'GTA 6' Leaks Inspire Fan-Made Maps Bringing the Rumored Game to Life
Could this be what Rockstar has in store?
Even six years after its release, Grand Theft Auto V remains one of the expansive open-world games available. But leaks and rumors about an upcoming GTA VI release have painted a picture of a Rockstar game like no other.
The so-called “Project Americas” has been said to take the series to new heights. If now-deleted leaks posted by Redditors /u/JackOLantern1982 and /u/gfk53 are accurate, then GTA VI will play out on an international scale. Both posts stated the game will be influenced by Netflix’s Narcos and let players build a drug-smuggling empire in familiar GTA locations like Vice City (fictional Miami) and Liberty City (fictional New York City), along with new metropolises inspired by cities in Brazil, Cuba, Panama, and Colombia.
Rockstar has yet to confirm the game is actually in the works, but that hasn’t stopped fans from bringing the rumors to life by creating their GTA VI maps based on the latest leaks.
The screenshot of the JackOLantern182 leaks, which was later deleted.
Back in May, GTAForums user RealityDesign drew a map that included all of the major cities from past GTA titles. It features Los Santos, Liberty City, Vice City, North Yankton, San Fierro, and Las Venturas, six cities dating back as early as the 2002 release of GTA: Vice City.
It also includes territory marked as Mexico and Colombia, making it into a sort of condensed version of North and South America. RealityDesign explained that he based his map on a 2012 interview with former GTA lead developer Leslie Benzies.
Before the launch of GTA V Benzies told DigitalTrends that Rockstar was envisioning a GTA title that merges all of its previous game maps into one expansive world.
“At some point we would like to have one big world containing all our cities and let the player fly between them and revisit their favorite areas,” he said. “In that context reimagining Vice City would be very interesting.”
Redditor /u/berzelmayr did just that and expanded on the 2002 Vice City map, which consisted of two long islands connected by a series of bridges. Rockstar’s map only was meant to only resemble Miami, while berzelmayr’s is an island that seems to be modeled after the entire state of Florida.
It includes Vice City, that’s slightly off of the main land like Miami Beach as well as West Rocks, Leonidas, and East Rocks which resemble the Florida Keys. The Swampy Lands are clearly the Everglades and Lake Hitchiti seems like a nod to Lake Okeechobee. Finally Fort Tequesta, Caserta, and Fort Burgers are based on Fort Lauderdale, Naples, and Fort Myers, respectively, based on their location.
Redesigning the whole of Vice City into a more realistic map of Florida could be the perfect setting for GTA VI. But if the leaks and rumors prove true, Vice City and its surrounding areas may only be one part of an enormous open world.
Rockstar’s next chapter of the series could take the beloved franchise to the next level. But without an official mention of the game, fans might still have to wait a few years to see what the games studio has in store.
GTA VI does not have a release date.
