GTA 6 Latest News: Grand Theft Auto 6 may be a fictional crime story, but Rockstar Games did not build its Florida-inspired world entirely from imagination. Before turning Florida into Leonida, developers spent years travelling through the state, meeting people from very different backgrounds and recording details that could later appear in the game.
From Miami and the Florida Keys to the Everglades, police encounters and criminal communities, Rockstar’s research went far beyond simply photographing locations.
Rockstar Games head of Development Aaron Garbut has now offered a closer look at that process in an interview with Love Magazine. His account suggests that the studio wanted to understand how Florida actually feels, including its communities, contradictions, landscapes and darker concerns. That material could help make Leonida feel like a functioning place rather than just a backdrop for Jason and Lucia’s story.
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GTA 6 Latest News: GTA 6 Developers Did More Than Just Scout Florida Locations
Rockstar’s approach to GTA 6 research started with small groups travelling through Florida and gradually expanded into deeper investigations of the communities and stories surrounding the locations.
Garbut said the team travelled from Miami through surrounding towns and the Florida Keys before reaching Key West. The trips allowed developers to discuss ideas while experiencing the places that could eventually influence Leonida.
“Every game we make starts with research trips. It’s where to get to explore both the place and our ideas as a group,” Garbut said. “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. 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.”
The research was not limited to major landmarks. Rockstar wanted to collect the kind of smaller observations that can make an open-world game feel lived-in. Those details can influence characters, conversations, radio content, advertisements and the atmosphere players encounter while simply travelling around.
GTA 6 Latest News: Rockstar Travelled With Police Officers and Gang Members
One of the more unusual parts of the research involved spending time with people who experience Florida from very different sides.
Garbut said Rockstar developers travelled with police officers and gang members while gathering stories and learning about local communities. The goal was to understand the people and situations that could help the studio portray Leonida’s criminal and social environment more convincingly.
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