Leonida is the fictional Florida-inspired state where GTA 6 is set. Vice City is its largest city, but there is plenty more to explore outside of the city. Leonida also features rural towns, Everglades-inspired swampland, beaches, and an archipelago of southern islands similar to the Florida Keys.
Here we explain what we know about Leonida outside Vice City: the regions, smaller cities, wilderness and how everything connects into one seamless map.
Leonida's regional layout
Footage from the game's trailers and advertising from Rockstar hint at four general areas: the metropolitan area of Vice City in the south, suburbs and rural towns inland, a swamp area based on the Everglades, and an archipelago south of the mainland based on the Florida Keys. Small cities peppered throughout the state appear to resemble Tampa, Orlando, and Cape Coral.
Every region has its own look. Vice City is dense, neon, and modern. The swamps are more wild-looking, with waterways navigable by airboat and choked with vegetation. The Keys analogue features low-rise beach towns and islands connected by causeways. The inland towns skew more rural and small-town, dotted with strip malls and drive-ins and the kind of road-trip scenery you see in a long highway montage.
Cities and towns inside Leonida
Vice City is hands down the biggest. Outside of that, trailer footage suggests at least 2-4 secondary towns or small cities. The community has spotted visual clues that point to Tampa-style coastal mid-rises and Orlando-style inland sprawl, but Rockstar hasn't confirmed any particular names.
Why does Rockstar populate the world with smaller towns? Because it needs room to tell its story. Rockstar reserves these areas for slower moments and rural-set story sequences: bank jobs on quaint main drags, hideouts in coastal trailer parks, drug-running through the swamps. Expect these regions to anchor major story missions.
Wetlands and the Everglades-style zone
The wetland area is one of the most distinctive parts of the new map. We go over it in depth in our GTA 6 Everglades & wetlands guide. In the trailer footage we see airboats, alligators, and tight manoeuvres through waterways. This is entirely new terrain for a GTA game - Rockstar has never crafted a bona fide wetland before. Expect it to support stealth operations, smuggling routes, and survivalist scenarios.
Regions seem to be connected by highways, waterways, and small airfields. Planes look set to play a bigger role than in GTA 5 - the terrain makes flying rewarding.
The Keys-style island chain
South of Vice City lies a series of islands stretching out into the sea - we explore them fully in our GTA 6 Florida Keys guide. In the trailer footage we see bridges connecting them together, low-rise beachfront buildings, and what appears to be a party town inspired by Key West. This new area opens up a lot of space to play around in and gives Rockstar Games a third visual palette alongside Vice City itself and the swamps.
Future Leonida map mods
Custom map mods that expand upon Leonida will begin popping up after the PC version releases and the GTA 6 modding toolchain matures. Player-made mods that build upon the swamps, the Keys, and the smaller cities are likely - the Florida geography is full of prime spots to expand with custom MLOs and side zones. GTA 6 map downloads will track their availability.