GTA 5 fan makes incredible 3D printed version of entire San Andreas map

GTA 5 will never stop when it comes to amazing fan creations. One player, in particular, has taken things to the next level with a 3D map of Los Santos.

When GTA 5 first took the world by storm in 2013, players were mystified by the high-resolution remodel of Los Santos. Adding a modern spin on some familiar locations, whilst completely removing others, Rockstar’s update of the fabled San Andreas landscape has proved to be a worthy successor.

The launch of GTA Online has turned Los Santos into an interactive playground. As various updates introduce fantastical weapons and futuristic vehicles, the possibilities are truly never-ending. 

For GTA 5 fan and Product Designer Dom Riccobene, enjoying Los Santos virtually wasn’t quite enough. He had to make it happen in real life too.

 An incredible 3D recreation

The art of 3D printing is astounding. With applications in both creative and practical fields, innovators of this technology continue to push the boundaries of creativity. Dom Riccobene is one of those innovators. Leading a career in Product Design in his day job, Dom collects data of real-life locations known as “data-sculptures.”

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Enter GTA 5. Planning to assemble a huge amount of data from Rockstar’s open-world goliath, Dom was going to recreate the world of Los Santos into a physical 3D-printed map. Describing this gigantic quest as “an immense technical challenge,” Dom prevailed over the 100 hours it took to scan the in-game map by hand.

With over 500 million coordinates to organize, Dom created an “elevation grid” that would allow him to accurately depict Los Santos in stunning detail.

For densely packed areas, the estimated time to print was around 12 hours. In total this humongous effort took 125 hours, give or take, to print in full. That’s outside of the 400 hours Dom spent fine-tuning the accuracy of the map.

You’ll be glad to know that Dom isn’t done quite yet either. His next project, which is currently underway, will see him recreate Red Dead Redemption 2’s richly detailed American west. 

We can’t wait to see what Dom does with the best cowboy simulator in gaming.