GTA 6 real-life locations: the Florida behind Vice City and Leonida

Rockstar never says “this is Miami”, but it doesn’t hide the model either. Rob Nelson of Rockstar North told TroisCouleurs that the map is a warped version of reality: the studio picks which parts of Florida to keep, such as the Everglades and the towns outside Miami, and puts them roughly where they are in the real world. Below, each match is marked by how solid it is.

The state and the city

Leonida is the game’s Florida, and Vice City is its Miami, as it was in GTA: Vice City in 2002. Rockstar’s merch calls Leonida the Goodtime State; Florida’s real nickname is the Sunshine State. Rockstar keeps a research team in Miami, according to Dazed (how Rockstar built Leonida).

Vice City neighborhoods

• Ocean Beach: Rockstar describes pastel art deco hotels and bright white sand. That matches Miami Beach and its art deco district. Likely match.
• Little Cuba: named for its busy Cuban bakeries. The name points to Little Havana, Miami’s Cuban neighborhood. Likely match.
• VC Port: Rockstar calls it the cruise ship capital of the world, the slogan PortMiami uses for itself. Very likely match.
• Stockyard: Dazed calls it Vice City’s version of Wynwood, the Miami arts district, and says more than 50 street artists designed murals for it. Confirmed by the press.
• Shore Drive: a street Rockstar ties to classic cars and the beach. The name likely echoes Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. Likely match.

Outside the city

• Grassrivers: Leonida’s swampland, with alligators and airboats. Nelson names the Everglades among the parts of Florida Rockstar kept. Confirmed by Rockstar.
• Leonida Keys: a tropical archipelago in the south where the game begins, like the Florida Keys south of Miami. Very likely match.
• Lake Leonida: Florida’s largest lake, Lake Okeechobee, sits north of the Everglades. Rockstar hasn’t confirmed the link. Possible match.
• Mount Kalaga National Park: forests, hunting and trails by the northern border. Florida has no mountains, so this is the part of the map that bends reality the most. No clear match.
• Ambrosia and Port Gellhorn: a sugar refinery town and a faded resort. Rockstar doesn’t point to specific real towns, and we don’t guess.

What isn’t there

Paul MacPherson, Rockstar’s senior vice president of environment art, told Game Informer that Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and the Orlando area around them aren’t in Leonida, and neither is the Space Coast with its launch pads. The studio picks places that add up to the whole of Florida instead.

More on the regions: the GTA 6 map and the regions of Leonida.