Yeah even GTA4 had similar areas.. Which is still my favourite of the recent bunch..I hope this time we get some real DLCs though and the game is not left half finished to focus on multiplayer. They would be stupid not to do multiplayer with all the money they raked in, but it was obvious a lot of locations in GTA 5 were meant for more. They were, just for multiplayer. For example they have that huge casino/race track and you don't do a thing with it in single player. I remember at one point the game said (maybe after the jewelry store heist?) that now more heists will be available and touting new crew members. It seemed like something they didn't finish.
I just love cruising the streets I guess.
Fun fact..
I prepared myself for driving in Los Angeles by obsessively playing GTA before I jumped on a plane to the US.
I only forgot which side of the road I was on once.. but that was up near Laurel Canyon/Hollywood hills so pretty quite oops!..
I still have my PS3 set up with BurnOut Paradise in the disc tray for similar reasons and having it hooked up to my Whoop arse projector is how all games should be played..