What city is san andreas based on

San Andreas redirects here. For games featuring this city, see Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

San Andreas is a fictional county, based on three cities built around the real-world San Andreas fault. The three main cities are Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). As with the other Grand Theft Auto III era games, it is based only very loosely on the area, but recognisable by a few landmarks.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Rendition[edit]

In the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas rendition of the state, the map spreads across three cities, based on three real cities built around the San Andreas Fault. It is based loosely on the area it is supposed to be, but landmarks and place names allow people to tell where it is.

The skyline of downtown Los Santos, taken from Idlewood

Los Santos[edit]

Los Santos is a large city based on the city of Los Angeles, and translates as "The Saints". Towards the east coast of Los Santos is a typical ghetto scene with the rough housing and the gangs ruling the streets, driving around in lowriders. Towards the west of the city, gang control is far less noticeable, and the buildings become far more high rise, and the area becomes more expensive. The city airport is located to the south end of the city and, as with every city in San Andreas, has a runway numbered 69. The north end of the city is home to the rich and famous, including Madd Dogg, and is the location of Vinewood (Hollywood) and Los Santos' answer to Beverly Hills. There are also several film studios and pavements lined with stars.

Red County[edit]

Red County is located to the north and the west of Los Santos, and south of San Fierro and Las Venturas. It comprises of large areas of open countryside, Giant Redwood trees, and is home only a few inhabitants, in small towns such as Blueberry. Because of how vast it is, it soon became the playground for countless myths and rumours, including Bigfoot, Leatherface, and the Epsilon Program, with gamers spending hours on end trying to discover the truth about these things, only to find out that most were nothing more than rumours. The main attraction is probably Mount Chilliad, which is the only mountain in the game, and is around the same size as some of the taller buildings in the game.

The Gant Bridge on the north coast of San Fierro

San Fierro[edit]

San Fierro is a city located to the west of the San Andreas map, and is based on the real life city San Francisco. Noticeable by several landmarks including the Big Prick and the Gant Bridge, the buzzing metropolis has far less gang problems than Los Santos, but there are still gangs present, including The Da Nang Thang, the Mountain Cloud Boys and the San Fierro Rifas. Other notable places of interest are the Easter Basin plane carrier, the city airport and the multiple Easter Eggs within the city. San Fierro is also home to the driving school, where drivers can pick up their licenses with advanced skills. For a more detailed description of San Fierro see the dedicated San Fierro page.

Bone County[edit]

Bone County is a large barren area, based on the Nevada Desert, and is inhabited by just a few people in some remote towns. As with Red County, this was subject to many myth explorations because its sheer vastness could keep mysteries unsolved for months on end. It is home to many real mysteries too, including a ghost town and a pit full of bodybags. The main attractions in the area are the Verdant Meadows airstrip, the Area 69 military research facility, the World's Largest Cock (a typical Rockstar sex related joke), and the boat school. Additionally, there is also an area to the very west of Bone County which is gang turf controlled by the Los Santos Vagos, the only area outside Los Santos which is turf which can be taken over by the Grove Street Families.

A view of the Las Venturas Strip - the location of most casinos

Las Venturas[edit]

Las Venturas translates to English as "The Fortunes", and is a place which can either make or break a person in terms of money. Based on Las Vegas, Nevada, it is the fourth and last city which protagonist Carl Johnson can enter without gaining a 5-star wanted level and is full of bright lights and jam-packed casinos, including Caligula's Palace (owned by the mafia), the Four Dragons Casino (owned by Wu Zi Mu), Cum-a-lot and the Camel's Toe, the latter two again being typical Rockstar jokes. Most of the entertainment is found on the Las Venturas Strip, and the Old Strip, however there are other forms of entertainment elsewhere, such as a bike school, the local airport (which houses the AT-400) and the V-Rock Hotel. Players are able to gamble large amounts on money in typical casino games including slot machines and blackjack. Gang presence is much less noticable in Las Venturas, with no gangs controlling the streets of the city.

Vehicles[edit]

In San Andreas, there are about 211 vehicles scattered around the map.

Some of the new vehicles that were added are bicycles, trailers, and street sweepers. The racing vehicles perform better on track and road, while off road vehicles perform better on scattered terrain and off track. Airplanes are easier to control, but usually need a landing strip to land better. While helicopters can land practically anywhere smoothly and easily. It has been proven that helicopter controls are much easier than previous Grand Theft Auto games.

Other Grand Theft Auto Games[edit]

Grand Theft Auto[edit]

On the original Grand Theft Auto game, the city of San Andreas was strictly based around the city of San Francisco (i.e. San Fierro), and is one of the main cities in the game, along with Liberty City and Vice City. Earlier representations of the city were top-down and two dimensional, but due to the name and geography of the city, it is easy to tell what it is based on.

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