Game Informer's GTA VI story: Leonida is twice the size of GTA V's map

Game Informer's GTA VI issue went live on 29 September, and its biggest number comes from Rockstar itself. Aaron Garbut, one of the heads of Rockstar North, told the magazine that Leonida is about twice the size of GTA V's map and the biggest Rockstar has built "by some degree". He also calls it denser than Los Santos, with far more buildings you can walk into. The 14-page story is built on interviews with Rockstar's lead designers and comes with 12 new screenshots.

That turns an old estimate into a studio statement. The "twice GTA V" figure has circulated since August through previews and creators, but until now nobody at Rockstar had put it on the record. The map still has six regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park. For the north of the state, the environment art team studied Panama City, Jacksonville, Ocala and small rural towns.

The weather gets the most detail. It is local: you can stand in sunshine and watch a storm build over another part of the map. Puddles and wet surfaces stay after the rain has passed, and rainbows show up when the light is right. A heavily reworked wind system moves hair, loose debris, the surface of the water and the plants in the swamps. Tropical storms and hurricanes are in, as they are in real Florida. How often they hit and whether they touch the story, the magazine does not say.

Leonida is also crowded with animals. Rockstar counts more than 170 species, including over 60 kinds of birds and over 30 land mammals. Flamingos, manatees, pelicans and alligators live alongside invasive species such as green iguanas, cane toads, feral cats and rhesus macaques, and several of these have never appeared in a Rockstar game. Some animals are sorted as rare, discoverable or legendary, though the magazine keeps their names secret. Fur reacts to the environment and soaks through in the rain.

Between jobs there is plenty to do. The side activities named so far are base jumping, billiards, gyms, kayaking, mini golf, scuba diving, street and off-road racing, zoos, airboats and jet skis, and Insider Gaming notes the list is not final. Rockstar has not repeated any of this on its own Newswire, so the magazine remains the only first-hand source. GTA VI is out on 19 November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.