GTA 6’s map is being pieced together by players using MS Paint and Google Earth


Some images of GTA's Vice City recreated in Unreal Engine 5.

While many GTA players are still trying to catch their breath following the chaos of the weekend’s massive GTA 6 footage leak, it seems some have already gone all on their hype for the game.

Amid the barrage of social media chatter surrounding different interpretations of the leaked footage, the vast majority of which has since been taken down, these fans of the series have been attempting to gauge what the game’s map will look like when it eventually arrives.

However, due to the controversial nature of the clips contained within the leak, as reported by Kotaku’s Zack Zwiezen, those working on this cartographical endeavour have had to employ some pretty interesting methods.

Are you eager to learn what GTA 6’s landscape will look like?

As Zwiezen explains, this kind of thing isn’t exactly new in the GTA community, with GTA 5’s map having begun to receive a similar treatment following the release of its first teaser trailer in 2011, eventually leading to the creation of a map which turned out to be surprisingly accurate when placed alongside the game’s actual map.

This time, however, the task is being taken on in a slightly different manner, thanks to the leaked footage, which has simultaneously given players an early look at the title and provided them with the conundrum of relying on a resource that they can’t share around without risking legal trouble.

This situation has demanded the development of a number of solutions, such as utilising Google Earth screenshots and Microsoft Paint sketches as substitutes for content from the leaked footage, providing safer alternatives.

That said, according to Zwiezen, some of the community aren’t entirely satisfied with this approach and have opted instead to stage their mapping sessions in private Discord servers, where footage sharing is much less risky.

Regardless of which camp players have chosen, the likes of local knowledge, landmark-based triangulation and frame-by-frame footage analysis are all being utilised to help form maps that will only grow more accurate when official information about and trailers for the game finally emerge.

Regardless of how similar these creations end up being to the genuine article, make sure to follow us for more coverage of GTA 6 in the run-up to its release and GTA Online in the interim.

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