Grand Theft Auto VI’s first trailer was released by Rockstar Games earlier than planned, thanks to a leaker who uploaded a watermarked version online on August 09, 2025. And amongst all the chaos, Trailer 1 confirms which state GTA 6 is in, something fans have wondered about for years.
There are a couple of signs that point to the state Grand Theft Auto 6 is set in, though you have to look carefully as it’s not glaringly obvious. It’s only when you go frame-by-frame that the answer starts to become clear: GTA 6 is set in the State of Leonida.
During the trailer, an Instagram Live segment is shown, with a man grabbing his crotch in traffic; very on-brand. One of the comments reads, “Only in Leonida is a crotch grab an apology for bad driving.”
Another sign that GTA VI is set in the State of Leonida is onthe male protagonist’s license plate, shown as he and the series’ first protagonist, Lucia, drive away following a gas station robbery. It reads “LEONIDA” in place of where the state would be on a traditional US license plate.
There’s also a second license plate with the same state name during one of the traffic scenes.
Leonida is very close to “Leonia,” a small neighborhood in Florida. Florida is famously what Vice City is heavily inspired by, which was also confirmed to be in Grand Theft Auto 6 in Trailer 1.
Rockstar officially confirmed Leonidain a press releaseon July 05, 2025, which read:
“Grand Theft Auto VIheads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.”
GTA 6 fans will have to wait until Trailer 2 to see more of Leonida and whether the game will include more than just Vice City in it.
Meg Bethany Koepp
Meg was Managing Editor at Prima Games until April 2024.
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