GTA 6 map size: fan estimates and leaks versus Rockstar

As of October 31, 2026, the nearest thing to an official answer comes from Rockstar. In previews this summer and autumn, the studio said GTA 6's map is roughly twice the size of GTA 5's and about three times the size of Red Dead Redemption 2's. Rockstar has not given a figure in square kilometres, so fan mappers have kept trying to pin one down, and their best estimate has gotten smaller over time. Everyone finds out how close they came on November 19, when the game launches on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

From two continents to one state

The first big map question wasn't size. It was where the game would be set. Rockstar has since confirmed that GTA 6 started out under the codename Project Americas, with a plan to cover large parts of North and South America. The project was later cut back to Miami and the area around it (more on that here). What came out of that is Leonida, Rockstar's version of Florida, which the studio splits into six major regions: Vice City, Leonida Keys, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, Grassrivers and Mount Kalaga National Park. Our Leonida regions guide covers each one.

2022: leaked coordinates and the first comparisons

Fan mapping began with the September 2022 hack, which leaked footage from an unfinished build. Rockstar co-studio head Aaron Garbut has since said the leak felt deeply invasive. A few weeks later, a Reddit user took Los Santos coordinates from GTA 5 and lined them up with coordinates visible in the leaked footage. Los Santos fitted comfortably inside the proposed Vice City layout, GamesRadar+ reported on October 10, 2022. Other fans began stitching a map together using Google Earth.

How credible was it? The raw material was real, but it came from a build years away from release, and the method was rough. Around the same time, fans started a larger effort, now known as State of Leonida, to collect every known detail and rebuild the map, according to MeinMMO.

2024: the 2.55x estimate

The project's version 0.045 was uploaded on April 12, 2024. GTAForums user lxr measured its landmass at about 125 km², which is 2.55 times GTA 5's, using units from Rockstar's RAGE engine for the comparison, Sportskeeda reported. Sportskeeda called the figure speculative. It also pointed out that an earlier fan map of GTA 5 had ended up very close to the final game.

August 2026: a leaked map, then Rockstar's numbers

On the evening of August 18, 2026, an unknown person on X posted two short gameplay clips of Jason and a screenshot of a map. Rockstar has not verified that map. MeinMMO compared it with the fan project the next day. The broad layout matched quite well, including where the smaller towns sit and a large lake in the north. The differences: the leaked map divides Leonida into counties (Mariana County in the south near the Everglades-style area, Lummox County in the far north), shows much more inland water and more small islands to the west and north, and has bigger towns, and apparently more of them. The leaker drew heavy criticism for using the leak to promote a crypto coin. We won't link to the material.

Rockstar's own figures came out on August 27, alongside the Netflix gameplay showcase. YouTuber TGG says he watched three hours of the game at Rockstar North. PC Gamer reported what he says Rockstar told him: the map is twice the size of GTA 5's and three times RDR2's, Vice City alone is twice the size of Los Santos, and Vice City plus its suburbs is 11 times bigger than Los Santos and its surroundings. The same day, ComicBook.com reported that Rockstar told The New York Times the map is three times RDR2's.

Rockstar said it again to Game Informer. Garbut called it the studio's largest map "by some degree", Dexerto reported on September 30.

The maths doesn't quite line up

The outlets read Rockstar's comparisons differently. ComicBook.com described GTA 5 as slightly bigger than RDR2 and concluded that GTA 6 lands somewhere between double and triple GTA 5. PC Gamer agreed that GTA 5 is bigger overall. If both of Rockstar's comparisons were exact, though, GTA 5 would have to be about 1.5 times RDR2's size. The safest reading is that Rockstar's numbers are rounded. The 11x figure for Vice City and its suburbs comes secondhand through TGG, and it's hard to square with a whole map only twice as big unless "surroundings" means something narrow.

September 2026: the fan map shrinks

Version 16 of the community map draws on the August 18 leaked map and Rockstar's Extended Look footage, Notebookcheck reported on September 21. It uses a 1 km grid, with overall dimensions of roughly 21 by 20 km. Much of that area is water, though. The estimated land area dropped to about 85.6 km², down from nearly 110 km² in Version 15. Community projects put GTA 5's land at just under 50 km², which makes the new estimate a little over 1.7 times GTA 5. That's much closer to Rockstar's "around twice" than the old 2.55x figure.

Scorecard: what held up

Much bigger than GTA 5: true. Rockstar says about twice the size.
Vice City bigger than Los Santos: backed by what Rockstar reportedly told TGG (twice the size). Rockstar hasn't published this directly.
125 km², 2.55 times GTA 5: too high if Rockstar's numbers hold, and the fan project has since revised its own estimate down.
The fan map's overall layout: it broadly matches the leaked map, but that map is unverified, so this is still open.
County names, extra inland water, more towns: unconfirmed. They come only from the leak.
Exact land area: unconfirmed. Rockstar hasn't given a figure.
A map across the Americas: that was the real early plan, but it was dropped long before release.

What comes next

Don't expect the story to show you all of it. Rockstar's Rupert Humphries told Game Informer, "We don't have time to take you everywhere". He said the goal is for players to get a feel for most places. Weather will also vary from one part of the map to another, as Rockstar has explained. Pre-loading opens November 12, and once the game is out on November 19, the fan mappers can finally measure the real thing.