Looks like Leonida in GTA 6 is exactly what San Andreas was to GTA 5

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And a famous meme might prove it

GTA 6
(Image credit: Rockstar)

What is Leonida in GTA 6? The GTA 6 trailer is here, and with it appears to have come an interesting addition to the geographical world of Vice City. The word 'Leonida' appears multiple times in the video, but it seems to be a new term for the series, so what exactly is it?

The short answer is that Leonida is GTA 6's answer to the state of Florida. Vice City is based on Miami, and it's clear from the trailer that Rockstar is expanding the GTA 6 map several miles further than the city limits - a first for Vice City. So now, just as San Andreas was Rockstar's name for the state of California, Leonida is the studio's name for the Sunshine State.

In case you don't believe me, let me show my working. At the 25 second mark in the trailer, you can see a sign leading to Kelly County - my guess is that this will be a far broader stretch of open world, filled with smaller towns and many of the more rural, Everglade-style biomes that can be spotted elsewhere at the 20 second mark.

Elsewhere, however, there are a few more clues as to what Leonida actually is. At 51 seconds, a distant street sign points to the Keys, suggesting that the map might stretch as far as the semi-tropical islands off Florida's south coast - matching the imagery at 35 seconds. 

The biggest clue, however, seems to be in repeated reference to 'Leonida Man'. At 50 seconds, what appears to be GTA 6's take on TikTok features a clip from an account called 'ProjectLeonidaMan'. At 1.04, a Spanish news broadcast refers to 'un hombre de Leonida', and at 1.07, another scrolling headline reads "Leonida man sucked up in waterspout demands the city buy him a new suit."

'Leonida Man' is the best clue as to the connection between Leonida and Florida, thanks to the enduring popularity of the 'Florida Man' meme. Riffing on the idea that Florida's arrest reports are easier for news reporters to access than in many other states, and in combination with the general chaos that Florida is known for, 'Florida Man' became an enduring meme in 2013 after people started to realise how many wild headlines were hinged on the term. Rockstar is clearly leaning on that idea for 'Leonida Man'', cementing the link between Leonida and Florida.

Sadly, that information doesn't really help us very much at the moment. It's clear from the trailer that the GTA 6 map will offer urban, suburban, rural, and truly natural locations, but we've got no sense of the shape of the game's actual playable area beyond what people have managed to glean from aerial shots. For now, the realities of Leonida Man remain just as enigmatic as the real thing.

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Ali Jones
Ali Jones
Managing Editor, News

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.