When Grand Theft Auto VI lands on 19 November 2026, it's expected to become the most profitable piece of media ever made. The game has reportedly already pulled in $476 million (£360 million) in pre-sales, and the previous entry, GTA 5, has earned around $11 billion since 2013. But there's a travel story here too: Rockstar Games builds its worlds from real places, and the new game's fictional state of Leonida is an unmistakable love letter to Florida.
GTA fans are part of a growing trend of gaming-inspired trips. Travellers already follow the Yakuza series around Tokyo, track Assassin's Creed locations through Paris, and walk Iceland's black sand beaches after playing Hellblade. GTA 6, with the franchise's largest map yet, offers six destinations to reverse-engineer — and most of them make genuinely good holidays.
Vice City, the game's neon-lit base, is Miami in all but name. The real city has leaned into the connection, especially as crime has dropped, so you can enjoy the beaches, rooftop bars and club culture (think Club Space and E11EVEN) without the in-game crime spree. The Leonida Keys translate to Key West at Florida's southern tip — just 90 miles from Cuba — where you'll find white beaches, glass-bottomed boat tours and the Hemingway Home, complete with its six-toed cats and the Keys' first swimming pool.
Grassrivers is the Everglades, alligators and airboat tours included, plus less obvious draws: Seminole food culture like fry bread and sofkee, and the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum near Fort Lauderdale. Port Gellhorn, the game's run-down resort town, is thought to be Panama City in the Panhandle — better known in real life for seafood, water sports and the calm tidal pool at St Andrews State Park. Ambrosia, a sugar-refinery town run by bikers, points to Clewiston on Lake Okeechobee, "America's Sweetest Town" and a serious largemouth bass fishing spot. Finally, Mount Kalaga National Park borrows from spots like North Carolina's Table Rock and Georgia's Providence Canyon — a nudge to get out of Florida's cities and into its wild places.
For travellers, the appeal is simple: GTA 6 offers a ready-made Florida itinerary with a bit of pop-culture fun attached. Even if you never touch a controller, the game's map doubles as a guide to the state's best variety — party city, island laid-back, swamp wild and Panhandle under-the-radar — within one road-trippable state.
