I would be quite happy if they regressed, GTA 5 was quire a step back in terms of side content to do compared to previous iterations and even what remained was often a pail imitation. Honestly they should go back to smaller hand crafted worlds as Bully is their best "open world" game with far more charm than anything they have produced since.The acid test comes with Red Dead Redemption 2. If they don't innovate upon their last-gen console efforts, then nobody can and open-world is officially declared a pointless endeavour.
Bully was a masterclass in open world design.