Rockstar Rode With Gang Members and Cops to Build GTA 6's Florida

Rockstar Games built its fictional state of Leonida by putting developers directly onto Florida highways, into local nightspots, and alongside both law enforcement officers and gang members.

Interviews published in LOVE Magazine and Game Informer outline the extensive on-the-ground research that shaped Grand Theft Auto VI. Senior leadership from Rockstar North explained that capturing the distinct tone of modern South Florida required years of immersive field trips rather than relying strictly on secondary reference material.

From Key West Drives to Gang Escorts

The expeditions began with small scouting groups before expanding into targeted location visits. Rockstar North co-studio head Aaron Garbut described how early road trips laid the foundation for the game's open-world map, which spans six major regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia, and Mount Kalaga National Park.

"To begin, a small group of us spent some time traveling from Miami through some of the surrounding towns and through the Florida Keys down to Key West," Garbut told LOVE Magazine. "This is one of the best parts of the entire project: a car full of friends, driving for days on end, talking about what we want to make and being immersed in the locations and our ideas."

As research progressed, developers sought direct contact with people on both sides of the law to understand the state's criminal culture and local environment.

"We do go in-depth, we hang with locals and we hear lots of stories and learn as much as we can," Garbut said. "We travel around with cops and with gang members. Everyone is lovely. Some people are equally scary. We experience the underside as well; although the people who showed us around were among the nicest we've met, the stories, the places, the details could be terrifying."

While earlier coverage from Game Informer noted night excursions alongside ex-police officers described by Senior Vice President of Narrative Rupert Humphries, Garbut stated the team traveled with cops and gang members. Rockstar has not publicly identified the specific law enforcement agencies or gang organizations involved.

Nocturnal Research and Stadium Flyovers

Humphries noted that understanding the region meant observing everything from coastal nature reserves to urban nightlife. Development teams spent years conducting nocturnal research trips, visiting nightclubs, strip clubs, and beaches. Real individuals encountered during these excursions directly inspired character archetypes inside the story.

The studio also surveyed the state from the air. During one research flight, developers flew low and fast across mangrove inlets in the Everglades before hovering over a stadium during a live Beyoncé concert. Garbut noted, "I think we made the local news that day," though whether the low-altitude helicopter flight actually appeared on local broadcasts remains unconfirmed.

To capture local visual identity on the street level, Rockstar brought in more than 50 real-world street artists to create custom graffiti and murals across Leonida.

Eight-Week Iterations Toward Launch

Behind the scenes, the studio turned field data into game environments through iterative eight-week development cycles where sections of the world were assembled and evaluated.

"We work our way there, year after year, one obsessive day at a time, course-correcting as we go," Rockstar North co-studio head Rob Nelson explained regarding the team's production cadence.

Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to launch on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19, 2026. Rockstar has not detailed plans or timing for a PC release.