If you’re from the west coast of the US that seems to be a more West Coast thing. I recently went to Chicago and was amazed at how clean it was. The Lyft driver told me it was the cleanest city in the country (and possibly the world since he grew up outside of the states) but I wasn’t prepared for it. I walked everywhere in the city and there just wasn’t a single piece of trash anywhere. We actively looked too.
I think the audio detail was so high because it helped to sell the realism of the game. Go back and play those early games and they don’t look nearly as good as my brain remembers, but the audio helped to fill in the lack of gravel looking texture and leaves tussling sounds in bushes that had two twigs on them.