Leonida, GTA 6’s version of Florida, is about twice the size of GTA 5’s map and three times the playable area of Red Dead Redemption 2, according to Rockstar. Co-studio head Aaron Garbut calls it the biggest map Rockstar has ever made “by some degree,” but Rockstar has never given a figure in square miles or kilometers.
Below we break down every official comparison, what the widely shared “11 times bigger” figure really means, how much of the map is open from the start, and which size estimates to ignore. Grand Theft Auto VI launches November 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The Official Comparisons
Rockstar has compared Leonida to its older maps several times, in interviews around the August 27 Extended Look and in Game Informer’s September cover story:
| Comparison | Who said it |
|---|---|
| The whole map is about twice the size of GTA 5’s | Aaron Garbut to Game Informer; Rob Nelson to a preview creator |
| The whole map is three times Red Dead Redemption 2’s playable area | Rockstar to the New York Times; Rob Nelson |
| Vice City alone is twice the size of Los Santos | Rockstar to the New York Times; Rob Nelson to TroisCouleurs |
| The built-up towns outside the city are 11 times GTA 5’s | Rob Nelson to TroisCouleurs |
Garbut, Rockstar’s head of development, told Game Informer that Leonida is twice as large as GTA 5’s map and “more dense, detailed, and interactive.” Rob Nelson, co-studio head at Rockstar North, gave the same comparisons to press and creators at the previews.
What “11 Times Bigger” Really Means
You’ll see headlines claiming GTA 6’s map, or Vice City, is 11 times bigger than GTA 5’s. Neither is what Rockstar said. Nelson told the French magazine TroisCouleurs: “Vice City is twice the size as Los Santos, but the number of built-up towns outside the city is 11 times the size of GTAV in terms of the little towns you can come across!”
That 11x counts the towns and built-up areas outside the main city. GTA 5’s Blaine County had a handful of small towns; Leonida has far more. The overall map is still roughly twice GTA 5’s.
Why Size Isn’t the Whole Story
Rockstar keeps stressing density over raw size. “We obsessed about every part, the rooftops, the alleys, the internals and everything in between to the point we hit a critical mass with the numbers of our interiors,” Garbut told Game Informer, “and you start to feel the buildings are more real inside and out.”
He also said the studio didn’t trade detail for scale this time: “Normally you compromise scale for detail or detail for interaction, but with this project we went the other way.”
Leonida isn’t a one-to-one copy of Florida either. Nelson told TroisCouleurs that its regions sit “roughly in the same geographical locations as they are in the real world,” but the map is “not one-to-one life-size.”
Is the Whole Map Open From the Start
No, but it opens early. “You start way down here in the Keys for the first part of the game,” Nelson told TroisCouleurs. “And then the game just opens and you can go anywhere, anytime.” Rupert Humphries, Rockstar’s senior vice president of narrative, told Game Informer the story won’t take you everywhere: “We don’t have time to take you everywhere, but we want you to be able to explore and get a feel for most of the places.”
What’s on the Map
Leonida has six main regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Grassrivers, Port Gellhorn, Ambrosia and Mount Kalaga National Park. Our guide to what city GTA 6 is based on covers each region and the neighborhoods Rockstar has named.
A few details bear on size:
- Water counts. The Keys are a “tropical archipelago,” per Rockstar’s site, and Game Informer confirms scuba diving with sharks, whales, rays and turtles. Our guide to every confirmed activity covers what you can do out there.
- The north is bigger than you’d expect. Paul MacPherson, Rockstar’s senior vice president of environment art, told Game Informer the team studied Panama City, Jacksonville, Ocala and the rural towns between them, and filled the countryside with ATV trails, ranches, farms and forest.
- Orlando isn’t in it. Central Florida’s theme parks and the Space Coast haven’t been shown. “While we may not have those exact locations, everything we have is geared to getting that full Florida experience,” MacPherson said.
The only full official map so far is printed on the back of a poster inside Rockstar’s collector’s box.
Map-Size Figures to Ignore
Fan sites publish precise figures in square miles and square kilometers. None come from Rockstar. Some are extrapolated from trailer footage, and others come from measurements of leaked footage that contradict Rockstar’s own comparisons. Treat any exact area figure as a fan estimate until Rockstar publishes one.
Getting across a map this size is its own question, which our guide to fast travel in GTA 6 answers. Every other GTA 6 guide is on our GTA hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is the GTA 6 map? About twice the size of GTA 5’s map and three times Red Dead Redemption 2’s playable area, according to Rockstar. There’s no official figure in square miles or kilometers.
Is GTA 6’s map bigger than Red Dead Redemption 2’s? Yes. Rockstar told the New York Times it’s three times as large as Red Dead Redemption 2’s playable area.
How big is Vice City compared to Los Santos? Rockstar says Vice City is twice the size of Los Santos.
Is GTA 6’s map 11 times bigger than GTA 5’s? No. Rob Nelson’s 11x figure refers to the built-up towns outside the city, not the whole map.
Is the whole GTA 6 map open from the start? No. You start in the Leonida Keys, and Rockstar says the game then opens up so you can “go anywhere, anytime.”