Source: Characters: Rockstar Games via Game Informer. Background: AI-generated.
What this means
- Research with real cops and gang members is how Leonida gets its texture — expect NPCs, radio stories and missions that feel lived-in, not generic.
- The Miami-to-Key West route maps directly onto Leonida's regions: Vice City, the Leonida Keys, Port Gellhorn — the world will mirror real Florida geography.
- Garbut says extremes "find their way into the game in surprising ways" — the research shows up in pedestrian dialogue, radio shows and ads, not just the main story.
- This is the same method Rockstar used on Red Dead Redemption 2's research trips — and that world is still the benchmark for open-world detail.
Key facts
- Date: October 5, 2026 (LOVE magazine issue 27)
- Source: LOVE interview with Aaron Garbut (head of development), via IGN
- What's new: research trips with cops and gang members; Miami-to-Key West drives; Everglades helicopter survey; Beyoncé concert stadium flyover
Rockstar's research for Grand Theft Auto 6 went deep into real Florida. In LOVE magazine's issue 27 (out October 5), Rockstar head of development Aaron Garbut says the team traveled across the state with both sides of the law: "We do go in-depth, we hang with locals and we hear lots of stories and learn as much as we can. We travel around with cops and with gang members."
"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. The trips began small — a carload of developers driving from Miami through surrounding towns and the Florida Keys down to Key West — before more team members joined later trips to dig deeper into the culture, stories, and people.
The team also saw Florida from the air: Garbut describes flying low over mangrove inlets in the Everglades, then hovering above a stadium during a live Beyoncé concert. "I think we made the local news that day," he joked.
On what they brought back: "We experience the underside as well; although the people who showed us around were among the nicest we've met, the stories, the places, the details could be terrifying." Garbut describes Miami itself as "lovely people, incredible wealth, incredible poverty, excess, craziness, the hustle, and showing it all off" — extremes he says all find their way into the game in surprising ways.
Sources
- IGN — Rockstar traveled across Florida with gang members and cops for GTA 6 research
- GameRant — GTA 6 devs traveled with cops and gang members for Florida research
- Infinite Start — Rockstar details travels across Florida for GTA 6
Verified via IGN's report on the LOVE magazine interview, corroborated by GameRant and Infinite Start carrying identical quotes from Aaron Garbut.
