenty of visual detail, with water streaming off rooftops and streetlights while lightning lights up the clouds. In short, classic Rockstar Games.
Flora and fauna
Game Informer also tells us that the vast map that is Leonida will be split into six major regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park. Each will have a different atmosphere inspired by real-world Florida, from the urban sprawl of Miami to the swamplands of the Everglades, taking in faded little tourist towns and industrial areas along the way. Rockstar Games has also revealed that more than 170 animal species will feature in GTA 6, including around 60 bird species and some 30 land mammals. Marine life will be well represented too, with sharks, whales, rays, turtles and jellyfish.
And as if a map twice the size weren't enough, GTA 6 will once again offer an impressive array of activities. Players will be able to go skydiving, play pool, take out a kayak, go scuba diving, enter road and off-road races or hop on a jet ski. It all gives a sense of the density Rockstar is chasing for its new open world.
