Whenever people talk about GTA 6, it’s usually about the physics, immersion, or characters. But honestly, we think the most important thing in the game is gonna be the map. Because in some of the past GTA games, Rockstar made a few map mistakes that they’ll definitely need to avoid in GTA 6. Otherwise, our whole experience could end up getting ruined.
Wilderness-City Separation
So let’s take a look at the previous GTA game. GTA 5’s map is massive and super detailed, but it’s got one big problem that makes almost half of it kind of useless. And that’s the separation between the wilderness and the main city. Los Santos, along with the city center, business areas, and even the residential zones, are all packed into the bottom half. Then as you move up, you get hilly terrain and mountains. There are highways, water bodies, a military base, and then some small towns like Sandy Shores and Paleto Bay.
Now on paper, it might make sense to keep the city area separate and the countryside up north. But if you’ve spent thousands of hours playing GTA 5, you know that most of the time, we end up staying in Los Santos. Because that’s where most of the buildings are, so naturally, that’s where all the activities and points of interest are too. Yeah, there are some buildings in Sandy Shores and Paleto Bay, but to get there, you have to cross a huge stretch of wilderness. And honestly, there’s not much motivation to go that far, unless there’s a mission.
This problem becomes even more obvious in GTA Online and RP servers, where most players hang out in the bottom part of the map, and barely anyone goes north. So the player concentration stays limited to that one area. That’s why we actually think GTA San Andreas had a better map. It had three main cities placed in three different corners, with wilderness, forests, and small villages in between. So even though you still had to drive a lot, those cities were big enough that you actually felt motivated to go there.
A Concrete Jungle
Now yeah, that doesn’t mean Rockstar should just make another concrete jungle like GTA 4. We get it—Liberty City is based on New York, and obviously, you’re not gonna find much wilderness or forest there. But still, some natural areas are necessary, otherwise all those buildings make the map feel a bit dull after a while. And don’t get me wrong, GTA 4’s map was awesome. A replica of New York at that level of detail is something only a handful of games have ever pulled off, especially back then, when you could actually enter a bunch of buildings. But the one big issue with GTA 4 was that there weren’t really any green or forested outskirts.
Rockstar could’ve easily added areas inspired by places around New York, like Freshkills Park, Greenbelt Nature Center, Alpine, or Bronxville. Adding zones like that would’ve given players a nice change of scenery—so when you’re tired of roaming around the city, you could just drive out to the countryside for a while. Plus, those areas open up so many opportunities for classic GTA-style easter eggs and mysteries. The good news is, judging by the GTA 6 screenshots, it looks like the game’s gonna have a great mix of big cities, countryside, and wilderness. Places like Mount Kalaga National Park, Leonida Keys, and Grassrivers already look incredible.
Same Pathways
So there’s another issue in GTA 5’s map that TGG pointed out. If you wanna travel from the top to the bottom of the map—or the other way around—there are basically just two main routes, both being highways on either side. Which means every single time you take a long drive, you’re forced to go through the same paths, see the same scenery, and after a while, it just gets boring. There aren’t any small towns or new cities in between either. The whole area is just kind of empty, which we already talked about earlier. That’s why in GTA 6, there should be multiple pathways connecting different points on the map, so the drives don’t start feeling repetitive.
Land Borders
Another thing GTA 6 needs to avoid is land borders. We know that in RDR2, there were land borders that blocked you whenever you tried to leave the map. Like, if you went too far, either the water currents got too strong, or you’d die of dehydration, or snipers would take you out. These are classic tricks developers use to stop players from crossing boundaries. But GTA is different, because here we actually have helicopters and planes.
So if you fly up and see a random invisible wall, it just looks weird and breaks immersion. That’s why GTA maps honestly work best as islands—like San Andreas, Liberty City, and even GTA 5. When the map’s surrounded by water, you don’t need land borders, and the endless ocean feels natural. Plus, players usually don’t have any reason to go that far anyway. And even if someone does out of curiosity, they’ll either get eaten by a shark, crash their plane, or sink their boat.
Dead Spaces
And then there’s another issue that comes up with big maps—dead spaces. The GTA 6 community always debates whether the game should have a huge map or one that’s more packed with content. And honestly, we feel a smaller but denser map is way better than a giant empty one. We’ve seen how Ubisoft’s open-world games often end up adding massive areas where literally nothing happens, and passing through them just feels the same every time. It gets boring fast.
