Every GTA Map Compared

GTA maps evolved from focused cities into broader regions combining urban centers, countryside and wilderness. Leonida continues that direction, but Rockstar has not published its area or a verified comparison with GTA V.

Mainline GTA settings at a glance

The series has revisited city names across different technical and continuity eras. A returning name does not mean an identical street layout. This table keeps the comparison to well-established mainline settings and avoids unsupported measurements.

The full game-order guide explains how the major entries fit together.

From overhead cities to the 3D era

The original Grand Theft Auto used overhead maps and already introduced the names Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City. Its spaces were built around quick vehicle movement, missions and urban navigation rather than the continuous third-person presentation later associated with the series.

GTA III changed the design language in 2001. Its Liberty City gave players a dense third-person urban environment organized across distinct areas. Streets, bridges and elevation created recognizable routes, while the city itself became a central character in Claude’s story.

Vice City followed in 2002. Its coastal layout, palms and colorful architecture created a different identity from Liberty City’s gray density. The 1986 setting shaped the vehicles, music and visual atmosphere around Tommy Vercetti. Although both games were city-focused, their street patterns and environmental moods made navigation feel different.

San Andreas makes the state the map

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas expanded the 3D-era formula into the fictional state of San Andreas. CJ’s journey moved between cities, countryside, desert and smaller communities. The distances and environmental changes became part of the experience rather than space outside a single metropolis.

That expansion established a map structure later entries would reinterpret:

• a main story capable of moving through multiple urban areas;
• highways and rural roads connecting population centers;
• terrain changes that create regional identity;
• countryside used for missions and exploration;
• a world understood as more than one city grid.

It is tempting to compare maps only by area, but design density and travel structure matter too. A compact city can contain more intersections and vertical visual detail than a larger rural stretch. Rockstar has not provided one standardized metric across every release.

GTA IV returns to urban density

GTA IV’s 2008 Liberty City reimagined the location for the HD era and Niko Bellic’s story. It emphasized a dense metropolitan environment rather than a large surrounding countryside. Borough-like areas, bridges and waterways helped produce local identity within one connected city.

This map demonstrates why reused place names should be treated as reinventions. GTA III’s Liberty City and GTA IV’s Liberty City share a broad New York inspiration but are not the same asset or exact layout. The newer version reflects a different era, technology and story.

Vice City follows the same principle in GTA 6: the name returns, but the present-day location is a new interpretation.

GTA V balances city and countryside

GTA V moved the series to Los Santos and Blaine County in 2013. Michael, Franklin and Trevor operate across a map that combines a large urban core with beaches, highways, desert communities, hills and the countryside around Mount Chiliad.

Los Santos provides street density, neighborhoods and a downtown skyline. Blaine County creates space for longer drives, aircraft and missions far from the city center. The continuous landmass makes the contrast between metropolitan and rural life part of ordinary travel.

GTA V is useful for comparing Leonida’s structure, but not its scale. Both settings combine a major city with varied land outside it. Rockstar has not said that GTA 6 follows GTA V’s progression or city-to-countryside ratio.

Where Leonida fits

GTA 6 takes place across Leonida, a fictional present-day Florida. Its officially named regions already establish the broadest environmental outline:

This list suggests a state designed around strong regional contrasts: dense coast, islands, wetlands, port, farmland and highlands. “Suggests” should not be confused with a size figure. Six named regions could be arranged at many scales, and Rockstar has not released their borders.

The map and setting guide covers each one without assigning unofficial dimensions.

Vice City then and now

The most direct historical comparison is between GTA: Vice City and GTA 6. The earlier game is set in 1986 and centers on Tommy Vercetti. GTA 6 is present day, stars Lucia Caminos and Jason Duval, and places its modern Vice City inside a wider state.

Art-deco architecture, tropical coastline and the Miami inspiration provide continuity. Modern high-rises, smartphones and a statewide cast mark the difference. Read Vice City explained for a closer look at the new city.

What is unknown about GTA 6’s map

As of July 21, 2026, Rockstar has not announced:

• Leonida’s total map area;
• whether it is larger or smaller than GTA V’s map;
• the precise placement and size of all six regions;
• the number of cities, towns or islands;
• the number of enterable interiors;
• whether the full state is open at the beginning;
• how long cross-state travel takes.

Map area alone would not describe road complexity, verticality or destination density. Any exact square-mile figure or definitive “twice as big” claim is unverified. The GTA 6 map-size page follows that question, while the confirmed overview is the safer reference for announced details.

Leonida’s place in the series is nevertheless clear. It extends the evolution from city maps to regionally varied states, returns to a modern Vice City and gives the surrounding landscape a named identity before release. Its rank by physical size remains unknown until Rockstar supplies measurements or the released game can be assessed consistently.