What map is bigger – GTA 5‘s Los Santos or GTA 4‘s Liberty City?

Without a doubt, GTA 5‘s sprawling map of the fictional Los Santos and surrounding areas is vastly larger and more expansive than GTA 4‘s more compact Liberty City map. GTA 5 set a new benchmark for open-world scale when it launched in 2013, providing over 5 times more explorable land mass than GTA 4.

GTA 5‘s Map Size – Bigger and More Varied than Ever

GTA 5‘s Los Santos map measures a staggering 80 square kilometers, spanning diverse environments from urban downtown to sandy beaches to mountain wilderness. The level of detail is unparalleled – players can enter the vast majority of buildings seamlessly with no load times thanks to the power of next-gen consoles at the time.

As a passionate gamer, I was awestruck by the scale and variety of the world when first stepping into GTA 5. You could drive for miles along the Los Santos freeway and never get bored, with realistic freeways interchanges, neighborhoods filled with unique homes, parks and recreation areas, an elaborate storm drainage system to explore, and even a military base with detailed hangars and runways. The immersive quality allows you to role play in so many ways.

Some key facts about GTA 5‘s map:

• Land area: 80 square kilometers
• Total area including water: 105 square kilometers
• Tallest elevation: Mt. Chiliad summit at 1,400 meters
• Lowest elevation: El Gordo Lighthouse at -50 meters
• Districts: Downtown, East Los Santos, Los Santos International Airport, Port of South Los Santos, Del Perro, Rockford Hills, Burton, Little Seoul

For perspective, it would take over 90 minutes to drive straight north to south across the map without stopping. I timed it myself on a long joyride from the northern lumber yards down to the southern docks!

The map is certainly not just a big empty space either. As a digital recreation of Los Angeles and Southern California, it is jam-packed with fine details that make it feel alive. For example, there are functioning theaters showing films, comedy clubs with stand-up acts you can watch, bars with virtual TV channels and unique decor, restaurants with full menus to peruse and dozens of unique mini-games from golf to tennis to carnival games at the pier.

For me, GTA 5 set a new standard that all future open worlds should aspire to match in terms of scope, scale, and attention to detail. The 80 square kilometer map translated to endless hours of exploration and activities without ever getting bored.

Liberty City Map in GTA 4 – More Verticality in a Compact Package

GTA 4 made the bold move of limiting players to a single city for its setting – the fictional Liberty City modeled after New York City. Without vast countryside and wilderness beyond the urban core, the map feels considerably more restricted at first glance. However, the detail poured into Liberty City‘s layout is impressive given the more limited scope of terrain – about 16 square kilometers in total area.

Credit: SportsKeeda

The urban grid features faithfully recreated neighborhoods modeled after real NYC regions:

• Broker (Brooklyn)
• Dukes (Queens)
• Bohan (Bronx)
• Algonquin (Manhattan)

Unlike sprawling Los Santos, Liberty City‘s narrower footprint results in more visual verticality with impressively tall skyscrapers. In fact there is twice the vertical height variation compared to GTA 5. Streets feel more claustrophobic and chaotic at times too due to denser traffic and more city bustle. Rural wilderness is obviously lacking though.

Credit: TheSixthAxis

While GTA 4‘s world offers less physical area to cover, I still found Liberty City to be an immersive and vibrant urban playground for open-world chaos. The detailed neighborhoods each have distinctive personalities and landmarks. And interiors remained intricate with no load times, a technical achievement on PS3/Xbox 360 hardware. The compact nature makes it feasible to walk the entire map without driving if you‘re really ambitious!

Map Comparison – GTA 5 Trumps GTA 4 in Size But Not Details

Let‘s compare some key map attributes between GTA 5 and GTA 4:

Based solely on size and space, GTA 5 easily wins. But GTA 4 packs verticality and urban details into a denser core. Ultimately the‘,` Los Santos map offers far more diversity though – something for all interests whether you enjoy urban bustle, street racing, wilderness hikes, combat air patrols or just lounging on the beach.

As a gamer who values exploration rewards, I have to give the edge to GTA 5’s map design even if certain locales like Broker feel more alive than Vinewood at times. GTA 5 set a new bar whereas GTA 4 recycled some older concepts.

How Map Size Affects Gameplay – Is Bigger Always Better?