Sure, Ubisoft gives you auto-travel options, but let’s be real—no GTA fan would ever want that in GTA 6. Even in GTA 5, the upper half of the map with Sandy Shores, Paleto Bay, and the military base has tons of dead spaces—mostly just mountains thrown in to fill the area. To be fair, the devs probably didn’t expect the game to stay relevant for over ten years, thanks to GTA Online. But now, with GTA 6, they know better. So Rockstar really needs to find that sweet spot between map size and density, kind of like how they nailed it in RDR2.
Lifeless Water
Now technically, in GTA 4 and GTA 5, we can use all three modes of transport—land, air, and water. But everyone knows most players stick to cars and helicopters because water just doesn’t feel important in the HD universe. The oceans are all around the map, but there’s nothing to do once you’re out there, so using boats barely makes sense. Vice City actually did this way better, since it had multiple islands separated by water, and you’d often see civilian and even police boats moving around.
You could hijack them and just mess around for fun. Hopefully, GTA 6 brings that back, with more water between landmasses and actual activity out there—something that encourages us to use boats and jet skis. From what we’ve seen in the trailers and screenshots, it definitely looks like that’s happening.
Non-Enterable Buildings
One big downgrade you really feel while playing GTA 5 is how few buildings you can actually go inside. In comparison, GTA San Andreas and GTA 4 had way more enterable buildings. And yeah, GTA 5 does have a ton of unused interiors, but we never found out why Rockstar decided to remove or lock them. Hopefully in GTA 6, we’ll get more interiors to explore.
And no, not the kind that need loading screens, just simple doors that open up naturally. That alone would make the map feel so much more immersive and give us tons of new stuff to do. Even after finishing the story, we could explore these interiors and take on side missions inside them. From the trailers and screenshots, we’ve seen a few indoor areas already, but we’re definitely hoping for more.
Locked Map
Another thing that might make a comeback is the concept of locked maps from older GTA games. A lot of fans, including us, actually think giving players the full map from the start isn’t always the best move, because it makes you want to ditch the main story and just start exploring. Which is fun, but having a locked map that opens up gradually adds a nice sense of progression.
It also lets Rockstar build in some extra world details—like in Vice City, where bridges were closed because of hurricane warnings. In GTA 6, it might be something like being restricted to a smaller area at first because of the ankle monitor, as people have theorized. And honestly, trying to glitch or sneak your way into locked regions early on is always part of the fun, just like we used to do in Vice City and San Andreas.
Drive Without Minimap
Now this one might be a bit niche, but constantly driving while staring at the minimap kind of kills the immersion. We’re not saying to remove it completely, but maybe add something more natural to guide players, like subtle road markers or sign-based hints that blend into the world. For example, in Mafia: The Old Country, small arrows appeared on turns in a really natural way. Or Rockstar could just make the roads and landmarks distinct enough that we start remembering them over time. Like even today, we still remember every turn in Vice City because the map was small but super diverse. GTA 6 could totally bring back that feeling of navigating by memory instead of a minimap.
Map Updates
Alright, this last point might be asking for a bit much, but how awesome would it be if GTA 6 kept getting map updates over time? Because yeah, Rockstar definitely shouldn’t repeat the same mistake they made with GTA 5—planning it for 4–5 years but ending up stretching it for over a decade. This time, the devs already know GTA 6 is meant to last the next ten years, so playing on the exact same map for that long would get boring fast. That’s why it’d be great if Rockstar added new areas every now and then—like extra city sections, islands, or even new buildings. Just like how the Cayo Perico update expanded GTA Online. Back in 2020, both Jason Schreier and Tom Henderson hinted that GTA 6’s map might actually be ever-evolving. Let’s just hope that turns out to be true.
Also Read: GTA 6: Release Date, Price, Map, Leaks, And Everything Else We Know So Far
So yeah, these were some of the map-related mistakes Rockstar should avoid in GTA 6. Which ones do you relate to the most? If you liked this one, you might also want to check out 20 Features GTA 6 Should Steal From GTA Vice City! For more such detailed and informative posts, don’t forget to visit the blog section on our website.
