Ocean Beach: the Art Deco strip
Ocean Drive, South Beach, Miami Beach, FL
Rockstar's Ocean Beach is a clear match for Ocean Drive: pastel Art Deco hotels, neon at dusk and a park between the strip and the sand. Here is how to walk it.
Places
Every real place in Leonida
49 real Florida locations behind GTA VI, grouped by region and graded by how confident the match is.
Vice City
Based on Miami and Miami Beach
Vice Beach and its lifeguard towers
South Beach lifeguard towers, Miami Beach, FL
The candy-colored lifeguard stands in the trailer are a clear match for the real ones on South Beach. Walk the sand from South Pointe to 15th Street and you pass a dozen.
The downtown skyline: Brickell and beyond
Brickell and Downtown Miami, Miami, FL
The glass towers behind every Vice City shot are Brickell and Downtown Miami. Where to see the skyline for real, from a free elevated train to the causeway viewpoints.
Bayside: the waterfront Rockstar named
Bayside Marketplace and the downtown bayfront, Downtown Miami, FL
Rockstar named Bayside as a Vice City district in the Extended Look. The real bayfront is Bayside Marketplace, Bayfront Park and the boat docks at the foot of the skyline.
Stockyard: the mural district in Wynwood
Wynwood Walls, Wynwood, Miami, FL
Rockstar named Stockyard as Vice City's mural district. The real thing is Wynwood, a former warehouse quarter painted wall to wall, with Wynwood Walls at its heart.
The causeway toll booths on the Venetian
Venetian Causeway, Miami to Miami Beach, FL
The toll booths a car rolls through in the second trailer are a clear match for the Venetian Causeway, a 1926 island-hopping road between Miami and the Beach.
Stilt houses on the bay: Stiltsville
Stiltsville, Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL
The pastel houses on stilts that a boat races past in the second trailer are a clear match for Stiltsville, seven surviving shacks in the shallows of Biscayne Bay.
The abandoned graffiti stadium on Virginia Key
Miami Marine Stadium, Virginia Key, Miami, FL
A concert in a graffiti-covered concrete grandstand on the water: fans have matched the trailer scene to Miami Marine Stadium, a 1963 landmark empty since 1992.
The waterfront mansion pool party
Star Island and Palm Island, Miami Beach, FL
The trailer's pool party at a white mansion on the water looks like the celebrity islands off the MacArthur Causeway. You cannot get in, but a boat tour gets you close.
The port cranes on the skyline
PortMiami, Miami, FL
The cranes on the horizon in the second trailer look like PortMiami's gantry cranes. You cannot walk the port, but South Pointe Park puts you next to the ships.
Flamingos at the racetrack: Hialeah Park
Hialeah Park, Hialeah, FL
A flock of flamingos in front of a grand old building: fans matched the trailer's shot to Hialeah Park, the 1920s racetrack whose flamingo colony opened Miami Vice.
The causeway highway: the MacArthur
MacArthur Causeway (I-395), Miami, FL
The wide highway over the water with the skyline behind, seen in both trailers, looks like the MacArthur Causeway, Miami's six-lane link between downtown and South Beach.
Boats and jet skis on Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay, Miami, FL
Jet skis, rafted-up boats and parties on the water run through both trailers. Biscayne Bay is the real thing, and you can rent a jet ski or join a sandbar crowd yourself.
Neon nightlife and the club circuit
Downtown and South Beach nightclubs, Miami, FL
Neon clubs, DJs and strip clubs run through the second trailer and the Extended Look. Miami's real circuit is South Beach, Mid-Beach and the downtown club blocks.
Vice City's Cuban quarter: Little Havana
Calle Ocho, Little Havana, Miami, FL
GTA: Vice City had a Little Havana in 2002; nothing in the GTA VI footage confirms one yet. Miami's real Cuban quarter along Calle Ocho is worth the trip either way.
The pale tower downtown: Freedom Tower
Freedom Tower, Downtown Miami, FL
Fans keep looking for the 1925 Freedom Tower among Vice City's glass; nothing official shows it yet. The real one stands across from Bayside and is the oldest thing on the skyline.
Leonida Keys
Based on The Florida Keys
Seven Mile Bridge: the long bridge over turquoise water
Seven Mile Bridge, Marathon, FL
The long, low bridge from Trailer 2 is a clear match for Marathon's Seven Mile Bridge, and the old railroad span beside it is now a walkable path over the water.