How exactly does map scale translate to moment-to-moment gameplay though in open world games? Map dimensions intrinsically shape your options and freedom after all.

Based on my firsthand experience across hundreds of hours playing both GTA 4 and 5, I‘ve found pros and cons to both “big” and more compact open world designs:

Benefits of Bigger Maps Like GTA 5

• More diverse discovering – ocean, desert, forest, rural towns can all feature rather than just urban centers
• Rewards exploration more – uncovering hidden military bunkers or remote campsites
• Facilitates wider variety of activities – off-roading, aviation, water sports
• Feels more realistic with breathing room – mimics scale of real life regions
• Allows higher top driving speeds feeling less artificially limited

Benefits of Compact Maps Like GTA 4

• Packs more verticality into space – climb skyscrapers for amazing views!
• Often feels more alive due to pedestrian density – constant street action
• Quicker to traverse location to location – less dead space driving
• Landmarks stay memorable when spaced closer
• Can replicate aura of bustling metro without overwhelming

Ultimately GTA 5 found a great balance – achieving immense scale while still retaining a remarkable level of detail despite the larger footprint. GTA 4 made smart tradeoffs to deliver something differentiated. Liberty City captivates as a lived-in, vertically inclined metropolis brimming with humanity and convoluted alley shortcuts. But I‘ll take a road trip across the dusty back roads of Blaine County too anytime!

Expert Opinions on GTA Map Designs

Reviewers recognized GTA 5 as revolutionary in terms of open world detail and scale when it originally launched. The step up from GTA 4 felt monumental for its time.

But some still praise elements of GTA 4‘s world intimacy:

"GTA 5’s Los Santos may be a technical masterpiece, but Liberty City has an attention to detail, impactful satire, and intimacy that Los Santos lacks. Where Los Santos feels huge thanks to miles of wilderness and small towns surrounding its metropolis, Liberty City feels larger than life." – GamesRadar

“With GTA IV, Rockstar traded scale for detail, intimacy and personality, and created one of gaming’s greatest-ever urban worlds…the city streets feel alive and the atmosphere is thick with society.” EuroGamer

I concur with this balanced sentiment – both game worlds memorialized something special despite differing philosophies. Allowing for more emergent, unexpected chemistry to unfold is invaluable to sandbox gameplay too.

The Future of GTA Maps – Bigger and Deeper Than Ever?

Looking ahead, Grand Theft Auto 6 is reportedly in advanced stages of development. Rumors based on leaked developer notes and job postings suggest Vice City may return with a sprawling map also encompassing swamplands.

If I had to speculate based on Rockstar‘s technical trajectory:

• The GTA 6 map will dwarf GTA 5 in sheer scale – possibly over 100+ square miles given new hardware
• Next-gen graphics will enable richer procedural detail than ever
• Interiors could load seamlessly without barriers to promote flow
• The setting may recreate more of Florida beyond just Miami analogue
• Scale AND precision will likely improve thanks to machine learning techniques

As a passionate gamer, I can only dream of how stunning a next-generation GTA map might emerge. If GTA 5 and GTA 4 set new expectations during their eras, then GTA 6 has a tall order to ascend even further. An entire state at our free roaming disposal doesn‘t seem unrealistic though!

The one downside to ever-larger worlds is lowered density. So I hope Rockstar preserves intimacy on street levels where possible despite expanding geographical scope exponentially. Still, based on their track record I trust the kingpins at Rockstar will defy perceived limitations to gift us an unprecedented living, breathing sandbox America once again!

Conclusion – GTA 5‘s Map Sets the Bar for Open Worlds

In conclusion, GTA 5’s sprawling 80 square kilometer fictional recreation of Los Angeles and Southern California decisively trounces GTA 4‘s more compact Liberty City in terms of pure map size and physical scale. However, Liberty City impressed in its era by packing immense detail into a small vertical footprint.

Ultimately both game worlds excel in their own right by capturing distinctive locales flavored with Rockstar‘s signature world building mastery. We can appreciate each as product’s of their generation’s technical capabilities.

Yet as an industry influencer said, perhaps both pale in comparison to whatever Rockstar is cooking up next behind closed doors! Despite over 100 million sales, GTA 5 and GTA 4 may soon take backseats to ever greater virtual sandboxes in the years ahead. But their cartographic impact on history shall persist eternally.