GTA 6 Map Project: How Fans Rebuilt Leonida
Fans have spent years piecing Leonida together frame by frame. Here's how the GTA 6 map project works, which place names are official, which claims are leaks, and how to read any fan map without getting fooled.
The GTA 6 map project is a fan-made attempt to draw the full map of Leonida, the Florida-inspired state where Grand Theft Auto VI is set, using only what the public has been able to see. Here is where things stand. Confirmed: Leonida exists, Vice City is its Miami-inspired hub, and several regions have official names. Still unknown: the exact shape of the state, how far apart those regions sit, and how large the playable area really is. Rockstar has not published a full official map, so every complete layout you see online, fan-made or leaked, is an estimate.
This piece explains what the community map is, how it gets built, how to treat leaked maps, and how to judge any version you come across. If you want the short list of confirmed places first, our map and world section collects everything we cover about Leonida.
What is the GTA 6 map project?
The GTA 6 map project is a long-running community effort to reconstruct the game world from public material. Volunteers study official trailers, screenshots, marketing art and, more controversially, footage from leaks. Each time they spot a building, road junction, bridge or coastline, they try to place it on a shared map.
The work started well before Rockstar’s formal reveal. Rockstar confirmed in February 2022 that the game was in development, and in September 2022 footage from unfinished versions leaked online. That leak gave map-builders their first large pile of material to work with. Since then, every official trailer has added fresh frames to analyse.
A few things the project is not:
- Not official. Rockstar Games and Take-Two have nothing to do with it.
- Not a datamine. A datamine means pulling files out of game code. Most of the fan map comes from watching video closely, not from game files.
- Not finished. New versions get released with version numbers (you will see labels like “v16”), and each one moves, adds or deletes locations.
Think of it as a very detailed, very public detective board. It is often impressively close on the areas the trailers show clearly, and much shakier everywhere else.
Which parts of Leonida are officially confirmed?
Before you read any fan map, it helps to know which labels rest on solid ground. Rockstar’s own reveal material has named the following regions:
- Vice City: the main city, a fictional take on Miami.
- Grassrivers: a wetland region inspired by the Everglades.
- Leonida Keys: an island chain inspired by the Florida Keys.
- Ambrosia, Mount Kalaga National Park and Port Gellhorn: additional named areas.
That is the confirmed layer. What is not confirmed is where the borders fall, how each area connects to the next, and how much space lies between them. When a fan map draws Port Gellhorn in one corner and Mount Kalaga in another, the names are official but the positions are the community’s reasoning.
The setting also matters for the story. Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, the two playable leads, are tied to specific parts of the state: Jason worked for drug runners in the Leonida Keys, for example. Our guide to the confirmed GTA 6 characters covers who they are without the guesswork.
How the GTA 6 map project places a location
Most placements follow the same basic method. Understanding it makes it much easier to judge whether a given pin is solid or speculative.
1. Capture the frame
Contributors pause trailers frame by frame and save stills that show anything distinctive: a skyline, a pier, a highway sign, a mountain silhouette. Wide aerial shots are the most valuable because they show how several things relate to each other.
2. Find real-world matches
Because Leonida is based on Florida, builders compare frames with real places. If a causeway in a trailer looks like a well-known Miami causeway, that suggests roughly where it sits on the fictional map. Rockstar parodies real places rather than copying them, so this gives a direction, not an exact coordinate.
3. Cross-reference other shots
A single frame can mislead. Builders look for the same landmark from a second angle. If two shots agree on what’s next to it, confidence goes up.
4. Use light and shadow
Shadows and the position of the sun help estimate which way a camera is facing. Combined with a coastline, that can tell you whether a beach faces east toward the ocean or west toward a bay.
5. Fill the gaps
Everything between confirmed anchor points gets filled with educated guesses: roads that probably connect, land that probably exists. This is where most of the uncertainty lives, and where versions differ most.
The strength of the GTA 6 map project comes from steps one to four. Step five is necessary to make a complete-looking map, but it is also the part most likely to change.
