The problem is that at least some portion of players notice how artificial the world is.
To solve this problem or at least reduce the amount of those players they need to start with understanding from where it comes. And it comes from what you say "I don't think it is relevant" - distance that doesn't connects with narrative and time tracking which practically works in 2 unrelated time-flows. If you are fine with the game world as it is now, just say that and move on, but don't bring this "I don't think" with total zero of thought through arguments.
And unfortunately, while impressive, single maps like that leaves little space to manouver - just adding more dead space to walkthough is probably not a good idea, even if it's possible (aka. wont destroy the map layout, or go beyond memory limits etc.).
Who said that the space should be dead? Is that so hard to image some wilderness with little adventures of it own?
