By now gamers have poured over every inch of the major Grand Theft Auto 5 information blowout that dropped yesterday, but few have probably honed in on some of the more interesting tidbits. With talk of three protagonists — which can be swapped to on-the-fly — not a lot of focus has gone into what will make the world of GTA 5, the city of Los Santos, stand out from previous Rockstar Games creations like Vice City or Liberty City.

While Rockstar is leaving most of the exploration to the players — who should be able to get their hands on the game some time next spring — they would be remiss if they didn’t at least tease the scope of Los Santos. And that's just what they did.

According to the Game Informer cover story, GTA 5's version of Los Santos is bigger than the worlds of San Andreas, GTA 4, and Red Dead Redemption combined, with a little extra space to spare. That detail does include interior and exterior play spaces, but nonetheless outdoing some of the open-world genres largest creations is no small feat.

"When you include interior and exterior spaces together, Los Santos is bigger than the worlds of Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV combined, with room to spare."

Rockstar also reveals that Los Santos' beachfront will have a very detailed ocean floor for players to explore. How exactly they might come to see the murky depths is unclear — submersible vehicle, snorkeling, Aquaman-like breathing powers? (kidding) — but knowing that a lot of attention went into areas that will largely go unnoticed just feeds back into Rockstar's stunning design.

And for those that love drawing comparisons, Game Informer also claims that GTA 5's open-world incorporates a dense urban environment reminiscent of GTA 4's Liberty City and a large wilderness-filled expanse that calls Red Dead Redemption's frontiers to mind. Obviously, GTA 5 is going to want to leave its own mark, and first details about the game suggest it will, but it's nice to have some points of comparison.

Whether or not the open world in Grand Theft Auto 5 will feel as large as Game Informer suggests is hard to determine, but it's hard to believe Rockstar isn't going for broke on this one.

How do you feel about Grand Theft Auto 5 boasting such a large game world? Any interesting facts you learned about GTA 5 while reading the first details?

Grand Theft Auto 5 is targeting a Spring 2013 release for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.

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Source: Game Informer