Is Vice City based on Miami?

Rockstar's material describes Vice City as a fictionalised Miami.

Is Leonida a real place?

No. Leonida is a fictional, Florida-based state created for the Grand Theft Auto series.

In Vice City, USA, and across the state of Leonida, according to Rockstar's GTA VI page.

Explainer

The Real Florida Behind Leonida and Vice City

GTA 6 returns to Vice City, in a state called Leonida. Rockstar calls it the darkest side of the sunniest place in America. The real place it most resembles is not hard to guess.

By GTA VI Radio editorsNovember 6, 20262 min read

Ocean Drive in Miami Beach on a sunny day, with white Art Deco hotels and palm trees — Ocean Drive, Miami Beach: Art Deco hotels, palms and sunshine. Photo: P. Hughes, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Facts come from the named sources below. Where a claim is only reported, or rests on one person's account, we say so.

What Rockstar says

Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI page places the story in Vice City, USA, in a conspiracy "stretching across the state of Leonida". It describes Leonida as the darkest side of the sunniest place in America. Coverage of Rockstar's own material describes Leonida as a fictional Florida-based state and Vice City as its fictionalised Miami.

Miami and the city skyline

The 2002 game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City borrowed its look from Miami: a waterfront skyline, bright neon at night, and a mix of wealth and crime. Bloomberg's October 2026 feature, as summarised by other outlets, reportedly says Rockstar's Rob Nelson and senior colleagues made their first research trip to Miami in 2015.

The Miami skyline across the water in daylight — The Miami skyline, which Vice City fictionalises. Photo: Wilfredor, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Art Deco, neon and the beach

The strip of Art Deco hotels on Miami Beach's Ocean Drive, and the glowing neon signs that go with them, are the closest thing in real life to Vice City's 1980s feel. GTA 6 is set in a modern version, but the visual shorthand of sun, pastel and neon is still the same.

A red neon sign reading Boulevard Hotel on an Art Deco building in Miami Beach — A neon hotel sign in Miami Beach. Photo: Photograph: Radomianin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Past the city: the wild interior

Rockstar's pitch is not only the city. Leonida stretches beyond Vice City, and the Florida it echoes includes the Everglades, a huge protected wetland of sawgrass and water in the south of the state. Whether Rockstar models a specific part of it is something the studio has not said, so we treat this as a point of comparison, not a claim.

A wide sawgrass marsh in the Florida Everglades under a blue sky with scattered clouds — The Everglades, the kind of landscape Florida is known for beyond the cities. Photo: Daniel Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Why it matters for the radio

Rockstar's station lineup reflects the place. Cocoteo FM plays modern Latin music, which fits Miami's culture, Back Country Radio covers country for the rural interior, and Flash FM is the Vice City institution for pop. See the full list on our stations page.

What we are not claiming

We are not saying which real streets or buildings appear in the game, and we are not comparing map sizes. Rockstar has not published a map, and anything that claims one is a guess.

Quick answers

Is Vice City based on Miami?: Rockstar's material describes Vice City as a fictionalised Miami.
Is Leonida a real place?: No. Leonida is a fictional, Florida-based state created for the Grand Theft Auto series.
Where is GTA 6 set?: In Vice City, USA, and across the state of Leonida, according to Rockstar's GTA VI page.

Sources

GTA VI Radio is an unofficial fan site and is not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive. Game titles and characters belong to their owners.