The Overseas Highway: driving the Keys
Overseas Highway (US-1), Key Largo to Key West, FL
The two-lane road with water on both sides that Trailer 2 keeps coming back to is US-1, 113 miles from Key Largo to Key West over 42 bridges. Drive it slowly.
Betsy the Lobster: the giant roadside creature
Betsy the Lobster, Rain Barrel Village, Islamorada, FL
Fans think the oversized roadside creature in the Keys draws on Betsy, the 30-foot spiny lobster outside Rain Barrel Village in Islamorada. Whatever it is, Betsy is worth the stop.
Islamorada's bayside tiki bars
Islamorada's bayside tiki bars, Islamorada, FL
The thatched waterfront bar at sunset in Trailer 2 has been matched by fans to Islamorada's bayside tiki bars, where the real thing is a rum drink, a dock and a very slow sunset.
Jason's place: canal homes of the Upper Keys
Key Largo and Islamorada canal homes, Key Largo, FL
Jason's raised house on the water, boat tied up behind, is the kind of canal home that fills Key Largo and Islamorada. You can't visit his, but you can see hundreds like it.
Running the mangroves of Florida Bay
Florida Bay backcountry, Islamorada, FL
Boats tearing through tunnels of mangrove in both trailers have been matched by fans to the Florida Bay backcountry behind the Upper Keys, a maze you should only enter with a guide.
Key West and Duval Street: the end of the road
Duval Street, Key West, Key West, FL
Rockstar hasn't shown a Key West in Leonida, but the end of the Keys road looks like it draws on the real thing, and the real thing is the best finish to a Keys trip.
Bahia Honda: the beach under the old bridge
Bahia Honda State Park, Big Pine Key, FL
Nothing official points here, but the Leonida Keys look like they draw on the Lower Keys, and Bahia Honda's beach under a broken railroad bridge is the most cinematic spot on the chain.
Card Sound Road and Alabama Jack's: the back road in
Card Sound Road and Alabama Jack's, Key Largo, FL
There are two roads into the Keys and the game's version looks like it draws on both; the quiet one crosses Card Sound past a bar on stilts where the weekend country band never stops.
Grassrivers
Based on The Everglades
The airboat ride: Tamiami Trail
Airboat tours on the Tamiami Trail, Miami-Dade, FL
The airboat skimming the sawgrass in Trailer 1 is a clear match for the Everglades tours strung along the Tamiami Trail west of Miami, where you can ride the same boat for $25-45.
Shark Valley: gator country in the Everglades
Shark Valley, Everglades National Park, Miami-Dade, FL
Trailer 1's alligators, on lawns, in stores and in the swamp, are a clear match for the real Everglades, and Shark Valley's 15-mile loop is where you'll walk past dozens of them.
The gator in the backyard pool
Suburbs on the Everglades edge, Weston, FL
Trailer 1's gator floating in a suburban pool is a clear match for the real edge of the Everglades, where towns like Weston back straight onto the swamp and the trappers stay busy.
Alligator Alley: the straight road across the swamp
Alligator Alley (I-75), Broward and Collier, FL
The dead-straight highway across the swamp in Trailer 2 has been matched by fans to Alligator Alley, 80 miles of I-75 with a canal full of gators on one side and nothing on the other.
Big Cypress: cypress domes and the Loop Road
Big Cypress National Preserve, Ochopee, FL
The flooded forest of grey trunks and hanging moss in Trailer 2 has been matched by fans to Big Cypress, the swamp west of the Everglades where a gravel loop road takes you into it.
Everglades City and Chokoloskee: the stone-crab town
Everglades City and Chokoloskee, Collier County, FL
Rockstar hasn't shown a town in Grassrivers, but a swamp town in a GTA game looks like it draws on Everglades City, whose stone-crab fleet has a famous history with the wrong side of the law.
Ochopee: the smallest post office in America
Ochopee Post Office, Ochopee, FL
Nothing official points here, but Leonida's roadside oddities look like they draw on places like Ochopee, where a shed the size of a parking space has been a working post office since 1953.
Port Gellhorn
Based on Panama City Beach and the Forgotten Coast
The fishing pier at Panama City Beach
Russell-Fields Pier, Panama City Beach, FL
The long concrete pier fans matched to Port Gellhorn's: 1,500 feet into the Gulf at Pier Park, a few dollars to walk, best in the hour before sunset.
