Hardly. GTA or Just Cause have no freedom in comparison, especially GTA. You are restricted on where you can go at certain points, you can't see the whole world until later parts of the game. Can you choose what career you wish to persure in either of those games? No, you are a protagonist and nothing more, you don't choose his background, or have any impact on what his future holds, it's set out for you.
Eve, you create a character, and choose to do what you wish, albeit be a golf expert as you said. My point was that console games are all linear in order to appeal to a wider audience. If the next Elder Scrolls had no main story, and instead you just walked around a huge continent aimlessly, with no guidance, would it sell as well as it's predecessors? No.
Console and Sandbox do not mix. My comment on it mainly residing in the MMO space was becuase you have a community to influence what you do. This doesn't make it linear as you
choose the people you play with, they aren't spawned in certain places just by loading up the game, and if your play style changes, the people you play with may as well, but there is nothing stopping you from carrying on the same, just because you decided to retire from being a soldier, to becoming a socialite.
I'm not arguing against the point you made, as I agree there are no totally sandbox games, except that ancient one I don't see very often, called 'Real Life'
Apologies for any typos, don't have the energy to proof read
