The City Behind Vice City
Miami. GTA 6's Vice City is Rockstar's version of Miami, Florida, and the wider state around it, Leonida, is Rockstar's version of Florida itself.
Rockstar confirms the fictional names, Vice City and Leonida, and describes the places in detail on its own site. The real-world pairings come from those descriptions plus years of press and community comparison, because Rockstar does not publish an official "based on" list.
So the honest answer has two layers. Vice City is Miami reimagined, filtered through Rockstar's satire and compressed to fit a game map. It is not a street-for-street copy, and it never has been.
Key Takeaways
- Vice City is based on Miami, and the state of Leonida is based on Florida.
- Ocean Beach echoes Miami Beach and Ocean Drive, Little Cuba echoes Little Havana, and the VC Port echoes PortMiami.
- The Leonida Keys mirror the Florida Keys, and the Grassrivers mirror the Everglades.
- Rockstar renames everything and rearranges geography. Real places appear in spirit, not under their real names.
- Bloomberg's making-of reporting says Rockstar's team began research trips to Miami in 2015.
1. Miami, Rebuilt as Vice City
Vice City has been GTA's Miami since the name first appeared in 1997, and most famously in 2002's GTA: Vice City, which dressed the idea in 1986 neon. GTA 6 keeps the pairing and updates it to a modern-day Miami.
Rockstar's own description of the new Vice City leans on the real city's calling cards: sun, pastel art deco hotels, white sands and a party that never quite stops. That is Miami Beach as the world knows it, retold with fictional names.
Reporting on the game's long development backs the connection. A Bloomberg making-of account, published in October 2026, reported that Rob Nelson's team flew to Miami for a first research trip back in 2015, when the project carried the codename Project Americas.
Our tour of what Vice City is like in GTA 6 walks through the city Rockstar has shown so far.
2. The Matches You Can See on the Map
Some pairings are close to confirmed by Rockstar's own text. Its site describes Ocean Beach with the pastel art deco strip and white sands of Miami Beach's Ocean Drive, and name-checks Little Cuba's panaderías and ventanitas, the bakeries and coffee windows of Little Havana.
The VC Port matches PortMiami, one of the busiest cruise and cargo ports in the United States. Our guide to Ocean Beach, Little Cuba and VC Port covers each district in depth.
Fans and local media have gone further. CBS News Miami reported that more than a hundred real locations have been matched to places in the game, down to individual streets. The city's arena has a clear in-game counterpart, renamed like everything else.
Treat exact one-to-one claims with care, though. The broad matches are obvious; the longer lists are community and press work, not a Rockstar document.
3. The Rest of Leonida Is Florida Too
The Florida connection runs far beyond the city. The Leonida Keys mirror the Florida Keys, the chain of islands linked by long bridges at the state's southern tip, including a version of the famous Seven Mile Bridge.
Jason and Lucia's story starts down in those Keys, which is why the trailers open on boats, causeways and small island towns rather than downtown streets.
Inland, the Grassrivers echo the Everglades: mangroves, alligators, airboats and endless wet grassland. Port Gellhorn, on the northern coast, is widely paired with Florida's Forgotten Coast and Panhandle, although that particular pairing is a press and community reading rather than a Rockstar statement.
Ambrosia is sugar country, matching Florida's sugar-growing interior, and Mount Kalaga National Park anchors the northern border. Our guide to the regions of Leonida maps all six areas Rockstar has named.
4. Street-Level Matches Fans Have Found
Below the district level, the matching gets forensic. One widely shared comparison by a Miami-based creator walked the real Venetian Causeway and MacArthur Causeway against trailer frames, finding the same bridges, skylines and road layouts rebuilt in the game.
Ocean Drive matched too, down to the shape of the street, while the colourful walls of Wynwood were recognised in the game's graffiti districts. Reports also matched the Brickell skyline, the Julia Tuttle Causeway and real venues including a famous Miami strip club, renamed for the fiction.
The city's basketball arena became a marketing story of its own. In 2026 the real arena, the Kaseya Center, carried "Welcome to Vice City" branding in a reported Rockstar stunt, putting the real Miami landmark and its in-game counterpart in the same photograph.
None of this is Rockstar publishing a map key. It is fans and local journalists doing comparison work, and it holds up best where the architecture is unmistakable.
5. A Remix, Not a Photocopy
Rockstar's method is remix, not tracing. Real buildings inspire fictional ones, real districts are compressed or moved, and everything gets a new name, from the arena to the smallest café.
That is why a familiar Miami street can appear in the wrong place, or why two real neighbourhoods can sit side by side in Vice City when they are miles apart in Florida. The goal is a place that feels like Miami at driving speed.
It is also why Rockstar will never confirm a full pairing list. The fiction depends on the blend, and the satire depends on the distance.
6. Why Miami, Again
Returning to Vice City gives GTA 6 a setting with a ready-made identity: money, tourism, nightlife, swamps and storms, all in one state. Few American cities offer crime-story material as varied as Miami's.
The modern setting matters too. The 2002 game was a period piece about the 1980s. This Vice City is today's Miami, with social media, influencers and modern policing woven into a city older players think they know.
That mix of recognition and change is the point. You are returning somewhere famous, and finding it rebuilt for a different decade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Vice City a real city?
No. Vice City is fictional, but it is based on Miami, Florida. Rockstar builds it from Miami's districts, architecture and coastline, then renames and rearranges everything.
Is GTA 6 set in Miami?
It is set in Vice City, GTA's version of Miami, inside the fictional state of Leonida. Rockstar uses fictional names throughout, but the Miami basis is clear from its own descriptions.
What is Leonida based on?
Florida. The Keys, the Everglades-style Grassrivers, the sugar country of Ambrosia and the northern coast of Port Gellhorn all echo real parts of the state.
Is Key West in GTA 6?
Not under its real name. The Leonida Keys mirror the Florida Keys island chain, and Rockstar has not announced any location using the real Key West name.
Is Ocean Drive in GTA 6?
Its counterpart is Ocean Beach, Rockstar's version of the Miami Beach strip, with the pastel art deco hotels and white sand the real Ocean Drive is famous for.
Did Rockstar actually visit Miami for research?
Reporting on the game's development says yes. A Bloomberg making-of account reported that the team's first Miami research trip took place in 2015.
Is the GTA 6 map a one-to-one copy of Miami?
No. Rockstar compresses, moves and renames real places to build a game map. Individual streets and buildings can match closely, but the layout as a whole is fictional.
Is this the same Vice City as the 2002 game?
It is the same fictional city in a new era. The 2002 GTA: Vice City was set in 1986. GTA 6's Vice City is modern-day, and it is a new version rather than a remaster.
What real place is Port Gellhorn based on?
Press and community analysis pairs it with Florida's Forgotten Coast and Panhandle. Rockstar has not confirmed that pairing itself, so it stays a well-supported reading rather than a fact.
Will real Miami landmarks appear under their real names?
No. Rockstar renames its landmarks, as with the city's arena and port. Expect recognisable places wearing fictional names.
Wrapping Up
GTA 6 is based on Miami and Florida, retold as Vice City and Leonida. Rockstar confirms the fictional places and describes them in unmistakably Floridian terms, while the detailed pairing work belongs to press and fans.
Drive it at launch and you will recognise Miami everywhere, even though the map will never call it that.
