Vice? Santos? London..?

The locations in previous GTAs were very relevant to creating the atmosphere of the games. GTA 3's gritty New York-esque Liberty City, with its grey buildings and concrete highways, reinforced the notion of playing a character with a mysterious background. In contrast, Vice City's Florida vibe — along with the 80s soundtrack — provided a much brighter and livelier setting. Such an importance of setting for the games has led fans to question where GTA 5 will be set. So far, the only cities to feature in the series have been New York City (Liberty City), Miami (Vice City), Los Angeles (Los Santos), San Francisco (San Fierro), Las Vegas (Las Venturas) and London, albeit London only featured in a short expansion pack for GTA 1.

Fans are eager to know if GTA 5 will feature a single city, or multiple cities a la San Andreas. Another big question is whether R* will look beyond the USA, perhaps to Europe, or will they continue to exhaust options in America first. Asked if Rockstar had ever considered setting a GTA game outside the US, Dan Houser replied with the following:

Yes we have, we just haven't ever made that manoeuvre. I would have a certain confidence of maybe doing it in England, but anywhere else I wouldn't really know what was going on. The guys who make that kind of stuff on the team may not necessarily know where to begin. I'm sure that there are lots of interesting things to talk about in Russia or China or Japan about that aspect of society [consumerism] but I wouldn't know what they were and so we feel it wouldn't necessarily be GTA.

— Dan Houser in Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia)

Various tidbits of news, such as Rockstar's registration of domain names with 'gta' followed by locations such as 'bogota', have led many to make wild assumptions about the setting of future GTAs. While a domain registration may mean nothing, it does provide food for thought. In addition, online 'sleuthers' have identified casting calls apparently posted by Take 2 Interactive (Rockstar's parent company) which hint at particular locations and may or may not be related to GTA V.

In anticipation of a long debate over the setting of GTA 5, we placed a poll on our forums asking 'Where do you think the next GTA will take place?' 4000 people voted, with Vice City (Miami) taking 28% of the votes, Europe taking 20%, and San Andreas another 15%. It is worth noting that only 4% of our community correctly predicted that GTA IV would be set in Liberty City! Whichever will turn out to be true, here are our speculations on possible settings for GTA V:

Grand Theft Auto V - Los Santos (based on Los Angeles, California)

During the early GTA 4 previews, Rockstar revealed that their original plan was to have New York City surrounded by miles of countryside, on an even bigger scale than San Andreas. That plan changed, and Rockstar opted for 'quality over quantity' by choosing to focus solely on the city. GTA IV set new standards for creating detailed, realistic game environments, and if R* wishes to maintain those standards, it's unlikely we'll see a map on the same scale as San Andreas again any time soon.

Instead, it is more likely that we will see a new GTA based on one of the cities from San Andreas, and Los Angeles is the stand out from those options. The nice thing about LA compared to other cities is that it incorporates so many different environments - it has dense city structures, beaches, hills, and the whole county is surrounded by miles of Californian countryside and desert. If Rockstar go for the single-city approach, then Los Angeles provides a unique potential to incorporate all of these environments.

A new GTA based in Los Angeles, surrounded by countryside and desert, is a realistic possibility. Indeed, most of the rumours that have circulated thus far have pointed towards an LA-inspired setting for GTA 5.

Grand Theft Auto V - Vice City (based on Miami, Florida)

The GTA III trilogy featured Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, in that order. GTA IV introduced a new Liberty City, and many fans believe that Vice City is therefore its natural successor. If the pattern is repeating, then we can expect a new Vice City recreated in the same astonishing detail as GTA 4's Liberty City.

Miami is both physically and culturally very distinct from New York City, and it would be a welcome change from the dark gritty atmosphere of GTA IV. Many fans regard Vice City as the best chapter in the series, but one criticism was often that the map was too small.

Looking at Miami 10 years on, with a fresh mind and better technology at their disposal, Rockstar could give the same treatment to Vice City that GTA IV's Liberty City got. This would give us a bigger, more detailed and ultimately more impressive recreation of Miami. The map could be extended to include areas not featured in the previous Vice City, such as Fort Lauderdale, Coral Gables, the Florida Keys and the Everglades; in effect creating a 'Vice City State'.

Critics of this idea may argue that Rockstar would be taking a risk by returning to Vice City. Vice City was undoubtedly one of (if not the) best games of the last century, and by attempting to better their previous effort, Rockstar could open themselves to unfavourable comparisons.

Grand Theft Auto V - San Andreas (based on California/Nevada)

San Andreas appeared as the second level in the first Grand Theft Auto, loosely based on the west-coast city of San Francisco. It featured again in the GTA III trilogy, but this time included Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas - all separated by miles of countryside and desert. It was truly enormous, and some even argued it was too big! (If this was the only criticism fans could think of, it shows just how good the game was).

