The leaks and rumors don't matter, the GTA 6 map will be judged on more than scale alone

If you've been following the GTA 6 rumor mill closely over the last several years, you've probably already heard of Project Americas and what it might mean for the GTA 6 map. If not, let me give you a very brief history lesson.

In a lengthy but since deleted Reddit post published in July 2019, one user claimed to have two "very reliable" mates working in the games industry, and one other "very dear friend" on the books at Rockstar. Through these connections, the Reddit user – u/JackOLantern1982 – made a shopping list of claims pertaining to GTA 6, that included details about its timeline, its characters, some of its mechanics, and, most interestingly, its setting; the latter of which was said to span the Miami-aping Vice City, and other locations designed to mirror the real-world Brazilian capital, Rio De Janeiro, and parts of Cuba. 

There was mention of the Netflix crime drama Narcos, an era that spanned the '70s and '80s, and returning characters from previous Grand Theft Auto games, this time making retrospective appearances. Here's that wishful list in full (as captured by Inverse at the time):

Fast forward a few years and the unfortunate GTA 6 leaks of 2022 – whereby over 90 in-development screens and videos were illegally teased to the public – appeared to put a number of those suggestions to bed. The assertion that GTA 6 will have one single playable character seemed totally off-base, for example, given that we saw the use of two interchangeable playable protagonists, supposedly named Jason and Lucile. We saw what looked like a modern-day Vice City, or at least one not set on the same '80s timeline as the original GTA: Vice City of 2002. We saw a game that (while still clearly in development) looked less serious in tone to something like Narcos, or even Red Dead Redemption 2 as per the Reddit user's suggestions. And when you consider all of these discrepancies at once, it's impossible not to then question everything else on the aforementioned list. 

Roll in last weekend's TikTok 'leaks' (the veracity of the supposed leaks remains undetermined), and I don't think it's a stretch to say speculation is at an all-time high right now.

Size doesn't matter

What's most interesting to me, however, is any speculation tied to the scale of the GTA 6 map. As you might expect, JackOLantern1982's uncorroborated Reddit claims set the rumor mill alight at the time, with mention of Project Americas still prevalent all over the Grand Theft Auto community to this day. I've since seen more map mock-ups than I've had hot dinners, some of which have Los Santos and Blaine County as they exist in GTA 5 and GTA Online superimposed next to GTA 4's faux NYC Liberty City sprawl, alongside what Vice City and Cuba and Rio De Janeiro might look like assuming any of this is true. Project Americas, to these hopeful would-be players, looks set to deliver the biggest video game map of all time. 

Now, who really knows what Rockstar has up its sleeve at this point with regards to the size of the next upcoming open-world playground, but scale isn't everything. The Red Dead Redemption 2 map was beautiful, but some areas were linked with long straits of hushed wilderness that I'm not convinced would fit quite as well in Grand Theft Auto. GTA has more modes of transport to expedite long distances, granted, but even then, the jaunt between downtown Los Santos and anywhere north of Mount Chiliad can be a slog in GTA Online right now – the thought of doubling or tripling that journey to get from A to B doesn't appeal much to me at all. 

Depth is what I'm after, no matter how big the sandbox turns out to be. The sheer volume of things to do in GTA Online in 2023 is impressive, especially when considering how the landscape of Los Santos and Blaine County has evolved over the last 10 years. From bike gang HQs to nightclubs, executive offices, underground bunkers, off-shore bases, casinos, music studios, and more, there is so much to do and see (and steal) in modern-day Grand Theft Auto. 

I suspect Vice City, or wherever GTA 6 takes us, will be bigger and bolder than anything that's come before, but I'd happily sacrifice quantity for quality – in the same way I wish games like, say, Starfield had given us more to do on barren planets besides being able to simply go there. 

With the eventual introduction of flying DeLorean-like Deluxos, rocket bikes, jet packs, remote control toy cars, and remote control mini-tanks to name but some of the game's most outlandish vehicles, it's fair to say GTA Online doesn't take itself too seriously. Whether or not GTA 6 and whatever its online counterpart looks like takes a more straight-faced line from launch remains to be seen, but as long as a similar wealth of choice on the ground returns I'll be happy. 

All live-service-styled games put their cosmetic wares on display to varying degrees, but when you can see the latest fad or item of intrigue hurtling towards you in a world that mirrors reality, few games capture the shop window essence of these games like GTA Online. I want that from the GTA 6 map, no matter how far it expects me to travel to get it.  

While we wait for the GTA 6 trailer, you should check out these 10 games like GTA