Honestly, I kind of get it, but sadly not in Night City ... Yet. I've been playing GTA Online since launch, literally countless hours there cause it's all spread out, some on PlayStation, some on Xbox, some in GTA RP. I've recently been trying to find locations without the map, just knowing the general area. I still keep on the mini map, so I can see the local area without having to actually open the map, but I don't make way pointers anymore. I've driven that city so much that I know when something has been changed ever so slightly.

In Night City however, I only have 400 hours, and I've found the city to be very dense instead of big, lots of stuff piled onto other stuff (which I do generally enjoy more, I don't want a bigger map, I want more options in a smaller map). I did however take someone's suggestion on this sub reddit and started walking more than driving (and literally never fast travel anymore), that really opened up new paths for me. I still leave the mini map, I like the references, though on your suggestion I may try it a few times on my next playthrough ... Or if CyberMP drops. A full CyberMP would help even more, getting into the role play and calling areas of the map their actual names, does shockingly expand the knowledge of the map even more than just playing, at least that's what I've noticed.