An Interview With GTA VI Mapper DuPz0r

We spoke to DuPz0r of the GTA VI Mapping Project to find out why he creates GTA maps and how much effort it's taken to piece together GTA VI's Leonida map from leaks and trailer footage.

If you've seen any of the frequently updated Grand Theft Auto VI community maps over the last 18 months or so, you'll be familiar with DuPz0r's work. You can download a super-sized version of the latest GTA VI Community Map (v0.042 at time of writing) by clicking the image below.

Based on speculation and released footage, this creation by the GTA VI Mapping Project is the most accurate and detailed representation of the GTA VI map you'll find so far. Be warned, however, it's 10,000 x 10,000 pixels and almost 30 MB in size!

DuPz0r was a leading force behind the community maps before the release of Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2, giving players a very accurate representation of what to expect when the game was eventually released. As you'll see below, they're almost identical to the final product!

DuPz0r is also a regular contributor to our iGrandTheftAuto fan site network, which of course includes this very site, and we're pleased to bring an interview with him to give some insight into his dedication to the Grand Theft Auto community.

Hi DuPz0r, thanks for taking the time to talk to us.

You're well known in the GTA community as one of the lead mappers. Do you have any professional game development or cartography experience or is this purely a hobby of yours?

"Hello Psy, thanks for taking the time to interview me.

I've been fascinated with game development since I was a young lad playing Sonic & Super Mario. But I got serious about it when Grand Theft Auto III came out in 2001 when I realized what could be done with 3D graphics. I studied Fine Art in college and went on to obtain a Degree in Games Art & Animation. Since then I've worked & expanded my knowledge in game development, animation, and design, in both 2D and 3D fields.

GTA was always at the core of my passion for games art and every time a new GTA was released, I was there with the rest of the fanbase picking apart all the information R* gave us. So to answer your question, it is a bit of both experience & hobby.

Mapping GTA games has also got me interested in real maps, cartography, topographic maps and countless geodetective work in google earth/maps.”

How do you even begin to create a map based on evidence from short clips or video frames? Did you start with a real map of Florida and rework it based on matching evidence from the game or create it entirely by hand?

"Every time a new GTA releases, it's a big event for gaming as a whole. But the hardcore fanbase gets together on forums and social spaces and starts to pick apart every detail from trailers and screenshots. The starting point of every mapping project is always comparing and matching buildings found in the game to the real world. This is because GTA from the 3D era onward has always been heavily inspired by real places, to the point that they actually replicate real-world architecture in their games.

Once the buildings have been matched we look for them in multiple shots and use that information to triangulate the positions. This can be done in 2D & 3D using basic trigonometry, calculating angles and the distances between objects. That gets translated to a 2D grid which is then used as the basic foundation for our maps."

What inspired you to start creating maps for GTA?

"Grand Theft Auto has always been inspiring to me. Huge open worlds with loads of moving parts. Unlike anything else, Rockstar Games have figured out a way to simulate a world above and beyond anyone else. This alone makes me curious and inspired me to make fan/fantasy maps and essentially create a wish list in map form. That naturally evolved into me wanting to figure out how the actual map would look before the game was in my hands, and many other hardcore fans synergized with this concept too."

How many hours do you think you've put into creating the GTA VI map so far?

"It's hard to say, but I usually sit down with a cup of coffee in the evenings after work and dinner for 2 to 3 hours, 3 days a week. Almost every time I sit and go through the trailers, screenshots, etc, and see what the rest of the community has been looking at, I always find something new to add to the map. It's amazing how continuous it is."

Which graphic design software do you use to create your maps?

"Primarily I use Adobe Photoshop for the 'VI map. I've dabbled with other 2D design software, and there are certainly more efficient ways to make a map. But with over 15 years of experience with PS, I feel most at home using that software. I also use 3DSMax & Unity for 3D aspects, like measuring distances between landmarks/structures."

How many times have you watched the first GTA VI trailer?

"Oh, more times than I can count! I have a folder with every single image frame in 4k that I scrub through every single time I'm investigating a scene. Hundreds of hours spent just on that so far and it's been around 4 months since the trailer released as of writing this."

Which part of the GTA VI map are you most looking forward to visiting when the game is out?

"This is a funny one because I love mapping, and I'll appreciate the game world even more when I finally get to dive into it. But the parts of the map that really interest me are the parts we still haven't discovered. So for me, it's probably the mysterious hilly Region in the Northwest since Florida is very flat, and that area is not. And the very end of VI's version of Key West, since I love that whole region in real life, so I'll be exploring the islands and underwater for sunken pirate ships there for sure!"

If you could speak to Rockstar Games and request one feature to appear in GTA VI, what would it be?

"This a hard one to answer, as Rockstar leads the gaming scene, and usually puts everything I want in their games. But If I had to request something I would ask for them to please let us save anywhere on the map from our vehicles, and use them as storage devices for weapons and clothes, live out of our cars essentially!"

Give us a prediction, when do you think GTA VI will be released?

"Based on previous R* game releases I do expect delays, that is inevitable. I think a fair window would be Q1-Q3 2026 based on that assumption."

Thank you for your time. Is there anywhere else we can find you?

"Other than the GTA VI mapping community which can be found on forums, Discord & Reddit, I also have a YouTube channel where I usually make investigative content on GTA & Red Dead Redemption along with many other gaming-related things. You can find my channel at https://www.youtube.com/@BasementGamerBros. Thanks for reading, and thanks for having me!"

DuPz0r recently created a video giving more details into his mapping and exactly how they pinpointed the locations of all of the buildings from the trailer. It's worth a watch on YouTube or below.