GTA 6 setting: every rumour from Project Americas to Leonida

GTA 6 is set in Leonida, Rockstar's fictional version of Florida. Vice City is the headline act and five more regions surround it. Rockstar has confirmed that much since December 2023, and in October 2026 it went further: it told Bloomberg that the game began as "Project Americas", a much bigger plan that stretched across two continents. With launch set for November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, here's how seven years of setting rumours hold up.

2015: the first trip to Miami

The story really starts long before any leak. According to Bloomberg's making-of feature, Rob Nelson took Rockstar staff on the game's first research trip to Miami in 2015. The original idea was for Rockstar North to build GTA 6 while Rockstar San Diego handled Red Dead Redemption 2. RDR2 kept getting bigger, and GTA 6 slipped by several years. By 2019, Bloomberg reports, Rockstar had the game's skeleton in place, including its two leads, Jason and Lucia. Keep that date in mind for the next section.

2019: the Project Americas leak

On July 1, 2019, GamesRadar+ rounded up a long Reddit post from user JackOLantern1982 that set the tone for years of speculation. The post claimed:

• The codename was Project Americas.
• The map would combine Vice City with a new fictional area based on Rio de Janeiro.
• Liberty City would show up only in linear missions.
• The story was set in the 1970s and 1980s and was heavily inspired by Netflix's Narcos.
• You would play one male protagonist, a would-be drug lord called Ricardo.
• The game was next-gen only.

The poster offered no proof and admitted the game was in pre-alpha, so details were likely to change. GamesRadar+ also passed along a second, completely different claim: a modern-day Liberty City with four main characters and a detour to upstate New York. Both posts couldn't be right, and as it turned out, neither was entirely.

Since Bloomberg now says Jason and Lucia already existed by 2019, the "one male protagonist" claim was probably wrong even when it was posted. Our protagonist rumour explainer covers that thread in full.

2021 and 2022: credible reporting points to modern Vice City

In July 2021, Game Informer reported that leaker Tom Henderson described a modern setting with Vice City front and centre, plus a map that would change after launch. Henderson called it a prediction. Still, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier said it matched what he'd heard, and a source Game Informer contacted replied: "That's accurate."

A year later, Schreier reported it himself. In coverage from July 28, 2022, TechRadar summarised Bloomberg's sources: the game would return to a fictional Miami. It had originally been designed around large regions modelled on North and South America, but that plan was cut back to Vice City and the surrounding area. Bloomberg also reported that Rockstar intended to add new missions and cities after release "on a regular basis".

Then, in September 2022, a hacker leaked about 90 videos of unfinished footage. We won't link to it. According to ScreenRant's breakdown, the clips showed VCPD police cars, Vice City signage, a location called Port Gellhorn, and both Jason and Lucia. One NPC also mentions the death of Jay Norris, the Lifeinvader CEO who dies in GTA 5, which rules out a 1970s or 1980s setting. Aaron Garbut later said the hack felt deeply invasive.

2023 to 2025: Rockstar names Leonida

Rockstar announced the game on December 4, 2023. Its press release said GTA 6 "heads to the state of Leonida", home to "the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond". After four years of rumours, that was the first official word on the setting.

Rockstar filled in the map on May 6, 2025, when it released Trailer 2 with 85 screenshots. As GamesRadar+ laid out, they covered six regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, Grassrivers and Mount Kalaga National Park. All of them are recognisably Floridian, and none is in South America. Our Leonida regions guide goes through each one.

2026: Rockstar confirms Project Americas

On October 14, 2026, Bloomberg published Schreier's full making-of feature. The article is paywalled, but GTA Intel and VGTimes summarised it: Rockstar told Schreier the codename was Project Americas and that the plan covered large parts of North and South America before it was scaled back to Miami and its surroundings. As GTA Intel points out, the feature doesn't say when the scope shrank or why. There's more in our Project Americas report.

The scorecard

Turned out true

• The codename Project Americas, now confirmed by Rockstar.
• A plan covering both North and South America, later cut back, which Rockstar has also confirmed.
• Vice City as the main city, confirmed in December 2023.
• A modern-day setting. Henderson called it in 2021, the 2022 footage pointed the same way, and Rockstar's own material now talks about smartphones, earbuds and on-demand podcasts.
• Current-gen only: PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Turned out wrong

• A 1970s-80s period setting.
• A single male protagonist called Ricardo. The game stars Jason and Lucia.
• A Rio-inspired South American area at launch. All six confirmed regions are in Leonida.
• Modern Liberty City as the main setting, from the second 2019 post.

Still unconfirmed

• Liberty City missions. Rockstar hasn't said anything about them.
• New cities added after launch. Bloomberg reported the plan in 2022, but Rockstar hasn't confirmed it.
• Any Cuba-like location. That was always fan speculation.
• When and why Project Americas was scaled down.

One leftover from 2019 partly holds up. The leak promised a heavy focus on weather, and Garbut has since described a regional storm system that affects boats, aircraft and pedestrians. The specific claims about hurricanes and floods remain unconfirmed.

The next real test comes on November 19, when players can see for themselves how far Leonida reaches.