The sprawling open-world in Grand Theft Auto V won't only be the largest Rockstar Games has ever created, but also the most finely detailed, according to art director Aaron Garbut.

　　"In terms of raw man-hours, this has been way in excess of any project we've done at Rockstar before. From the outset, we wanted to ensure that not only was the world big but that it was absolutely packed with character and life," Garbut told Buzzfeed. "It's levels of magnitude above Grand Theft Auto IV in terms of what we've done on the environment side."

　　Garbut admitted that, geographically speaking, there are games larger than GTAV, but none are bigger in terms of content, he said.

　　"I want to stress that not only is this world huge but it’s absolutely handcrafted. Every little bit of this world has had a large number of extremely talented artists pore over it," he said. "There's always something to discover, something weird or interesting to see or interact with. It's absolutely not a massive, empty world. We've considered the placement of every tree."

　　Garbut explained that Rockstar has not copied buildings around the map or procedurally generated terrain to "pad it out." He said Rockstar has put so much effort into handcrafting every element that he does not think many players will ever see everything the studio has created.

　　"That in itself, though, means that most people will have different experiences," Garbut said. "In terms of process, other than plain old hard work, this has just been an incredibly iterative process where a large number of us have existed in this world for years now and wherever we could, we've added more depth and interest. What we've got at the end is I think something quite new. We used to call Liberty City a living, breathing world, but this is way beyond anything we've done before."

　　GTAV launches September 17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Rockstar will release the first official trailer and details for the game's online mode on Thursday.

　　You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

　　Click To Unmute

　　Grand Theft Auto V - Gameplay Trailer Breakdown

　　How Alan Wake II Made Me Face My Fear of Horror Games

　　GameSpot's Top 10 Games of 2023Thompson: The Pop Culture Icon’s Strange Legacy - LoadoutFirearms Expert’s FAVORITE Weapons Of 2023State Of Gaming Handhelds In 2023How Lies of P Cracked the Souls GenreLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Ichiban Kasuga Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Saeko Mukoda Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Chitose Fujinomiya Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Eric Tomizawa Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Kazuma Kiryu Character Spotlight TrailerLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth - Official Yu Nanba Character Spotlight Trailer

　　Share

　　LinkEmbed

　　Size:640 × 360480 × 270

　　Start at: End at: Autoplay Loop

　　Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

　　Sign up or Sign in now!

　　Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

　　This video has an invalid file format.

　　00:00:00

　　HTML5

　　Auto HD High Low

　　Report a problem

　　Sorry, but you can't access this content!

Please enter your date of birth to view this video

　　By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's

　　Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

　　enter