Leaked maps, retailer claims and the GTA 6 map project
Alongside the fan map, several images described as a GTA 6 map leak have circulated. Some reports have pointed out that a leaked map closely resembles the community version. There have also been claims that map details appeared through retailers, including claims tied to Brazilian retailers. None of these leaks or retailer listings has been confirmed by Rockstar, and Harborline treats all of them as unverified.
A close match between a leaked map and the fan map is worth thinking through carefully, because it can point two ways:
- It could support both. If a genuine leak lines up with years of independent fan work, that suggests the fans got a lot right.
- It could mean the leak is fake. Anyone can trace or remix the public fan map, add some polish, and call it leaked. A “leak” that matches the fan map perfectly, including its guesses, is a warning sign.
The useful question is whether the leaked image matches the fan map in places where the fans were guessing. If the leak reproduces the same speculative roads and invented coastline as the GTA 6 map project, it was probably copied from it. If it differs in the guessed areas but agrees on the well-evidenced ones, that is at least more interesting, though still unconfirmed.
We go through specific leaked-map claims in GTA 6 Leak Map: What’s Confirmed and What’s Rumor, and broader leak claims in our breakdown of the gameplay leak.
| Source | What it can tell you | How much to trust it |
|---|---|---|
| Official Rockstar trailers and reveal material | Region names, what specific places look like | Confirmed, but rarely shows full layout |
| Community fan map | A complete-looking estimate of the layout | Strong where trailers are clear, speculative elsewhere |
| 2022 development leak footage | Glimpses of unfinished areas | Real footage, but from an early build that may have changed |
| Leaked map images | Claimed full official layout | Unverified; could be genuine or copied |
| Retailer listings | Occasional details in product text | Unverified; often placeholders |
How big is the GTA 6 map?
The GTA 6 map size is one of the most argued-over topics around the game, and the honest answer is that there is no official figure. One widely repeated report says Leonida’s map is about three times larger than the playable area of Red Dead Redemption 2. That is a report, not a statement from Rockstar, so treat it as unconfirmed.
Fan maps produce their own size comparisons, often by laying the estimated outline of Leonida over the maps of earlier Rockstar games. These comparisons are fun but fragile. To scale a map, you need a reference: a known road width, a standard building, a car length. A small error in that reference grows across the whole map. If the scale is off by a modest amount, the area estimate can be off by a lot, because area grows with the square of length.
There is also a difference between total area and useful area. A map with large stretches of open water or swamp can be “big” on paper while having less dense, explorable space than a smaller map. Grassrivers, being a wetland region, is a good example of an area where raw size and playable variety might not line up. Until the game itself can be measured, any confident number is a guess dressed up as a fact.
A worked example: checking a fan placement yourself
Here is a practical way to judge any single pin on a fan map. Imagine a version of the GTA 6 map project puts a lighthouse on the southern tip of a small island in the Leonida Keys, and you want to know how solid that is.
- Find the source frame. Good versions note which trailer or screenshot each location comes from. If no source is given, lower your confidence straight away.
- Check whether the source is official. A lighthouse seen in an official trailer is a confirmed visual. One seen only in leaked footage is unverified, and may come from an early build.
- Check the region label. “Leonida Keys” is an official name. “Southern tip of a small island” is an interpretation of what the shot shows.
- Look for a second angle. Does another shot show the same lighthouse with water on both sides? If so, “island” becomes more believable.
- Check the surroundings. Are the islands around it drawn from footage, or filled in to make the chain look complete? Filler is usually what changes in the next version.
- Compare versions. If the lighthouse has stayed put across several releases while other things moved, the community trusts that placement.
Run that check and you might conclude: the lighthouse is real and in the Keys (high confidence), it sits on an island (moderate confidence), and its exact spot relative to the next island is a guess (low confidence). That three-level answer is far more useful than “the map says so.”
Common mistakes when reading a fan-made Leonida map
Fan maps are easy to misread, mostly because a finished-looking image feels more authoritative than it is. These are the mistakes we see most often.
