GRAND THEFT AUTO V's launch trailer reveals that the game will be set in Los Santos, the Los Angeles-riffing city that kicked off the massive SAN ANDREAS back in 2004. The trailer also indicates that some of the rural areas surrounding the city will be included, such as mountainous areas. Some fans are speculating that GTA5 will be a full-on remake of SAN ANDREAS, incorporating the other cities present in that game (San Fierro and Las Venturas), also pointing out that SA's early trailers only focused on Los Santos and the revelation of the sheer scale of that game was held back as a surprise for a few months before launch.

The narrator (believed to be the man who briefly appears overlooking the balcony) and his dialogue also strongly hint that Tommy Vercetti, the Scarface-aping antihero of VICE CITY, will be returning in some capacity. This makes sense as Tommy, the series' only truly unrepentant scumbag protagonist (all of the other characters are 'supposed' to be somewhat good guys, or at least conflicted, in the storylines, whilst Tommy was an out-and-out psychopath), is arguably the only GTA main character where there seems to be more story to tell. However, his inclusion would seem to violate Rockstar's assertion that GTA IV and the games spun off from it would be a totally separate continuity to the GTA III series (including VICE CITY and SAN ANDREAS). Of course, Rockstar may have simply changed their minds in the interim.

Interesting to see how this goes. Certainly it looks far more impressive graphically than GTA IV (though not as good as the PC IceEnhancer mod for GTA IV, which makes the game look astonishing). The game is anticipated for release in late 2012 or early 2013.