The settings for GTA games are fictional, so they can put the city for the next game wherever they want.
Last time Rockstar created a fictional city from the ground up was in 1999 in the 2D era.
Maybe if Rockstar decides 12 year development cycles aren't a good idea they can start expanding GTA 6 like American Truck Simulator by adding on more and more to the map, because I would love to see an Georgia map expansion to GTA 6 that adds Atlanta since they already are teasing Georgia with Gloriana
yes but it gives them an excuse to use assets from rdr2 and gta 6 unless they set it in a different time period like the 1960s
The issue is GTA games have to be contemporary for GTA online, there's no way to go back in time now as you have to sell the consoomers the latest shit, I mean GTA Online was supposed to be 6 months before the story of GTA 5, but in 2017 with the release of gunrunning they finally jumped the time line forward to then-present day.
You can see this from the timeline of meta cars for racing:
2013 - Addler - 2012 Bugatti Veyron
2014 - Zentorno - 2012 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento
2015-2016 - T20 - 2014 McClaren P1
2017-2018 - Vagner - 2017 Aston Martin Valkyrie Prototype
2019 - Itali GTO - 2018 Ferrari 812 Superfast
2023 - Stinger TT - 2020 Ferrari Roma / 2023 Ferrari Purosangue
2025 - Suzume - 2021 Aspark Owl