Hello,
How did GTA5 (Grand Theft Auto) build their city environment? It is so realistic. And it’s not like a panaroma HDRI. But it’s real 3D map environment.
Various outsourcing studios hired in Asia to build the 3D models; that’s how they built it.
If you’d put together all of the outsourcing companies, you’d have a working force of over 1500 3D artists.
Stunning.
Let’s say i want to build a game where a car jumps from one skyscapper to another, can i use a HDRI panaroma, instead of building an entire city? I know it’s less accurate, but at least it’ll approximate a 3D map, correct?
Are you actually asking if you can use a bitmap for a 3D model? 
No, it would look like you’re in a sphere, it would only look good if you don’t move
The only rule for a game scene is that it needs to look realistic while running within your performance target. Instead of building the entire city you could only use 3D models for the closest buildings and then gradually decrease quality further in the distance. Just boxes for the 2nd row, billboards after that and then a sphere at the end. As long as you have a parallax effect and maybe some fog it will be ok. But the questions wasn’t really meant to be answered I guess? 
The point is that the question was NOT “Can I use a bitmap as a far away background?”, but “…]a car jumps from one skyscapper to another, can i use a HDRI panaroma…]?” …which just doesn’t make any sense at all.
If you interprete it as “use a panorama pic IN THE FAR BACKGROUND”, then it’s a totally different question altogether.
But, ah well… might as well be what he was trying to express.
If there’s only a car jumping from 1 skysrapper to another, the distance is short, dont see why a HDRI background wouldn’t work. Not taking a sightseeing bus tour around 3D city.
The question is: how long the jump distance can go before it starts giving it away. Are there any examples on youtube or web?