Summary
- The leaked map of Grand Theft Auto 6 shared by a on Twitter is likely not real, as it appears more like Google Maps with an overlay rather than an actual in-game screen.
- A previous major leak in September 2022 confirmed that GTA 6 will feature a female protagonist and suggested a Miami-like setting.
- Fans have speculated that the game will take place in Vice City, potentially including more of the surrounding state, based on the franchise's history of expanding the size and scope of its cities in subsequent entries.
In all the rumors swirling around the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, perhaps the single most-asked question is what the map will look like in the next entry in the iconic franchise. While there's been a multitude of alleged leaks over the past few years, not all of them have been proven to be reliable, leading to much fan speculation and confusion on exactly where the next game will take place. As a central part of any GTA playthrough, location matters, and through the years, the franchise has seen an evolution in its map size and complexity, leaving room for a lot of possibilities in players' imaginations.
The high level of anticipation for the title, combined with the relative silence about the game from Rockstar Games, has caused voracious fans to go to great lengths to get their hands on early gameplay footage. While the developers have been known to tease titles in Easter eggs, little has been officially verified, and players shouldn't trust everything they hear.
Recent GTA 6 Map Leaks Are Likely Not Real
Most recently, a going by the name GTA 6 SPAM released on Twitter what they claimed to be a leaked section of the GTA 6 map, which looks more like Google Maps with an overlay than an actual screen in Grand Theft Auto. That being said, the veracity of the may be one to question, with other speculative tweets filling up their feed, including a rumor that the sequel in the franchise will include a mission that rewards players with cryptocurrency.
In addition to the grainy nature of the image, even if it were legitimate, it does little to fill players in on what they can expect in of the map for the GTA 6. With a few scattered buildings and a shoreline, there's just not much to interpret. Others have speculated that AI was used to create the map, as some of the text on it looks suspicious.
Grand Theft Auto has seen its fair share of leaks, with the first-ever rumors starting all the way back in 2018. As reported by Inside Gaming (via Game Rant), even before the release of Rockstar's other iconic title, Read Dead Redemption 2, leakers claimed to know the location and map for GTA 6. This unknown source was treated more as a rumor for years, but as it would turn out, many of the details contained in the "leak" would later be verified through subsequent information.
The Biggest GTA 6 Leak Was Confirmed as Factual
In September 2022, a on the GTAForums leaked over 90 clips of test footage and source code for Grand Theft Auto 6. These leaks quickly spread across the internet like wildfire, with Rockstar scrambling to remove traces of test footage to some level of success. Regardless, the damage was done, and eager fans got to see a lot more than what the company anticipated showing. Rockstar would later release a statement on Twitter confirming that their network had been compromised and that the footage was indeed real.
One huge aspect of the leak was that GTA 6 will feature a female protagonist in GTA for the first time in franchise history. According to a report by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, she will be one part of a duo inspired by the bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde. The second reveal was that the game seemed to be set in a Miami-like setting, which cued players into what the map may be like in the title.
What was most interesting to many was that the environment in these video leaks seemed suspiciously similar to GTA Vice City, a fan-favorite where players assume the role of Tommy Vercetti in a 1980s setting modeled after Miami, Florida. The confirmation of the leak led some to speculate that the GTA 6 will be set in Vice City but in modern times.
Fans Pose Strong Theory on the GTA 6 Map
Rockstar Games has been tight-lipped about GTA 6 and hasn't released many details outside a February 2022 tweet confirming that the next entry in the GTA franchise was currently under development, along with the aforementioned response about the leak. However, the lack of official announcements hasn't stopped fans from speculating, and early gameplay footage gave them a pretty realistic theory.
Grand Theft Auto has been known to expand the size and scope of its imagined cities in subsequent entries, as GTA 4 re-introduced Liberty City to players but expanded it from the version in GTA 3 with the addition of Alderney. Similarly, in GTA 5, Rockstar introduced San Andreas, a combination of both Los Santos and Blaine County, as part of a bigger, more in-depth, and connected world. These actions have led many fans to believe that the September 2022 leak confirms the idea that the GTA 6 will take place in an expanded Vice City, with the inclusion of more of the surrounding state rather than just the single metropolitan area.
Earlier rumors indicated that perhaps the game would take place in two separate locations, and some fans speculate that this could include a Cuba-like island, though those rumors have no credible evidence confirming them. Other GTA 6 rumors, like Project Americas, which envisioned a game that included all of North and South America, have had little follow-up and no evidence confirming that they will be included in GTA 6. More realistically, as one of the smaller cities in the franchise, it would make sense to explore the details of Vice City and the surrounding area.
Possibly, the closest fans have gotten to replicating the map in GTA 6 is a -created map that utilized in-game coordinates found on the leaked 2022 GTA 6 gameplay footage to map out locations across a theoretically expanded Vice City and surrounding areas. While the map is pretty impressive, it may be an effort in futility, as there's a high potential for the developers to change locations in the game before it officially launches, and the coordinates don't really explain where borders on the map are.
Other theories have seen fans on Twitter (such as GTA6Videos) comparing footage from the September 2022 leak with locations in and around Miami, actually lining up the buildings from screenshots with real-life locations in the state of Florida. While believable, most of the chatter since the giant September 2022 leak has merely been fan speculation, and Rockstar Games has so far held off on releasing any hard details. Regardless of what the actual map will be when the game releases, Grand Theft Auto 6 is shaping up to be the most ambitious GTA game in franchise history, and with that will likely come a larger map than players have ever seen before.
Source: GTA 6 SPAM/Twitter, Inside Gaming/YouTube (via Game Rant), Rockstar Games/Twitter (1), (2), Bloomberg, GTA6Videos/Twitter
