One thing that is wrong with this discussion (and similar ones we've had in the past) is the assumption that when we compare Rockstar to SCS, Rockstar has a tremendous advantage over SCS due to its much larger sales volume and much larger team. This is only partly true.
For map size, SCS obviously has a significant advantage. The SCS map now includes a general representation of parts of 12 states, soon to be 14. With GTA 5, Rockstar only managed to showcase a single city.
Given the size of this map, and the number of assets SCS has created, it's safe to say that the SCS's team's body of work is also more impressive than Rockstar's. Again, it's one thing to represent a city: it's another to represent real life buildings in 12 states. That is impressive.
Where I see a clear difference between SCS and Rockstar is things like ambient sound (sounds of people talking to each other, coughing and sneezing, chatting on the phone, commenting about things they see, etc). Rockstar also has a clear advantage in the weathering department. Pretty much everything in a GTA 5 industrial area looks run down. Almost everything in ATS looks brand new.
Rockstar also has an advantage in lighting (their sun arc and brightness is far more realistic than what SCS offers), water, dust, etc.
None of these things scream billion dollar company to me. But all of them do make for a much more enjoyable experience. I just spent the better part of an hour walking and driving around the industrial zone in GTA 5 (an area to be fair I spend very little time in).
Maybe I'm being ridiculous, but does this look like the work of a billion dollar company? Not to me it doesn't. The hills are more foreboding in the distance; the road surface is completely imperfect, and there are quite a few detail objects laying around. But none of these buildings have interiors. So it's not like that's the big difference, even for a game where being on foot is half of it.
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The biggest difference I see in these is again weathering. And the fact the roads are not completely flat. There's also a ton of pedestrians and a lot of trash on the ground.
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I believe SCS could make their map look like this without spending anywhere close to a billion dollars or without changing most of the objects. Just some better, more realistic/weathered textures. And obviously view distance needs to improve as well.
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