Where Is GTA 6 Located?

Where GTA 6 takes place: the state of Leonida

GTA 6 takes place in the state of Leonida, which Rockstar introduced with Trailer 1 in December 2023 as the home of Vice City and beyond.⁵ Its story text promises "the darkest side of the sunniest place in America," with a criminal conspiracy that stretches across the whole state.⁶

Leonida has six regions on Rockstar's official list: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park.² The interactive GTA 6 map shows all six on a fan-drawn preview of Leonida, and Port Gellhorn's spot is a fan theory.

How Rockstar picked Florida for GTA 6

Rockstar picked Florida for GTA 6 fairly quickly, according to Edge's cover story, because the state's dense cities, swamps and varied scenery gave the team plenty to work with.³ Edge also reports that Rob Nelson of Rockstar North led a small group to Miami to get a feel for what a return to Vice City might look like.

Rockstar's Owen Shepherd, its VP of art for lighting and rendering, framed the weather in the same terms. He told Game Informer that the skies run from a clear Miami winter to the towering storm clouds of a Florida summer and fall, as quoted by VGC.¹

Every real-world match below comes from that kind of press coverage or from fans, since Rockstar's site sticks to its fictional names.

GTA 6 locations and the real places behind them

GTA 6 locations each take after real places in a different part of Florida, VGC reports from Game Informer's cover story, and fans have added their own matches where the press stops.¹ The table shows who makes each one.

What city GTA 6 is based on

The city GTA 6 is based on is Miami: Game Informer reported that Vice City draws heavily from it, from the Art Deco architecture and beaches to the major cruise ship port.¹ Rockstar's Vice City page sticks to fictional names, such as Ocean Beach, Little Cuba, the Tisha-Wocka flea market and the VC Port.⁹

A Forbes contributor went further and matched Rockstar's district names and trailer landmarks to real Miami places. These matches are the writer's reading, not Rockstar's word:⁷

• Ocean Beach: South Beach and Ocean Drive.
• Little Cuba: Little Havana.
• Sahara Arena: the Kaseya Center, home of the Miami Heat.
• Megamundo tower: One Biscayne Tower.
• Vice City International Airport: Miami International Airport.
• Port Vice City: PortMiami.

GTA 6 cities and towns named so far

GTA 6 cities named by Rockstar start with Vice City, which it still calls the sun and fun capital of America.⁹ Outside the city, Rockstar's screenshots show an Ambrosia skyline with smokestacks, and its text describes Port Gellhorn as a once-popular vacation spot.²

Rockstar's edition notes add more place names, such as Washington Beach, Watson Bay and Stockyard, without saying which region they are in.¹⁰ One more city comes up in a character backstory: Liberty City, where Lucia Caminos has family roots, according to her Rockstar profile.² It sits outside Leonida.

Real Florida moments recreated in GTA 6 trailers

GTA 6's first trailer recreated real Florida moments, according to PC Gamer, which found that its hammer-wielding woman is a near 1:1 copy of a viral 2017 Florida news clip.¹¹ PC Gamer matched the clip of a woman twerking on top of a moving car to a real viral video too, and a social post it embedded ties that scene to Miami Beach spring break.

Not every clip has a known source: PC Gamer isn't sure all of them trace back to real events, and Rockstar hasn't confirmed any of these matches.

Smaller details point to Miami as well. PC Gamer's Trailer 1 breakdown noticed police badges modeled on Miami-area cities.¹² PC Gamer's car list adds that the trailer's Oceanic nods to a real Oldsmobile Super 88 parked outside Miami's Avalon Hotel.¹³ The GTA 6 police cars page tracks every cop car seen so far.