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You could try cartographer instead (or maybe hector slam). I'm about 85% sure I know what you mean (if you can, edit the post to add an image of your map).

Your odometry isn't perfect. Driving forward isn't too difficult. If you want a real test, drive around for about 3-4 minutes and then go back to your original point. Theoretically your odom and base_link should overlap again, once you're back at your starting point. You'll probably see that this isn't the case.

Gmapping doesn't deal well with this. Cartographer, on the other hand, creates a lot of small maps and tries to stitch them together (basically how the panorama function on your phone works).