Faded motels on Front Beach Road
Front Beach Road, Panama City Beach, FL
Port Gellhorn's strip of motels and half-lit neon is Panama City Beach's Front Beach Road: what survives of the old Miracle Strip between the condo towers.
The Forgotten Coast: Apalachicola to Mexico Beach
Apalachicola, Port St. Joe and Mexico Beach, Gulf County, FL
The empty Gulf coast east of Panama City: the oyster town of Apalachicola, the beaches of Cape San Blas, and Mexico Beach, still rebuilding after Hurricane Michael.
St. Andrews State Park: white sand and the jetties
St. Andrews State Park, Panama City Beach, FL
A travel idea for Port Gellhorn fans: the white-sand state park at the end of Panama City Beach, with rock jetties, a sheltered snorkel pool and a boat to Shell Island.
Port Panama City: the working port
Port Panama City, Panama City, FL
A travel idea: the cranes, warehouses and ship channel of Port Panama City on St. Andrew Bay, seen from the Hathaway Bridge or the old St. Andrews waterfront next door.
Pier Park and the ghost of the Miracle Strip
Pier Park and the old Miracle Strip, Panama City Beach, FL
A travel idea for Port Gellhorn's carnival side: the big wheel and boardwalk shops of Pier Park, and what survives of the Miracle Strip amusement park era on Front Beach Road.
Ambrosia
Based on The sugar belt around Lake Okeechobee
Clewiston and the U.S. Sugar mill
U.S. Sugar mill, Clewiston, FL
Ambrosia's mill is a clear match for Clewiston, America's Sweetest Town, where U.S. Sugar's stacks rise over the cane and the 1938 Clewiston Inn still serves dinner.
Cane fields and the burning season
Sugar cane country, Belle Glade and Pahokee, FL
The burning cane field in Trailer 2 is the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee: 400,000 acres of cane around Belle Glade and Pahokee, on fire from October to spring.
Lake Okeechobee: the big inland lake
Lake Okeechobee, Okeechobee, FL
Fans matched Leonida's big inland lake to Lake Okeechobee: 730 square miles of water you cannot see from the road, ringed by the Herbert Hoover Dike and a 110-mile trail on top of it.
Cal's place: the backwoods of Hendry County
Rural Glades and Hendry County, LaBelle, FL
Cal Hampton's mobile home in the trees has no single real address; the country it belongs to is Hendry County: LaBelle, the Caloosahatchee and the sand roads between ranches.
Cattle country around Okeechobee
Okeechobee, Okeechobee, FL
A travel idea for Ambrosia's ranch side: Okeechobee, the cattle town on the lake's north shore, with a working livestock auction, a rodeo and the dark-sky prairie of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve.
Mount Kalaga National Park
Based on North Florida forests and springs
Ocala National Forest: the pine forest
Ocala National Forest, Marion County, FL
The pine forest and sand roads of Mount Kalaga have been matched to Ocala National Forest: 380,000 acres of scrub, longleaf pine and clear springs an hour and a half from Orlando.
Silver Springs and the glass-bottom boats
Silver Springs State Park, Ocala, FL
Trailer 2's crystal-clear spring has fans pointing at Silver Springs, Florida's oldest attraction: glass-bottom boats since the 1870s, wild monkeys and water you can see 80 feet into.
Hunt camps in the Apalachicola National Forest
North Florida hunt camps, Apalachicola National Forest, FL
Mount Kalaga's hunting culture has a real home in the Panhandle's national forest: Apalachicola's half million acres of pine, sinkholes and swamp, where deer season runs from fall into winter.
Swimming holes: Rainbow and Ginnie Springs
Rainbow Springs and Ginnie Springs, Dunnellon and High Springs, FL
A travel idea for Mount Kalaga's swimming scene: Rainbow Springs, a state park headspring you can float in, and Ginnie Springs, the private tubing and cave-diving spot on the Santa Fe River.
Lake George and the St. Johns fish camps
Lake George and the St. Johns River, Putnam County, FL
A travel idea for Mount Kalaga's lake country: Lake George, Florida's second-largest lake, on the north-flowing St. Johns, ringed by old fish camps, a Navy range and Silver Glen Springs.
Torreya and Britton Hill: where Florida gets hills
Torreya State Park and Britton Hill, Liberty and Walton County, FL
Florida's high point is 345 feet, so Mount Kalaga's mountains are Rockstar's invention; the closest real thing is the Apalachicola River bluffs at Torreya and the marker at Britton Hill.