Rockstar really nailed the GTA 6 setting – A Floridian’s reflection

Welcome to paradise

It turns out the GTA 6 setting is in Vice City after all, Rockstar’s fictional version of Miami, though “fictional” is maybe not so accurate this time around. Gone is the Vice City of the mid-2000s, that blocky, sterile burgh with empty streets and no soul. In its place is an overwhelming hotbed of crime, lust, greed, passion, and opportunity – Florida, in other words. 

I grew up not far from the Everglades, and what Rockstar teased in the first GTA 6 trailer looks less like a big exaggeration of American life and a lot like home, albeit with one or two little pieces of fiction thrown in. It's an impressive effort with a surprising bit of nuance you probably wouldn't catch unless you're from the state, so I went through and picked some of the more outstanding similarities and a blatant little lie just to give you an idea of the vibe Rockstar seems to be aiming for.

If you haven't seen it for yourself yet, check out the first GTA 6 trailer now.

Penthouse pool parties are all the rage in Vice City / Rockstar

Gators in the pool – Fact

This is a daily occurrence if you have a pool and live near a canal, a river, a large puddle – basically any body of water large enough for an alligator to sink into. They lumber over, settle themselves in, and wait for some poor, unsuspecting dog to come along for breakfast. That’s if you’re lucky. They get inside your house, sometimes.

Everyone in swimsuits – Unfortunate fact

People who aren’t from Florida tend to get the idea that, because the beach exists and it’s so close, they should wear beach clothes. All the time. I have no qualms about the human body, but that doesn’t mean I want to see as much of everyone’s as possible, every day of the week. I'm just here buying my groceries. Please put - and keep - your accouterments in their proper compartments, people.

That weird dude in the front yard – Fact

It takes all kinds / Rockstar

We briefly see a man watering his front lawn while wearing a tight Speedo that buried itself distressingly deep in his posterior. You may be shocked or find it bizarre and amusing, but it was weirdly familiar to me. Florida attracts all types, including a lot of, er, rather more eccentric ones. One of my neighors while I was growing up had a tendency to wear no pants and water his front lawn with vodka. The Home Owners Association didn’t seem to mind, but why would they? It’s just another day in Florida.

The beach – Fiction

Everyone at the GTA 6 beach is situated so orderly in neat little blocks on the sand, and there’s room for everyone to walk, swim, and have fun. That’s pure fiction, a total fairytale. Have you ever seen a Miami beach in the height of summer or during spring break? It’s dirty. It’s crowded. It’s hell.

Really big mud rallies – Fact

Like most places in the United States, Florida is home to two states – the metro areas and the boonies, the latter of which is basically everywhere outside the metro areas. Unlike most places in the U.S., Florida is a giant swamp. You don’t have to take a long drive to find a whole lotta mud. 

Big, jacked-up trucks and people with four inches of mud instead of paint are a common sight depending on what part of the state you’re in, and mud rallies are a popular form of weekend and weeknight entertainment.

Party central – Fact

Don't try this at home (seriously, don't) / Rockstar

The reason Florida attracts all types is that everyone looks at it like some kind of tropical party paradise. That’s because it usually is, at least during spring break and summer. While I’ve never seen anyone twerking on the roof of a car going down the highway at speed, I have seen pretty much everything else and more. Wild mud rallies? See above. Crowds of people blocking busy roads and halting traffic for a street party? Yep. Half-naked people walking up and down the streets? Try fully naked.

The street through the center of town where I grew up divided it between the acceptable suburban area, with its sprawling neighborhoods and shopping malls, and the seedy side with rows of adult entertainment shops and a network of strip clubs owned by a man who ended up buying a seat on the county commission board. It doesn’t get more GTA than that.

Ridiculous class gap – Fact

Class inequality is hardly unique to one state in the U.S., but it’s pretty extreme in Florida. On one hand, you’ve got the gas and oil magnates, the medical professionals who thrive on retirement communities, and the slum lords who drive prices through the roof just because everyone wants a slice of tropical paradise and spends their life savings to get it, even if "it" turns out to be a half-rotten mobile home and not a penthouse apartment with a pool. 

On the other, you’ve got the minimum wage workers keeping all those tourist attractions going, the seasonal workers who get laid off when the snowbirds go back north, and the struggle to make it to the next day in a region where opportunities are few and avenues to get there are even fewer.

If ever there was a perfect setting rife with inspiration for a deep dive into the rancid underside of American culture, it’s Florida.

GTA 6 launches for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S sometime in 2025.