Vice City Returns in GTA VI

Rockstar has rebuilt the fictional city for a modern-day setting, placing it at the centre of the wider state of Leonida.

Vice City was first revealed in GTA VI's debut trailer in December 2023 and has remained one of the defining parts of Rockstar's promotional campaign.

But this is not simply a return to the Vice City players remember.

The Vice City of GTA VI is a modern reinterpretation of the setting introduced in 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

The original game was set in the 1980s.

GTA VI moves the setting into the modern day, allowing Rockstar to create a completely different version of the city.

Official footage shows busy streets, large beaches, nightlife, high-rise buildings, residential neighbourhoods, businesses and crowded public spaces.

The result is a Vice City designed around the technology, culture and atmosphere of the present day.

Vice City is the centre of GTA VI, but it is not the entire world.

The city sits within Leonida, a fictional state inspired by Florida.

Rockstar has shown a much wider range of environments surrounding the city, including rural areas, waterways, coastal locations and the Leonida Keys.

This means players will be able to move between a dense metropolitan environment and much quieter parts of the state within the same open world.

The Leonida Keys are one of the most distinctive areas shown outside Vice City.

The Keys provide a collection of coastal and island environments that contrast heavily with the city's urban landscape.

Jason Duval also has connections to the region.

Rockstar's official character material establishes that Jason worked for local drug runners in the Leonida Keys before the events of the game.

The area therefore has both geographical and story importance.

Vice City is central to the story of Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos.

The two protagonists become involved in a criminal conspiracy stretching across Leonida after an easy score goes wrong.

Official footage shows Jason and Lucia travelling through Vice City, carrying out criminal activities and spending time together.

The city is therefore more than a backdrop.

It is one of the main environments in which their story unfolds.

Rockstar's modern Vice City is designed to feel busy and populated.

The trailers and Extended Look show large crowds, traffic, businesses, pedestrians and detailed environments throughout the city.

Characters appear to have their own activities and routines, while vehicles fill the roads.

The level of detail extends into buildings, shops, vehicles and other parts of the environment.

This helps make Vice City feel like an active place rather than a static collection of locations for missions.

Vice City and the wider Leonida region are populated by a large cast of characters.

Rockstar has officially introduced characters including Boobie Ike, Raul Bautista, Brian Heder and Cal Hampton.

Each character has their own connection to the world surrounding Jason and Lucia.

Their presence helps establish the different businesses, criminal organisations and social groups operating throughout Leonida.

Vice City has always had a strong identity within Grand Theft Auto.

The original Vice City became famous for its 1980s setting, neon nightlife, beaches and music.

GTA VI keeps many of those recognisable themes while completely changing the era.

The modern setting allows Rockstar to explore contemporary versions of nightlife, tourism, social media, street culture and organised crime.

This gives the new Vice City its own identity rather than simply repeating the original game.

One of the most important aspects of GTA VI's setting is the relationship between Vice City and the rest of Leonida.

Players will not be restricted to an urban environment.

The wider world contains beaches, islands, rural areas, highways, waterways and smaller communities.

This creates a much broader range of environments than the Vice City setting traditionally offered.

It also gives Rockstar more room to vary the game's missions, activities and exploration.

Vice City is one of the most recognisable locations in the Grand Theft Auto series.

Bringing it back gives Rockstar the opportunity to take a familiar setting and completely reinterpret it for a new generation.

The city provides the visual identity of GTA VI, while Leonida expands the world beyond its boundaries.

This combination allows Rockstar to balance familiarity with something substantially new.

Rockstar's August 2026 Extended Look provided the clearest demonstration yet of how Vice City functions within the wider game.

The presentation showed Jason and Lucia driving through the city, interacting with characters and moving between different environments.

It also demonstrated how densely populated the world is, with traffic, pedestrians, businesses and environmental details appearing throughout.

The footage was captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5.

The city's importance extends beyond its appearance.

Jason and Lucia's criminal activities repeatedly bring them into contact with the people and organisations operating throughout Leonida.

Vice City provides the urban centre of that criminal world.

The wider state then allows the story to expand into very different environments and communities.

This gives GTA VI a setting that can shift between intense urban crime and quieter coastal or rural locations without leaving the same world.

Grand Theft Auto VI's Vice City is both a return to a familiar location and a complete reimagining of it.

The city remains recognisable through its beaches, nightlife and distinctive atmosphere, but the modern setting and much larger Leonida world give it a completely different scale.

Rockstar has spent years rebuilding Vice City for the current generation.

With GTA VI currently scheduled to launch on 19 November 2026, players will soon be able to explore the new Vice City and the wider state of Leonida for themselves.