3. The Real Life LA Landmarks
Both GTA trailers, while obviously set in a fictionalised version of Los Angeles, features several references to iconic, real-life architecture that you'll actually found dotted around LA's landscape. Above, you can see a shot taken from GTA's reveal trailer compared with a shot of LA's actual City Hall building. Pretty damn similar, right? Here's another, of the US Bank Tower, again, GTA's version on the left, The real version on the right.
"This is all very well and good, but what difference does that make to how good the game will be", you may cry. Well, in truth, it doesn't actually have a direct impact on the gameplay itself, but what it does do is add this sense of realism to the mix; this Tarantinoesque idea that even though the world we're visiting is fictional and fully stylised, there are still deep roots in our reality. Which, if you ask me, only adds meaning to the overall experience. For more architectural comparisons, head over to
iGTA5.