The downtown skyline is the part of every GTA city that graces the cover. Vice City's, seen in Trailer 2, is taller and more densely packed than ever before. That's worth spending some time thinking about.
This piece is meant to be solely about the skyline. For downtown geography, refer to the downtown piece.
What the skyline looks like
A variety of tall towers from different architectural periods - mid-century, late-century, modern glass. A select few buildings are visibly taller than those around them, framed as the dominant towers. The skyline resembles an actual Miami / Brickell skyline, not a simplified cartoon.
Seems like the high-rise density is higher than in GTA V's downtown Los Santos. There are more towers, packed closer together, than the LS skyline ever had.
Why this implies a larger urban core
A larger skyline means a larger downtown. A larger downtown means more streets and more interactable buildings. This isn't dictated by maths, but Rockstar's approach to environment design has played out like this in past games. We can't take measurements from this skyline shot - what we can read is intent.
One implication: the drivable area of downtown alone is likely bigger than GTA V's downtown. Whether that translates to a multiplied interior count is a separate question, covered in the density vs size piece.
What the skyline tells us about period
Contemporary, definitely. Those towers are 2020s glass-and-steel skyscrapers, not 1980s art deco. That fits with GTA 6 being set in the present, rather than in 1986 like the original Vice City. Art deco lives on the beachfront; the modern stuff lives downtown.