GTA San Andreas: Los Santos, San Fierro, Las Venturas

Grove Street is the home base of the Grove Street Families, where CJ returns after five years in Liberty City. He reunites with his siblings, Sweet and Kendl, and with Big Smoke and Ryder. Rockstar used Compton for Los Santos's urban areas, and Ganton is the game's version of that neighbourhood. The real Compton is a city of 95,740 people south of downtown Los Angeles, known as the Hub City. Grove Street itself is fictional; the pin marks the real area behind it.

Location precision: Ganton and Grove Street are fictional; the pin marks Compton, the real city Rockstar used for Los Santos's urban areas.

Visitor guidance: Compton is a residential city; there is no game landmark or street sign to find.

Los Santos has its own hillside lettering: the Vinewood sign, based on the Hollywood Sign. The real sign is an American landmark overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles. It went up in 1923 as a temporary advertisement for a housing development and originally spelled HOLLYWOODLAND; the last four letters came down in 1949. The sign was entirely replaced in 1978 with 45-foot steel letters on concrete footings. It stands on Mount Lee above Beachwood Canyon, on rough, steep ground with barriers against access, so view it from below.

Location precision: Vinewood is fictional; the pin marks the Hollywood Sign, the real landmark the in-game sign copies.

Visitor guidance: The sign is best seen from the streets below or from Griffith Park; the hillside itself is fenced.

Rockstar based Mount Chiliad on Mount Diablo, the isolated peak that rises over the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. Players can drive about 800 metres up the in-game mountain, and the real summit is just as accessible: North Gate and South Gate roads reach it by car, and walkers and cyclists use the same park. Mount Diablo stands 3,849 feet high, visible from most of the Bay Area, inside a state park of about 20,000 acres. On a clear day the view reaches the Sierra Nevada.

Location precision: Mount Chiliad is fictional; the pin marks Mount Diablo, the real peak it is based on.

Visitor guidance: Drive or cycle to the summit; North Gate and South Gate roads both climb to it.

San Fierro's great bridge is the Gant Bridge, Rockstar's copy of the Golden Gate Bridge. The real bridge spans the one-mile-wide Golden Gate strait between San Francisco and the Pacific, carrying U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1. It opened on May 27, 1937, and was then the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world; its main span is 4,200 feet and its towers rise 746 feet above the water. Walk or cycle the eastern walkway; the bridge is popular with both.

Location precision: The Gant Bridge is fictional; the pin marks the Golden Gate Bridge it replicates.

Visitor guidance: The eastern walkway is open to pedestrians and bicycles; check the hours before crossing.

In the desert sits Area 69, the game's secret military base and a direct nod to Area 51. The real Area 51 is a highly classified U.S. Air Force facility inside the Nevada Test and Training Range, about 83 miles north-northwest of Las Vegas. Its operations are not made public, and the perimeter is marked by orange posts and patrolled by guards; signs warn that deadly force is authorised against trespassers. You cannot visit the base itself, but the surrounding desert, including Rachel on the Extraterrestrial Highway, is open tourist country.

Location precision: Area 69 is fictional; the pin marks Area 51, the real base it is modelled on.

The Sherman Dam, the game's desert landmark, is based on Hoover Dam. The real dam is a concrete arch-gravity structure in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the Nevada–Arizona line. It was built between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 30, 1935. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction, with about 7 million visitors a year, and tours have run since 1937. Through traffic no longer crosses the crest, so visitors approach from the Nevada side.

Location precision: The Sherman Dam is fictional; the pin marks Hoover Dam, the real dam it is based on.

Visitor guidance: Tours leave from the visitor centre; approach from the Nevada side.

Las Venturas is the game's Las Vegas, and its casino district is where CJ and Wu Zi Mu plan and execute a robbery of the Mafia-run Caligula's Palace. The real Las Vegas Strip is a 4.2-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, lined with the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in the world. It lies just south of the Las Vegas city limits, mostly in Paradise and Winchester, and most of it is designated an All-American Road. The Strip routes are also classified as Nevada and National Scenic Byways.

Location precision: Las Venturas is fictional; the pin marks the Las Vegas Strip, the real boulevard behind it.

Visitor guidance: The Strip is 4.2 miles long; walking is the best way to see it.