My kids have forced me to play this Grand Theft Auto 5 Thing (ok, ok I admit it - I play it because I like to blow things up...)
But political correctness aside, I am impressed with the rather complete railroad in the game - and it's lessons for N-scale or any scale layout design.
The world in the game is incredibly impressive in scope, but - it is in fact a massively selectively compressed world with cities, town, desert and
mountain scenes. The transitions from scene to scene are seamless and done very well. I am surprised at the number of ideas for layout design
that are present - especially some of the urban scenes (along the LA canals), use of tunnels, and placement of industries.
I think if you model California or the Southwest it is worth a look (hop a freight and take a ride) at some of the ideas they used...