Vice City then and now — the 2002 map against what we know of GTA VI
Updated 2026-11-03
Vice City has been on a GTA map before. The 2002 game was set entirely in it. GTA VI brings the name back as the main city of Leonida, Rockstar's Florida. This piece puts the two side by side, using only what the old game is well known for and what Rockstar has shown of the new one.
The 2002 map, briefly
The original Vice City had a beach side and an inland side. On the beach side were Ocean Beach, Washington Beach and Vice Point. Inland were Little Havana, Little Haiti and Downtown. Starfish Island sat on its own in the water, and the city's airport was Escobar International.
That was the whole game. You could drive across the city, but there was no countryside, no other towns and no second region to head for.
What carries over
The beach strip. Vice Beach is GTA VI's Miami Beach, and it fills the same role the old beach districts did: art-deco hotels, crowds on the sand, nightlife after dark. If you remember cruising Ocean Beach in 2002, this is the part of the new map that will feel closest to it. Rockstar hasn't said whether the old district names survive inside Vice Beach.
Downtown. The name returns, and Downtown Vice City is where the towers are. The extended look showed Effluvia, a rooftop bar up among the high-rises.
The radio. Three stations that 2002 players will recognise, V-Rock, Flash FM and Emotion 98.3, are back in GTA VI's lineup. They're joined by Vice City FM, Back Country Radio and Cocoteo FM. What each station plays this time hasn't been fully detailed.
What's new
Stockyard. Stockyard is based on Miami's Wynwood, and it's the district with the strongest identity so far. More than 50 street artists designed its murals, so the walls there are the work of real people, not filler textures. Our murals page will track them once the game is out.
A city with a state around it. The new Vice City is one of six named regions. Beyond it are the Keys, the Grassrivers wetlands, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga. In 2002, the edge of the city was the edge of the game.
Crowds and narrow roads. That's what Rockstar's footage of the streets shows, and the studio has said each region should feel distinct in its buildings and people. How that plays at street level is something we'll judge on foot.
Scale
Rockstar hasn't given a size for the new city. Coverage estimates it at about twice the size of Los Santos from GTA V. That comparison skips the 2002 city entirely, and we're not going to invent a figure for it. Treat any exact multiple as a guess until someone measures it in game.
What isn't confirmed
These 2002 names have not been confirmed for GTA VI:
- Ocean Beach, Washington Beach and Vice Point as districts
- Little Havana and Little Haiti
- Starfish Island
- Escobar International, or any airport at all
Airports in general are on the not-confirmed list, which is why our airport page is marked rumoured. We expect one because the 2002 city had one and Vice City is the Miami analogue, but expecting isn't seeing.
Why it matters for the map
Districts are how most people navigate a GTA city. When you tell a friend where something is, you name the neighbourhood. Right now we can do that with three names. After 19 November we expect a lot more, and every one goes on the Vice City page with a status label.
For the full picture of the state around the city, see the Leonida hub.