A new San Andreas isn't completely out of the question, but it's probably still too fresh in our minds for Rockstar to consider doing it again. Instead, a new GTA based on one of San Andreas' cities (Los Santos, San Fierro or Las Venturas) is more likely. Besides, it is unlikely that Rockstar would be able to create a game on the scale as San Andreas without sacrificing some of the detail that GTA IV had. Maybe in future this will become a more realistic possibility.

Grand Theft Auto V - London

There remains a strong element of the GTA fan base that is desperate for a London-inspired GTA setting. It is simply a matter of when Rockstar feels is the right time to go beyond the USA.

Strictly speaking, London wouldn't be new to the series if it were to feature in GTA 5. Old school fans of the series will recall that it featured in a short expansion pack for GTA 1, but it was never given the same 3D treatment that Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City received. London obviously contains a lot of inspiration for a potential game designer. Surely just as Liberty City in GTA III was inspired by the Goodfellas movie, Vice City by Scarface, San Andreas by Menace II Society and Boyz N The Hood, London can draw inspiration from such popular English movies as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Drawing parallels to the GTA 3 franchise, there are also various groups of organized crime. It is just a matter of imagination; how the dirty arm-twisting tactics of bookies, the different slang occurring in London, or the jewellery store diamonds-and-gold managing Jews can play a role in a storyline of GTA V.

In addition, London's architecture could provide quite the sights in a video game equipped with the latest graphics rendering engine. The Houses of Parliament, The London Eye, Big Ben, and various other attractions can add to the already unique feeling of driving on the left side of the road, encountering red phone booths on street corners, and seeing the police (or the 'Bobbies', as they are so affectionately called) dressed with awkward helmets and clumsy uniforms.

Grand Theft Auto V - Europe

As the San Andreas chapter of the GTA 3 trilogy demonstrated, Rockstar is not afraid to include more than one city in their games. A possible scenario for GTA: Europe would be 3-4 cities (perhaps London, Paris, Rome and Berlin) with long drives between the cities, and various villages with different people and cultural habits in each. Wishful thinking? Probably. It would be difficult to cover such a large area whilst maintaining a high level of street detail. It would certainly be ambitious, and history has shown that R* does not lack ambition.

Grand Theft Auto V - Chicago

The Windy City. If Rockstar chooses to keep the Grand Theft Auto franchise centred on a troublesome and stereotypical American capital, then there is no better candidate than Chicago. It's a tourist and economic powerhouse that brings in millions of travellers each year. It's the third largest city in the United States, and enjoys a very rich and diverse cultural makeup as a result. It's a melting pot of ethnicities, home to over two million residents from around the globe. The streets of Chicago are intricate and mathematical - laid down in a grid formation, turning the city into a giant labyrinth of pavement and concrete. Gigantic structures both new and old pierce the sky, including the world-famous Sears Tower.

What makes Chicago outstanding as a GTA candidate, however, is the seedy underbelly of this Midwest metropolis. Crime is rife in Chicago, and has been for centuries. The most infamous mobster in American history, Al Capone, moved to Chicago from New York in the 1920s. He controlled a significant portion of the criminal underworld during the prohibition era of the early 20th century, his rivalries with local mobsters and crime bosses often ending in bloodshed and murder. If there is a single reason for Chicago to become the home of GTA 5, Al Capone would be it.

The one negative point about GTA: Chicago is that, structurally, it's quite similar to New York City. GTA IV gave us a compact city with a temperate climate, and Chicago would be much the same. Rockstar may wish to give us something different.

Grand Theft Auto V - Paris

In the second episodic expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV, a billboard featured in Star Junction (GTA's equivalent of Times Square) teased fans about the location of GTA 5. The billboard was a parody of the 2009 film New York, I Love You — a successor to Paris je t'aime — and many fans interpreted this as a hint that the next game would be based in Paris. The billboard declared "Liberty City, It's Over!" (A play on the title New York, I Love You) and in all likelihood it was simply a joke to signal that the GTA IV saga had ended.

Grand Theft Auto V - The Future

A futuristic setting, a la GTA2, which is perhaps not inspired by any city at all? And instead of having different cities like in San Andreas (Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas) the area could be divided into different levels, or "districts", such as downtown, residential and industrial. Of course, the greatest benefit of having a setting which isn't inspired by any real location is that there is no limit to what the developers can put into the city - for example they can add as many skyscrapers/bridges/parks/mountains as they wish and make it as interesting as they want.

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