While playing GTA V campaign, I've noticed many of the characters complaining that it's "...going to take hours" to go somewhere and X location is "...so far away". So I thought, if San Andreas was a real life place, how big would it be? Despite the fact I'm not a big fan of it, I've done the math. I hope I am at least relatively close to the correct answers.

 

Here comes the oh-so-fun math. (Skip to the bottom if you want to avoid the hell of all this and just want the answer)

 

Since the time and distance in the game is not resembling of the real world, I began with calculating how long 1 hour in-game is to real life then how long it would take to travel 1 mile @ 60 mph. The way I knew I was travelling at 60 mph was by utilizing the first person view in a vehicle. ALL DRIVING TIMES ARE AT 60 MPH; 60 MINUTES = 1 HOUR...make it easy and what not.

 

1 GTA hour = 2 RL minutes    (RL is "Real Life" just so we're clear)

 

Next, to go 0.50 GTA miles = 30 RL seconds travelling @ 60 mph which would mean 1 GTA mile = 30 GTA minutes = 1 RL minute.

 

2 GTA miles = 1 GTA hour

 

So to put numbers into words: When you drive one mile @ 60 mph, 30 minutes has passed in the minds of the characters. 

"BUT!" you say, "What is the distance from the southern most tip of San Andreas (Los Santos International Airport) to the Northern most tip (Just north of Paleto Bay) of San Andreas? For this question I am ONLY counting the main land of San Andreas and NOT the small pieces of island just north of Paleto Bay. I've included west to east measurements but I'm not concerned with that.

 

While viewing the map in-game, there is a legend measuring the distance across the state of San Andreas in feet. The distance I used was 3,305 ft to measure across the state while using a ruler. My T.V. is big and flat enough to where using a ruler wont interfere with accurate numbers.

 

3,305 ft on a ruler is 3.1 inches. (+/- 0.05 inches)

 

Measuring the entire state north to south came out to APPROXIMATLY 40,486 ft

40,486 ft = 7.66 miles

 

West to east = 24,787 ft = 4.69 miles

 

If going 2 GTA miles = 1 GTA hour then 7 GTA miles = 3 1/2 GTA hours. 

Based on the time cycle relevant to the distance, I've calculated that the 0.66 miles that I left out would mean that the total time is about 3 hours 50 minutes.

 

Numbers in to words again: Travelling from the southern most tip of San Andreas and driving in a STRAIGHT line to the northern most tip (not including the islands) would take 3 hours and 50 minutes while traveling at 60 mph.

 

Since you would travel 60 miles driving at 60 mph, 3 hours 50 miutes would convert to 230 miles.

 

San Andreas in real life 

= 230 miles north to south and would take 3.83 hours to travel @ 60 mph.

= 90 miles east to west and would take 1.84 hours to travel @ 60 mph

 

If any calculation are wrong let me know. None of the calculations are 100% accurate.

Has someone given this man a cookie yet?!

 

I honestly don't think anyone has done this before (whether it was for fun or pure boredom).. well done! 

Excellent calculations! Very interesting to read. How long did it take you to figure all this out?

I hate math! All kinds of it!

 

Well done though!

 

Very interesting.

Don't forget that the GTA V map isn't all of San Andreas...there's also Las Venturas and San Fierro in the state.

Has someone given this man a cookie yet?!

 

I honestly don't think anyone has done this before (whether it was for fun or pure boredom).. well done! 

This was for both fun and boredom....so uh...about that cookie...

Excellent calculations! Very interesting to read. How long did it take you to figure all this out?

 

Thank you. It took me about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

 

I'am bit confused, in GTA one hour equals one minute in the gta game, so how is it two minutes in real life?

I'am bit confused, in GTA one hour equals one minute in the gta game, so how is it two minutes in real life?

 

In the HD era, Rockstar slowed down the in game clock. In doing so, every 'GTA' day is 48 minutes in real life.

 

Cheers.