- Treating every label as confirmed. Official names sit right next to fan nicknames on many versions. Only the names Rockstar has used are confirmed.
- Using an old version. Copies of outdated versions keep getting reposted. A screenshot from years ago can show areas the project has since redrawn.
- Trusting reposted edits. Some reposts add extra “leaked” details. If a version does not come from the project itself, assume it may have been altered.
- Assuming real Florida equals Leonida. Rockstar’s world parodies its real inspiration. Distances, town placement and roads will not match Florida one to one.
- Reading leak footage as final. The 2022 footage came from unfinished versions. Areas seen there may have been moved, redesigned or cut.
- Quoting size comparisons as facts. As covered above, scale estimates carry big error margins.
- Confusing interactive trackers with the fan map. Sites offering collectible and location trackers are a different thing from the reconstruction project. Before the game is playable, any tracker listing exact collectible spots is working from speculation or leaks, not verified data.
A good rule: the more precise a claim sounds, the more you should ask where it came from.
What happens to the GTA 6 map project after launch?
Once the game is in players’ hands, the real in-game map replaces guesswork. At that point the GTA 6 map project becomes a record of how close the community got, and a useful one: the comparison will show which methods worked well (aerial frames, cross-referenced landmarks) and which didn’t (filler roads, scale guesses).
The project’s methods will likely carry on in other forms. The same frame-matching skills that built the map can help players document hidden spots, compare regions and check claims about the world. Harborline’s guides section will cover the actual map, verified locations and practical tips once the game is out, and our updates page will track any changes Rockstar makes to the world through patches.
Until then, keep the confirmed list short and the guess list long. For official release timing, platforms and trailer details, rely on Rockstar’s own announcements, which we track in our news section. Our coverage of what’s known about a third trailer also explains how new footage feeds into fan maps.
The GTA 6 map project is one of the more impressive things a fan community has built around an unreleased game. Used well, it is a great way to understand the shape of Leonida before you can drive across it. Used carelessly, it turns educated guesses into “facts” that the real game may soon contradict. Read it the way its best contributors do: source first, confidence second, conclusions last.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GTA 6 map project official?
No. The GTA 6 map project is a community effort with no link to Rockstar Games or Take-Two. Volunteers build it by matching trailer frames, screenshots and leaked footage against real Florida geography. Some of its labels use official place names, but the shape, scale and positions are the community's best estimate. Rockstar has not endorsed or confirmed any version.
How accurate is the GTA 6 map project?
Accuracy varies by area. Places shown clearly and repeatedly in official trailers, such as Vice City's beachfront, tend to be pinned down well. Inland areas, small towns and anything based on a single blurry frame are much less certain. Treat the core of the map as a strong estimate and the edges as educated guesses. Only the in-game map can settle the details.
Did the GTA 6 map leak?
Images described as a leaked GTA 6 map have circulated, and some reports say one closely resembles the fan-made community map. None of these images has been confirmed by Rockstar. A close match to the fan map could mean the leak is real, or that someone copied the fan map. Treat every leaked map as unverified until the official game or Rockstar settles it.
How big is the GTA 6 map?
Rockstar has not published an official size figure. One widely repeated report says Leonida is about three times larger than the playable area of Red Dead Redemption 2, but that remains a report, not an official number. Fan maps produce their own size estimates, though these depend on assumptions about scale, such as how wide roads and buildings are.
Which GTA 6 locations are confirmed?
Officially named regions include Vice City, inspired by Miami; Grassrivers, inspired by the Everglades; and the Leonida Keys, inspired by the Florida Keys. Ambrosia, Mount Kalaga National Park and Port Gellhorn have also been named. Their exact borders, sizes and positions relative to each other are still estimates drawn by fans, not official map data.
Where can I find the latest version of the fan map?
The community map is shared through fan forums and social media, and new numbered versions appear when fresh footage arrives. Because copies get reposted and edited, always check that you are looking at a recent version from the project itself, not a modified repost. For our own coverage of what's confirmed in Leonida, see Harborline's map and world section.
