User blog comment:Lost Labyrinth/The Sims Wiki News - 16th January 2014/@comment-1519608-20140116151926/@comment-2201555-20140116154437

I remember Maxis stating that they couldn't bring in larger maps due to performance issues. I get that a GPU would then have to render more but this is where a draw distance setting comes in handy - lower-spec PCs can just turn it down and it wouldn't be an issue.

Tropico 4 uses large maps, has a draw distance setting, runs and (arguably) looks better than SimCity. To me this sounds like developer laziness (in both making content and optimising it). Surely it doesn't take much to change the map size and add a setting that tells the engine how much to render at once, but then again this is the same development team that thinks shards of grass and lighting effects are the same thing.

But yeah, what good is a city that you can't add all the money making stuff to? I can't live off of taxes forever. I had to put the stadium in the city next door...and they're getting the money from it.