Where GTA 6 takes place: the state of Leonida
Grand Theft Auto VI returns to Vice City, Rockstar's satirical take on Miami - but this time the city is only one piece of a much larger world: the fictional US state of Leonida. Modeled on Florida, from its neon coastline to its inland swamps, Leonida is described by Rockstar as the backdrop for "Vice City, USA", crossed by "a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida."
Unlike the 1986 setting of the original GTA Vice City, this new Vice City is contemporary: a present-day metropolis of influencers, livestreams, short-form video and viral crime. The look is still pastel and sun-soaked, but the satire targets the 2020s rather than the 1980s.
The confirmed regions
In the second trailer (May 2025), Rockstar confirmed six regions that make up Leonida:
- Vice City - the Miami-inspired heart of the map: beaches, high-rises and nightlife.
- Grassrivers - wetlands inspired by the Everglades.
- Leonida Keys - an island chain modeled on the Florida Keys.
- Ambrosia.
- Mount Kalaga National Park - whose hilly, forested terrain draws on northern Georgia as much as Florida.
- Port Gellhorn.
That is the full list Rockstar has officially shown. Anything beyond it - specific county names, extra towns, named Vice City neighborhoods other than the beachfront - comes from fan mapping or the 2022 leak, not from Rockstar. We flag those clearly below.
The protagonists: Jason and Lucia
For the first time in the main series, GTA 6 stars two playable leads, and one of them, Lucia, is the franchise's first dedicated female protagonist.
Lucia Caminos
Lucia comes from a family that has had to fight to get by. According to Rockstar, she was imprisoned at the Leonida Penitentiary after fighting for her family, and "sheer luck got her out." The second trailer gives her a cage-fighting (MMA) background and opens with Jason picking her up as she leaves prison. Tough and pragmatic, she is the emotional center of the story.
Jason Duval
Jason "wants an easy life." His official bio says he grew up around grifters and crooks, did a stint in the Army, and then ended up working for local drug runners in the Leonida Keys. When the game begins he is trafficking drugs and collecting rent for a Keys smuggler named Brian Heder. He is the more laid-back half of the pair, looking for a clean exit that never quite arrives.
A modern crime romance
Rockstar frames the game around Jason and Lucia's relationship and what they are willing to do to stay together. Journalists and fans have compared the duo to Bonnie and Clyde - a useful shorthand, but a characterization, not Rockstar's official wording. What Rockstar has said is that an "easy score goes wrong" and pulls the two into a conspiracy that spans the whole state.
The supporting cast
Trailer 2 introduced a roster of named characters, all from official Rockstar material. You can browse them in the GTA 6 encyclopedia:
- Cal Hampton - a friend of Jason's and a conspiracy theorist who monitors Coast Guard communications.
- Boobie Ike - a Vice City businessman who built a legitimate empire spanning real estate, a strip club and a recording studio.
- Dre'Quan Priest - a rising music mogul behind the Only Raw Records label.
- Real Dimez - a rap duo (Bae-Luxe and Roxy) signed under the Only Raw umbrella.
- Raul Bautista - a bank robber who pulls others into high-risk jobs.
- Brian Heder - the Leonida Keys drug runner Jason works for, described by Rockstar as a classic smuggler from the golden age of the Keys.
Rockstar has not yet named a single primary antagonist. Raul Bautista's crew is the closest the trailers come to a clear source of danger, but the overall shape of the conspiracy is still under wraps.
Themes: Florida, satire and the internet age
GTA has always been a satire of America, and GTA 6 points that lens at the 2020s. Wikipedia and previews describe a world that parodies social media and influencer culture, modern law enforcement, true-crime obsession and the "Florida Man" meme - the endless stream of bizarre real-life Florida news. Expect livestreamers, viral clips, scammers and clout-chasing woven into the missions and the world itself.
The real-world inspiration is unmistakable: Miami's beaches and Art Deco strips, the Everglades, the Keys, swamp airboats, strip malls and small-town Florida. It is the most "American" GTA setting since San Andreas, filtered through Rockstar's usual exaggeration.
Confirmed vs rumor
Because GTA 6 is one of the most leaked games in history, it is worth being precise about where each detail comes from.
Confirmed by Rockstar:
- The setting (Leonida and Vice City), the present-day timeframe, and the six regions above.
- Jason and Lucia and their backstories, plus the supporting cast listed above.
- A release date of 19 November 2026, delayed once from an earlier 26 May 2026 target.
- Platforms: PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S only. No PC version has been announced. Developed and published by Rockstar Games (Take-Two Interactive).
Not confirmed (leak or fan inference):
- The detailed county map of Leonida (names like Vice-Dale, Kelly, Leonard, Mariana) is fan-wiki mapping, not official.
- A specific prison in "Kelly County" modeled on a real Georgia facility comes only from the September 2022 source-code leak, when a hacker (later identified as Arion Kurtaj of the Lapsus$ group) exposed roughly 90 development videos plus source code. Rockstar called that footage "early development" and never presented it as final.
- Any canonical link placing GTA 6 "after" GTA 5 is unverified - treat shared-universe theories as speculation.
- The exact map size relative to GTA 5 has not been officially stated.
We update this page whenever Rockstar confirms something new.
Sources
- Rockstar Games - official character pages and Newswire (rockstargames.com)
- Grand Theft Auto VI - Wikipedia
- Video Games Chronicle - Trailer 2 cast reveal
- BleepingComputer - reporting on the September 2022 source-code leak