Conor Kearney likes to go for long walks — without leaving his home. He's trekked across the maps of Far Cry 4, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 3 and New Vegas and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, all on foot, in character. His latest video, above, is a stroll through every numbered Grand Theft Auto (plus Vice City and San Andreas).
Kearney has time-lapsed the footage so it doesn't take for-freaking-ever to see it all — just 13:19. Here's the breakdown, by timestamps in the video and then real-time.
• Grand Theft Auto: 0:06 to 0:36 of the video, taking 26:30 in real time.
• Grand Theft Auto 2: 0:44 to 1:11 in the video, 13:15 in real time.
• Grand Theft Auto 3: 1:20 to 2:21, 14:20 real time.
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: 2:28 to 3:20, 13 minutes flat, real time.
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 3:27 to 6:37, 1 hour, 36 minutes real time.
• Grand Theft Auto 4: 6:44 to 9:30, 1 hour, 5 minutes real time.
• Grand Theft Auto 5: 9:37 to 12:50, 2 hours, 21 minutes real time.
In walking time, the separate worlds of the first two, top-down perspective games are comparable to the first two 3D open-world editions. Things start getting really expansive with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and then GTA 5 officially stops screwing around, doubling GTA 4's walking time and coming in nearly an hour ahead of San Andreas'. This isn't a full measure of map size; some routes may be less direct because of obstacles or terrain in the way. (And six years ago, I determined C.J.'s actual walking pace to be 7:57 per mile, which is a running time I haven't made in 12 years.)
Kearney says he completed all of the games and uploaded his video in 60 frames per second. The combined six hours of walking — about 21 miles in real life at a brisk pace — "pales in comparison" to the rest of the work needed, such as unlocking maps, testing walks, editing footage "and most importantly, making sure I didn't die."
For more of Kearney's strolls, see his YouTube channel.
Worldmap is Polygon's Friday podcast recapping the week's top video game and pop culture news, with staff writers adding perspective and commentary. Check it out here: