Vice City has returned. Rockstar’s fan favourite from 2002 – last seen draped in palm-tree-soaked 1980s pastel – makes its comeback as the urban hub of a sprawling GTA 6 map. This time, it serves as the metropolitan heart of an entire state called Leonida. The new Vice City has been rebuilt bigger and denser than before, shaped around modern Florida geography instead of cramming everything into the tiny compressed map-grid of the original.
This is a walkthrough of the Vice City districts the trailers have shown us, the landmarks the community has discovered, and how it all connects on the Leonida map.
Vice City's place in the new map
Vice City sits in the south of Leonida, bordering the ocean. North of the city: suburbs, leading into marshlands. South: an archipelago based loosely on the Florida Keys. Inland: rural towns and swamps. Put simply, Vice City doesn't encompass the whole map. Instead, it's the most urbanised zone within a larger state - like how Los Santos is part of San Andreas in GTA 5.
Visually, the city seems to be sectioned off into distinct districts, each with its own character. A neon beachfront, a corporate downtown, a port district, and what seems like a Little Havana-inspired neighbourhood have all been seen in the trailers.
Confirmed Vice City districts
The first trailer concentrated heavily on the beachfront (which we cover extensively in our Vice City Beach guide) and an upscale waterfront neighbourhood. The second trailer introduced downtown skyscrapers, an expansive port area, suburban inland districts, and shots implying a barrio neighbourhood heavily influenced by Cuban-American culture. No neighbourhood names have been released yet, but you can see where each shot probably takes place in our trailer map locations breakdown.
Expect the final Vice City to have 6-10 named districts when it launches. Side neighbourhoods and unincorporated areas will raise that number significantly. By comparison, GTA 5's Los Santos shipped with approximately 25 named neighbourhoods.
Landmarks confirmed by trailer footage
Locations spotted in trailer footage include: the beachfront area lit by neon lights, art deco style hotels, the bridge leading from Vice City to the offshore islands, an airport (probably Vice City International), a large port area, a downtown area with mid-rise glass buildings, and what seems to be a horse-racing track or stadium. Several places look like clear nods to real Miami landmarks, rebuilt with Rockstar's signature satirical edits.
How Vice City compares to the original (2002)
The geographic layout of a dense urban island connected to a less-developed mainland returns. There's been a significant shift in visual identity: Vice City is now a modern 2020s Miami stand-in, not a nostalgic interpretation of the 1980s. The pastel palette, art deco, neon - these elements are all here, but they feel like modern-day nostalgia rather than a period setting.
Want a frame-by-frame analysis of the visual differences between trailers? Our map analysis page breaks down the design language.
Future map mods and Vice City
Once the PC version releases and the toolchain is sufficiently developed, we can expect the GTA 6 modding scene to heavily mod Vice City with custom MLO interiors, extra neighbourhood add-ons, and thematic reskins. GTA 6 custom map downloads will become your home base once those start becoming available for download.